Beagle

Let me take you back, merrily, to old England. My really ancient-ancestor hounds were prized for hunting, even by the Third Century. And by the 1500s in England -- an early heyday of selective dog-breeding and a time when the landed gentry needed packs of hounds according to the size and fleeing habits of the quarry they were hunting -- deer were chased by the bigger, lankier hounds. And the rabbits looked back over their shoulders to see (and hear) a loudly baying pack of beagle-sized (13 to 16 inches high, 33-44 pounds) black-tan-white canines on their tails. We beagles got to be that way thanks to purposeful crossbreeding of other hunting dogs like the Foxhound, the Beagle Harrier, and a smallish bloodhound called the Kerry Beagle. Our name, Beagle, is an Englishman's way of saying a French word that means, loosely, baying as a pack with gaping throats. Or something like that (we can't really hear our name when we're loudly beagling).

• Adaptable to apartment life -- with ample exercise
• Affectionate, devoted family friend
• Agile and active
• Always alert
• Born to run, happy to walk
• Busy is better than bored
• Coat needs regular care
• Courageous canine
• Easygoing
• Energizer doggie
• Even-tempered, good-natured

• Hardy hunter
• Independent thinker
• Intelligent and ready to learn
• Lives to work
• Loves kids and vice-versa
• Outdoors enthusiast
• Outgoing extrovert
• Playful pal
• Pleased to please
• Caters to the country, tolerates town
• Ready to romp
• Socialization and training must start early
• Sweet disposition
• Takes to training

If you're going to keep me in a small place -- say an apartment where my ever-fashionable black-tan-white color scheme compliments most any décor -- I get a say in the issue. Don't be surprised to hear me bark. And when we're out -- on leash or off -- mind my instinct to chase rabbit-like things. And bark some more. Please get my training and socialization started early. Then try not to giggle about how eager (and adorably cute) a beagle pup is when trying to learn the paces.

A generally healthy, hardy breed, but always the possibility of neurological and bleeding disorders, and some vision and orthopedic problems.