Adult or Older Puppy Home Introduction and Training

Introducing an adult or older puppy to your home has it’s distinct advantages…

….but it is still work!

Introduction to other dogs - It is always best, if possible, to introduce an already established dog to your new adult or older puppy on “neutral” ground. Introducing them on the original dogs home turf is usually OK but why take the chance?

Introduce them in a place where neither has the direct advantage. With some already established members of the family they may be very attached to a particular family member. In those instances it is always best for the person that is “the leader” of the pack to touch and greet the new member of the family first and then go back and bring the established canine family member over to meet the new one AFTER allowing them to sniff you and see that you have already greeted the new member. A slow introduction is always best as you never really know how each will react to one another at first.

As with any new dog it will take at least a few days to a few weeks for the established and the new members to coexist happily together and this especially applies to cats. Of course with cats you are unable to remove them from the property to meet in a neutral location but a slow and gentle introduction is always best. Be sure that, if your cat has claws, that the new member is not being overly insistent upon being close to them causing any real disruption.

Adults and older puppies are not harder at all to house train but just different.

Beagles especially are prone to being led by their nose and are very territorial. This particularly applies to new places where other animals have been and this applies to males and females. Young puppies have not developed the need for territorial marking and so are a bit easier, in ways, to house train. Older puppies and adults are easier in general as they have already been trained but when going to a new home this can temporarily change but I would highly suggest following my instructions about how to introduce and train your new addition. So you bring your adult or older puppy home and they are house trained right? Maybe!!!

Just because they were house trained at the last house does NOT mean they are house trained at the new house. Beagles are opportunists and a strict foundation must be laid from the moment they step foot into the new house or disaster may take place.

I ALWAYS tell my new families to keep an older puppy or adult on a LEASH for at least the first week. Keep them tethered to you when out of a crate until you absolutely know you can trust they will not eliminate in your house. This means they should be on a leash IN THE HOUSE at ALL TIMES when not in a crate or outside in a secure area.

WHY? Because their nose will want their new area to smell like them. That is just how they are. Even if there is not another animal to compete with or to mark against the new house doesn't smell like them and they want to change that immediately. Beagles will most often mark just for that reason initially and that is why I tell everyone to keep them on a lead with you for at least several days, if not a week, until the house smells like them and they can absolutely be trusted.

Wanting the new home to smell like them is the #1 reason adult dogs start peeing in a new house even when they were fully trained before. Keep a true schedule just like you would a puppy with potty breaks every couple of hours at first. Keep them close to you to learn their body language when they have to go out. Give them a keyword like “potty” before taking them outside to eliminate and use the same door for a while until they get the hang of it. If you do this training will be easy, no accidents will happen and there will not be a want or need for your Beagle to make the new home smell like them by elimination. After a few days the new house will automatically begin smelling like them and as long as there are no other threatening dogs on the property that they have to compete against you are set.