Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of walking a beagle will know why the breed has gained the nickname Four Legs and a Nose. Beagles rarely lift their noses from the ground, so intent are they on smelling everything on the route. Originally bred as hunters, Beagles belong to the hound group, specifically scent hounds, dogs who hunt using their scent of smell rather than their eyesight. The beagle’s extraordinary olfactory strength can be traced to his having 220 million scent receptors (We, humans have a paltry 5 million).

Because He’s a Hunter

In attempting to understand your beagle it helps to keep in mind that his most endearing qualities, as well as his more maddening ones, can be attributed to his hunting heritage.

• On the one hand, they’re sociable. Since beagles were raised to hunt in packs, they get along well with other dogs and are great with children. On the other hand, since they were bred to hunt small animals, mainly rabbits, they’re not the best breed for a home with hamsters, guinea pigs, or even cats.

• On the hand, their amazing sniffing prowess has earned many beagles employment as scent detectors at airports, assisting agents in searching for weapons, drugs, and illegally imported foods. On the other hand, their super duper sniffers paired with their notorious love of food means they can be incorrigible food thieves and prone to eating anything anywhere so you must keep food safely out of reach and keep an eye on him lest he get into something that will make him sick.

• Since hunting is an all-weather, all-terrain sport, beagles were bred to have smooth coats that not only wouldn’t get snagged by burrs and stickers, but would also repel water. There’s no on the other hand here. Beagles smooth coats mean they’re easy to groom and they don’t smell “doggie.”

Famous Beagles

It seems like a requisite that a president have at least one dog.   Lyndon Johnson had his beloved beagles, Him and Her.  Beagles are known for their happy easy-going natures so when LBJ picked Him up by his ears, the dog didn’t seem to mind but the president got a lot of flack from the public

And don’t forget those other famous beagles, Snoopy and (talk about easy-going) Garfield’s long-suffering roommate, Odie!