I would say if you don't plan to hunt it don't get a beagle.

They are good at what they do, and what they do is circle rabbits, other than that then tend to be boneheads in my experience.

It is just a hound dog thing I think though, the drive to hunt outweighs the drive to be part of the family sometimes. My hound is fantastic at coon hunting, but it took him easily twice as much training time to get him even close to being as well minded as my sisters lab, not much desire to please in the scent hound breeds, at least not as much as a herding dog or lab.

I grew up with a Beagle. They live through their nose. If they are using their nose, their ears shut down. He liked to run and run and run.

If he thought he could slip away, he was gone.

One day he escaped and didn't come back home. I imagine a local farmer took care of him as they weren't very patient with running dogs.

I'd go with something else.

Both of the above post are "spot on". We have two basset hounds which are basically the short leg version and they are the same damn way. We also have two boxers which are mental giants in comparison!!!!

Hounds are great with people and kids but they stink like ass even one hour after a bath and shed like you would not believe. You'll have a easier time training your car to site than a hound

Ya know, I don't agree with much of what has been said.

The wife and I looked for a while til we found our beagle. We bought her from a farm with two hunting dog parents. I had some hope to train her for rabbit hunting but it never happened. The kids came, the time went. She is now 5 and I couldn't ask for a better dog.

She was house trained in 2 weeks. She stayed in a kennel (inside) for two days. The wife came home to find her running loose and the kennel was folded flat. She hasn't been back in one since. She loves food. Our kids are small and don't always guard their food. She is extremely smart. She is very persistent. I have a special ability to "control" her with a snap or a slight whistle. She knows when she needs to obey. I think any dog can be trained to be anything you want it to be. Sure, some will be naturally better at some tasks. I've found it to be greatly rewarding having a loving but firm relationship with her.

Ok, you got me, she rolls in shit from time to time...that sucks. All joking aside, she does suffer from seizures. They have gotten a lot less severe in the past year or so. It's a very helpless feeling watching her go through one and the kids kind of freak out