BeagleMum

I use ACV in the chickens drinking water, it's supposed to be a natural way of keeping intestinal worms at bay. If it lessens the smell of the dog wee that would be worth trying, my dogs go on the sand in their pen and during the summer when there's no rain to wash it through, the smell gets quite strong, so I have to keep hosing the sand down.

Six weeks later and we are making some progress. When the back door is opened the dogs don't bolt out, they follow me out and wander about on the patio until I get their ropes clipped on. Their ropes are 10 metres long. When the ropes are on, they tend to stay close by, they seem to know that this is required. Sometimes they start wandering off a bit too far, and I have had to chase after the end of the rope, but only a couple of times at the beginning. They are reasonably reliable. If I'm busy weeding and they keep disappearing off then the end of the rope is looped over the fence so I can get on. Trouble is with 10 metres, it's very easy for them to get themselves wrapped around trees! It is also painful if the rope wraps itself around your ankle and the dog runs off after a ball :D Still the rope trick seems to be working so far. The dogs are better behaved on the lawn than they are if we go out for a walk through the trees at the back of the block. There are just too many smells and distractions and they go deaf. I do not intend letting them off their ropes in this area until we can get the fence mended. I have managed to keep the dogs close to me while just on the patio and lawn, without any leads. Just for 5 minutes or so at the moment and I always have tasty treats on me (raw sausages do the trick nicely). On a couple of occasions, the kids have taken the dogs out the back door to go for a wee, but haven't got their leads clipped on quickly enough and the dogs have run off chasing each other. The kids have panicked, but each time I have yelled "come" the dogs have returned (phew). We have put a large bell up outside the back door and the dogs associate that with "come". We practised with the bell before we moved house, as I knew that it would come in handy rather than losing my voice trying to call them in from a distance of a few hundred metres away. The kids come running too, saves me shouting "dinner" so loud that the rest of the street hears!

oops posting problems

You're correct Steve, my main concern was keeping the dogs within my vision whilst out in the garden, and being able to trust them to stay within the boundaries when I have to go indoors. We live on 5 acres and they are currently confined to an enclosure - it's a reasonable size but not enough to keep two Beagle puppies sufficiently exercised. I have bought two long lengths of rope and will try K9's suggestion to keep them within about 30 feet of me. As for walking the dogs - I haven't taken them "walkies" since moving here, not in a public place. I walk them around the firebreak every morning and afternoon, which is only a half kilometre walk each time, but as you can imagine they find it pretty stimulating being Beagles, as there are so many fresh scents to smell. Tina will gobble up any droppings she finds though - Toby is pretty good with the "leave" command and will spit anything out in return for a treat, but Tina will just swallow whatever it is. I'm hoping there's no nasty disease she could catch from eating kangaroo or rabbit poo, or whatever it is? I don't let the dogs do their business anywhere on the property except within their own enclosure. I'm hoping to save the nice lawn we have from yellow stains, and I don't want the kids stepping in dog's poo when they are running around playing. I'm hoping that this time next year the dogs will not only be able to fun freely, but will also trot back to their own yard when they need to toilet. In the meantime, we do need to think about getting someone out to finish off the last fence, not only to stop mine getting out, but to also stop other dogs getting in. I have heard two scary stories where dogs and livestock were killed by stray dogs getting onto properties nearby. BTW, thanks everyone for posting here with your ideas.

I've always admired those people I've seen out and about walking their dogs off-leash, where the dog always remains within a few feet of its owner, never running off or being distracted by other dogs. Do some dogs just naturally never want to leave their owner's side? Or have the owners spent a long time training them to be like this? We have just moved to a property on 5 acres. People keep commenting how lucky for the dogs to have all that free space to run around in. We have two Beagles; a male aged 14 months and a female aged 8 months. Previously they were walked around the block daily on a lead - not too bad walking at heel, but easily distracted and I wouldn't dare let them off because of the traffic. Our boundary fence at the new house isn't all that good - just the cheap, not very high, post and rail type with three sides having wire and one side not yet finished. Toby has escaped once but luckily got no further than next door. My husband has built them their own enclosure next to the house so they can have some freedom, but it would be really great to let them run freely around the block, without the added expense of new fencing or containment systems. I want the dogs to just be able to roam about when I'm in the garden, but always be within watching/calling distance. If they followed me like a shadow, that would be great! At the moment I am keeping them on a long lead whenever we're out in the garden, and dropping the lead and letting them run a little way with it trailing on the ground. If they go too far, I can step on it. I keep calling them back to me and they get a treat for coming. But often they are so busy sniffing something they just go deaf to my "come" command. I know that if they spot a wild rabbit or some other wildlife out there, they will both be off like a shot! Can anyone give me any useful tips for training them? I want to enjoy the 5 acres without worrying about the dogs' whereabouts! I want visitors to be able to come and go through the back door without us all panicking if they accidently let the dogs out! How long should I expect to obtain results if I practise training daily? They are still pups, so now really is the best time to sort it out really, but I don't feel like I'm making much progress.