It’s hard to imagine what it feels like to be a dog in an animal shelter. Whether you’re there because you were rescued from abusive owners, a life on the street, or due to other circumstances, it has to be confusing and frightening. You have no idea why you’re there and what’s going to happen next. Like the beagle in this video, you could end up waiting and waiting and waiting. Beagles are wonderful dogs, so we wouldn’t really expect any beagle’s stay at a shelter to be overly long.
The modern beagle emerged in Britain in the 1830s. Beagles look similar to the classic British foxhound, but are smaller, typically weighing 20 to 25 pounds. They were bred for hunting rabbits and hare and not surprisingly, they have an extraordinarily good sense of smell, even by canine standards. Some researchers who were curious about different breeds’ olfactory abilities did a little experiment: they put a mouse on an acre of land and noted how long it took various kinds of dogs to find it. Beagles found the mouse in less than a minute, fox terriers took 15 minutes, and Scotties couldn’t find the mouse at all!
What really makes beagles so popular today is their personality. They have a gentle disposition and merry temperament. They’re very friendly, which makes them terrible guard dogs but their quickness to bark or howl means they’re excellent watchdogs. Beagles are intelligent but single-minded so they can be a little challenging to train, even though they’re always eager to please. They get along notably well with children, one reason they’ve long been a popular family pet.
The beagle in the video posted below is having an unlucky time in the shelter. Everyone seems to be interested in the other dogs. But then a little girl comes along and they instantly see that they’re right for each other.
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