Are Beagles hard to toilet train?
While it can be the case that Beagles take a little longer to toilet train than some other dogs, it isn’t always the way. How hard a Beagle is to toilet train is largely (but not only) dependent on you, as their owner, and how vigilant and proactive you are at training a puppy (or adult dog) to go outside to do its business.
In this article, we’ll examine whether it is harder to toilet train a Beagle than other dogs:
1) Why do people say Beagles are harder to train than other dogs?
1) Why do people say Beagles are harder to toilet train than other dogs?
A lot of people think that Beagles are stubborn and hard to train, and that this therefore translates to them being hard to toilet train.
We need to remember that Beagles were originally developed as a breed to be a scent hound, and that they have one of the most powerful noses in the animal kingdom. Because their nose is their leading sense, they are more likely to follow information coming to their nose than anything visual, or aural. This makes them extremely focused, and good at detecting scents, and less tuned in to verbal commands from the humans that live with them.
There may also be some truth in the theory, that once a Beagle has had an accident in the house (especially if it was on a fabric surface) that their nose will lead them back to the same spot to use again and again. From my own experience, this cycle can be hard to break – but it can be done.
We all know that a comparatively high number of Beagles are rescued from testing facilities, and are therefore being house trained as adult dogs rather than as puppies. These dogs are often suffering from trauma and PTSD, so the hurdles to training of any kind with dogs from this background are considerably higher than a dog that is acquired as a puppy.
2) Real life examples of Beagles and their toilet training reliability
So training Beagles can certainly be a challenge, but that doesn’t mean that’s always the case. We have to apply all the regular Beagle training methods to toilet training – we’ve included a list of the most important things to remember when training a Beagle later on in this article.
Of course, it’s really important to remember that there will always be exceptions to the rule, and every Beagle will have their own little quirks, but in general it is absolutely possible to toilet train Beagles just as well as any other dog. And in some cases, better!
We wanted to give a few examples of real life Beagles and how their owners fared with toilet training. Here are some of our Beagle friends from Instagram, who kindly agreed to be interviewed for this article, and who gave a score for their Beagle’s toilet training ability. Photos are all featured with kind permission from each Beagle pawrent.
Real life Beagle #1: Cocoa
Age 5
How well toilet trained is she? (Score out of 10, 10 = never has any accidents)
10/10
I’d easily give Cocoa a 10/10. Her toilet training is really reliable. She never has accidents, either pee or poop, either in the house or even in unfamiliar surroundings like hotels, friends’ houses. She’s really good at letting us know that she wants to go outside, regardless of where we are. We also have a prompt word for her to pee on command, which she understands and responds to if she needs to go.
In the last 2 years, we’ve trained her to press a button beside our back door when she needs to go out. She doesn’t always use the button, and often just stands at the door, but she will press it if she doesn’t get our attention quickly enough (which is great if we’re in another room).
How long did it take to toilet train her?
It took longer than expected to train Cocoa to be reliable with toilet training.
The first 3 months, she progressed quickly, and learned to ask to go outside when she needed to, but she was still a baby really and sometimes had accidents.
After 6 months she was pretty well trained, but would still have the odd accident, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. Between 6 and 12 months, she occasionally had accidents, but it was the exception rather than the norm. Since about the age of 1, she’s been pretty flawless, even when we’ve moved house, stayed in hotels or bnbs. The last time she had an accident was about 5 years ago.
How did you toilet train her?
We never punished her when she made mistakes, and we rewarded her with praise and treats every time she successfully requested to go outside to go potty when she was a puppy.
Nowadays, we’re still careful to praise her every time she’s successful. Yes, it sometimes feels ridiculous. 😊
In the early days, pre-empting Cocoa’s need to pee and poop was essential. We took her out every 2 hours for the first months (day and night), then every 4 hours, and very gradually reduced this. Even now, we encourage her to go out every 4 hours during the day, even if she’d rather be napping on the sofa.
When we got Cocoa, we didn’t have a garden, so we placed a piece of turf on our balcony and she instinctively knew to use that – we didn’t have to spray anything on it, she just knew. That made it so much easier for us and her, as she had a dedicated space to use the bathroom, and it meant we didn’t have to go down 2 flights of stairs to let her out to pee in the middle of the night. It helped massively with house training.
Real life Beagle #2: Frida
Name @fridabeagle
Age 7 years
How well toilet trained is she? (Score out of 10, 10 = never has any accidents)
6-7/10
Let’s be realistic: of course there were some small accidents in the first year. But even then, we went straight outside with her so she would understand to do her business outside. But there was actually very rarely an accident. So I would say Frida is between 6-7.
How long did it take to toilet train Frida?
During the first few weeks we went out with her after every sleep, play, and mealtime. So she could quickly understand that she should only do her business outside.
How did you toilet train her?
Apart from the above points, we didn’t do anything special. You have to be consistent, even if the puppy wakes up at night.
Real life Beagle #3: Jeremy
Name @Jeremy_the_Beagle
Age 8 years
How well toilet trained is he? (Score out of 10, 10 = never has any accidents)
10/10
Since around 6 months old, Jeremy has been completely accident free (10/10) and can go for up to 8 hours without needing to go.
He will go to the back door and tap to let us know he needs to go out. If we are in another room, he will go to the back door then bark to let us know he needs to go out.
Being a true Beagle, he loves his food and still expects a treat when he comes back in!
How long did it take to toilet train him?
We have had Jeremy since he was 8 weeks old. It took around 6 weeks to toilet train him but probably a further few months before he was completely accident free, as he struggled to last for longer period such as through the night. We had to leave him for up to 4 hours whilst at work so this probably delayed the training as he couldn’t last that long when he was a puppy.
How did you toilet train him?
We did use puppy pads to begin with but didn’t find them very effective. We encouraged Jeremy to go outside and said ‘wee wee’ every time he did a wee outside. We gave lots of praise and rewarded him with a treat. We can now say ‘wee wee’ to Jeremy and he will go outside and do a wee on demand. This is really useful if we are going out and need to leave him for a few hours, or before bed.
Real life Beagle interview #4: Winnie Jean
Name @winniejeanbeagle
Age 7 years
How well toilet trained is she? (Score out of 10, 10 = never has any accidents)
4/10
I would say that she’s a 4 out of 10 on the house trained scale. We are open to ideas and suggestions to help get her fully trained.
How long did it take to toilet train her?
We rescued her at age 3. She clearly had some prior obedience training and was very polite. She is very smart and treat motivated which helps when training. She was still quite wild though! Jumping on top of tables, chewing chairs and remote controls. And peeing in the house.
She stopped the chewing quickly. But after 4 years with us, the baby gates are still up and she still pees in the house. She does this to express her displeasure with something that we have done (left her alone briefly) or not wanting to go outside when it’s raining.
How did you toilet train her?
We have used treat rewards for going outside to potty. So much so that she will scam us into taking her outside when she really doesn’t have to go just to get the treat when we return inside! She will also “fake pee” outside where she squats briefly to look like she’s going, but she didn’t really go. This is usually when it’s raining.
3) Tips for toilet training your Beagle
As you can see from the examples above, toilet training a Beagle is absolutely achievable in a lot of cases, but it isn’t always easy. Here’s a summary of the tips from the Beagle owners of Cocoa, Frida, Jeremy and Winnie Jean:
Never punish your Beagle for having an accident. Be kind, never lose your patience, no matter how frustrated you are.
Praise progress, let them know they’ve done well when they get it right.
Take puppies out at regular intervals, as well as directly after eating, drinking, and playing.
Pre-empt your dog’s needs.
Be consistent, it may take time.
I’d also add to this list that you shouldn’t be afraid to seek help from a trainer, if things just aren’t quite coming together. And of course, if you’ve tried lots of things, and nothing seems to work, don’t wait too long before consulting a vet in order to rule out any medical issues.
All pictures in this article are reproduced with kind permission of the owners.
If you enjoyed this article and found it useful, you might also like this:
🐶 What health problems do Beagles have?
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