General obedience problems

The puppy is a beagle, roughly 1 1/2 years old. Every time she does something wrong, and we tell her off, she stops what she's doing, bows her head and stares at us, and then 3 seconds later she'll repeat the process. No matter how many times we tell her off, send her outside, etc, she just keeps doing it over and over again.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, thanks in advance.

Your dog has no idea what she should be doing instead.

If she know what she should be doing (and that's a big if) she sees no value in doing it, and actually gets reinforcement from "being bad" despite the reprimand.

Your dog is doing what she wants to do, and you're telling her off. But what you should be doing instead is showing her what you want her to do instead. There are so many wrong answers for every question, but only ever one or two right ones. So instead of yelling at your dog when she gets it wrong, how about showing her what you want her to do instead? And when you do that, make the right answer really appealing. Make treats rain from the sky if she's doing what you've told her to do. It's all about showing your dog what you want, and making the dog happy to listen because they have experienced a history of reinforcement when doing so.

Have you taken any obedience classes with your dog? Many big box pet supply stores have in-store training classes, but if you can find a training club or private trainer to work with you'll generally get better quality training. It sounds like the dog just doesn't have a lot of idea about what he should be doing. Basic obedience training will help indirectly with behavior problems because it gives you and your dog a way to communicate with each other. If problems persist after basic training, you can target them more effectively.

I find it's easier to REDIRECT a behavior, rather than to STOP it, and it sounds like that is what Sekah is getting at too.

When you stop a behavior, you tell a dog not to do it. This sounds simple enough to us, but if the behavior is really rewarding (getting in the trash, pulling on the leash, etc) you are going to be fighting a losing battle with a stubborn dog.

If, however, you redirect that behavior into something else, something you approve of (and praise lavishly) most dogs will give up a previous behavior for a new, more rewarding one. (Just make sure your praise for the new behavior is on par with the reward of the previous behavior.)

For instance...

Dog gets in trash -> owner stops -> dog gets back in trash.

Why? Because trash is suuuuuuper yummy!!!

When you could have this...

Dog gets in trash -> owner calls dog from a short distance away (showing reward if necessary) -> dog comes -> dog gets treats/play time/praise, etc -> dog learns come is more rewarding than trash.

Or something like that,

I agree, give the dog something else to do after you stop him from doing the negative behavior. If it's chewing or some sort of inappropriate play type behavior tell the dog to stop and then bring him over to where his toys are and encourage him to use one. What behaviors are you having trouble with? If we knew that we could provide more help as to what might be a good way to respond.

He stops because he doesn't like the yelling and needs to look nonthreatening (hence the low body posture) so that you'll stop being so loud OR he's confused and is staring at you because you're obviously trying to communicate with him and he'd really like to know what you're trying to say. He starts back up because what he was doing is enjoyable and he'd really like to continue. So give him another enjoyable option. Also be persistent. A lot of dogs will go to do it again because they don't think you'll keep stopping them (and in a lot of cases they've learned you won't). I know Tucker will ignore my parents when they tell him to stop because he knows if he ignores them they'll just keep their butts planted and keep yelling. So what? He gets to continue having fun. But if you get up and stop him 3 times he decides it's no use.

Sekah's post is very good, but if you want more specific advice you need to be more specific about the behaviors. What is your dog doing that you reprimand him/her? What do you want to dog to be doing?

I think taking obedience classes or even just having one or two sessions with a trainer that uses positive reinforcement methods would show YOU how to train your dog, and you'll have much easier time of it on your own.