Beagles are one of the finest choices that can be made in selecting a pet.  Here are some obvious reasons.

Calm Demeanor......
     They are calm and of a laid-back personality, therefore they are perfect with children, handicapped persons, or the elderly.  They are not of a hyper termperament, though they love to play and interact with both humans and other pets.  The nervous behavior of some of the other small breeds, makes those breeds unpredictable in their behavior.  With a beagle, they are so calm and docile, there is no need to fear being bitten, etc.  Though we want our beagles/beagle mixes to be treated with sensitive care and love, if a child would hurt these dogs, the dog will not turn on the child that has caused the pain or discomfort.  This is important in homes where small children need to be sheltered from any potential harm and may pull an ear or a tail, in good fun.

Live well with others.......
     They do well with other pets, whether they are canine or feline.  We have seen this both here in our home and also have heard the same message coming from the homes that our puppies have gone to.    (It is a known fact that if you keep a dog away from a cat until the dog is fullgrown, he will dislike cats as soon as he meets them.  But, if puppies are introduced to cats at a young age and live with them, they find cats to be very "normal" and do not have the same feelings about cats as those that have not been around cats until fullgrown or nearly so.)  In fact, beagles care much about companionship and do best with a "friend".  For this reason, many have chosen to get two puppies at once so that while the family is gone to work and school, the beagle/beagle mix will have company.  

Very Loving........
     They love to be cuddled and loved on.  A beagle/beagle mix first choice would be to be a lap dog.  So for someone that has time to sit and love on a pet, this is perfect for both parties.

Size & Shedding........
     Because of their small size, they are perfect as an indoor pet.  Also with their short coat, there is usually no discernable shedding, which is very nice. 

Exercise..........
     They love to go out to exercise with their owners, but because they are small, they do not require much space to be properly cared for.  They can live in a small apartment without it being an unhealthy situation for them.

Barking/Training......
     Though beagles can be trained in hunting, and because of this they tend to be thought of as a barking breed, we have not found that this is true of beagles in general.  Sure, when our beagles are outdoors and they see or smell a rabbit, deer or another dog that has gone through our yard, they get excited and will bark.  But I would say that as a general rule, they only bark a couple of times a day, and that only lasts for a very few minutes, sometimes much less.  We've found that all we have to do is say, "Spot, no!  Don't bark!" and look at them seriously, and they'll hang their heads and stop immediately.  But then we've also trained them when we tell them "Bark!" they know to bark and they get their tasty little treat.  They love this command because of what they're going to get, and we love interacting with them in this way.

Intelligence.......
     Beagles/beagle mixes are extremely intelligent dogs.  We've found that they understand far more than given credit for.  For instance telling them to go lie down.  They'll instantly comply, when they've been worked with.  They are such sweet little doggies and we just love them!

Health Issues & Life Expectancy.......
     Beagles are among the breeds of dogs that rarely have any health issues.  The typical life-span is generally around 13 yrs., though I have friends that have had beagles until they were 17 and 18 yrs. of age.  In our experience, we've found this life expectancy to be what's expected with both the 13" variety and the miniatures.

          Explanation on Sizes of Beagles -



                                                        The 15" Beagle - 

Fullgrown height of 15 inches or more and usually weighing well over 40 lbs.
(These beagles are longer legged and have longer noses.  Many times they are used for hunting and considered more of an outside dog.)
We do not have any of this largest size of beagle dog.




                                                        The 13" Beagle - 

Fullgrown height of about 13" and usually weighing 24-28 lbs.
(These are your most common sized beagles and most often are purchased as indoor pets.  These beagles love to follow their noses, too.)
We have several of this size.



                                                 The Miniature Beagle - 

Fullgrown height of 10" - 12" tall and weighing 14-19 lbs.
(These are basically a shorter, more slender-built, petite beagle.  They have come about by the combining of bloodlines of various smaller beagles.)
This is the variety of beagle that we breed for the most.  They're smaller, more light weight, and just an excellent indoor pet.  They are not so small though, as to have numerous health issues.  We have found their health to be the same as our 13" beagles.  As mentioned before, we've had very few health issues with any of our beagles.




                         The Pocket Beagle  OR  The Teacup Beagle -

I am asked about these almost daily.  No, we do not have these.  I have a few points I need to make about this.

First of all, it's in question whether there is even such a thing.  Many breeders, sad to say, will say that their pocket or teacup beagle will only be 7 - 8 inches fullgrown and will weigh only 8 lbs.   This is false information that is being spread about and therefore this is what people are looking for. I've reasearched this extensively.  It's possible that there are other rare situations, but this is what I have found. 

1. Several have told me of purchasing this tiny breed, only to find that their "pocket beagle" grew to be 13" tall or even taller and weighed 30 lbs. or more!  They've told me of exorbitant prices such as $1250, just to find that they had been tricked into paying that price for a regular sized beagle.

2. There is a possibility of a smaller dog of 8-9 inches, and these are many times called "pocket beagles".  This tends to be a breeding of a chihauhau with a beagle and what you end up with is a smaller dog, many times with the beagle characteristics.  The problem is that they are running into all sorts of hip joint problems as it would appear that it's not a healthy combination of two breeds though the puppies are tiny and cute.  I've read and been told horrible stories by individuals who ended up with little puppies that had hip joints that would come out of joint when they were walking, etc.  One lady in St. Louis told me that she had to return such a puppy to the pet store as her puppy's head didn't have the hard skull bone on the top of the head to protect the brain.  It was soft and would give if a person were to gently press on the area on the top of it's head.  As this lady was not just a mere acquaintance and with having talked with her many times, I believe her story to be true.  She cried when relating it, remembering the pain that the little darling was in from it's joint condition, especially. It had hip displasia in a terrible way.

3. I've been told that sometimes the puppies are sold at a younger age, say 4-5 weeks, and the claim made that the puppy is already 8 weeks of age.  This of course would make it seem that the puppy was unusually small.

4. Also, in the taking of pictures for the selling of these puppies online, the puppies can be pictured at any age and there is no way to know if the seller is being honest on what age the puppy was when the picture was taken.  For instance, a 4 wk. old puppy can be placed in a coffee mug, and it can be stated that  "This is the size of our pocket beagles at 8 weeks of age!  There are no smaller in the lower 48 states!"  It all sounds wonderful, but as of now, I have yet to find one true case in talking to those who have purchased these puppies.  Again, it's possible there are cases of truly tiny pocket beagles, but the people that I've read after and talked to personally have not found these puppies to be as small as they have been portrayed to be.  I do not desire to anger other breeders by what I have said here.  I know that there are many honest breeders and so I do not desire to insinuate that all smaller beagle dog breeders are liars.  Please understand that I'm trying to tell you what I've found and also what we have to offer.  I am endeavoring to make it clear that we do not claim to have beagle puppies that will only be the size of tiny chihauhaus fullgrown.  No, that's just not the way it is and we want you to know that up front.



                         Please Read.........Thank you.
In light of what I have had to say about the sizes of beagles and in light of the fact that the smaller a beagle is the better she sells, I want to make this part clear to each one.  If you are planning to purchase a miniature from me, I believe the section below to be a very important one to look over so you understand how it is.




What to expect in purchasing a miniature from us -


First of all, if you purchase a miniature from us, we will honestly tell you the size of the parents.  Many times we will breed one slender built 13" Variety beagle with one of our miniatures and we've found this to be the best situation health-wise for the mama and her babies.  It matters not who the parents of a particular puppy are, we will honestly tell you the size of it's parents so you will know.

Secondly, the sizes of the two parent dogs can be averaged out, and that is a likely size of the puppies.  For instance, a 13" mother weighing 22 lbs. and a 11" father weighing 15 lbs, would have puppies that would be likely to be 12" tall and weighing in the upper teens in lbs.  Keep in mind though that we cannot guarantee that the puppies will be the exact average.  It should be understood that they can go after either side.

Thirdly, if size really, really matters to you, keep in mind that the females tend to weigh 3-4 lbs less fullgrown than the males.  This is because the males generally are a little broader across the chest and have more muscle mass to their bodies.  The females tend to be smaller.  Again though, there could be a chance that a female would be as big as her brothers, so again, we cannot guarantee this.  

Fourth, because we work with the beagles all of the time, we are quite aware of the expected size of miniatures or the 13" breed at a particular age.  For instance, when we are getting ready to have them adopted out at 8 weeks of age, the miniatures will tend to be about 2 1/2 lbs and the regular size will be about 4 lbs.  When I have a litter that seems to be running a little larger than expected, I will let you know that.  I have returned deposits to people, let them exchange that puppy for a smaller puppy choice, or dropped the price from the $500 miniature price to the $400 price that we charge for the 13" variety.  I do not desire to mislead and will do my utmost to let you know. But if the puppy should have more growth than expected after leaving me, keep in mind that the best I can do is tell you what to expect by the size of the fullgrown parents.  We've found this to be quite a consistent way to figure it.




                                 So it comes down to this......

No, we don't claim to have pocket or teacup beagles.
Yes, we will tell you just what the parent dogs are in weight and height.
Yes, we will tell you if they're running bigger than we would expect a miniature to run.
No, we cannot guarantee them to grow to an exact size and no bigger.  It's just something that we cannot control.



                           On Our Breeding of Our Miniature Beagles -

One last thing....our smallest miniatures are 11" tall and they weigh about 12 - 14 lbs.  Most of our miniature parents are 12" tall though and weigh in the upper teens in lbs.  In the past we thought that since people wanted them smaller, we'd just breed the smallest parents together.  I'd say we shed the most tears over that mistake and believe me....we quickly changed our doings!  In breeding two that are extra small, the babies are so tiny that you run into problems of babies that are so tiny they don't even have the strength to nurse properly.  The first time and last time we did that, ( ! ) our mother dog gave birth to 8 teeny, tiny puppies.  I'd say they weighed around 4 oz. each.  We were up night after night and around the clock, day or night, handfeeding these babies that were too weak to eat on their own.  We lost one and then another and then another until it was almost more than we could take emotionally.  I lost so much sleep and did everything I could and we only salvaged 2 out of the 8!  I know, it's a bad story, but you need to know why we will NOT breed for smallness alone.  We breed for size, yes, but we breed for their health more than anything.  Generally, one regular size and one miniature is the very best situation.  Because we want you to have a good experience with your puppy for years to come and because we want the doggie to have good health for many years, we will breed the dogs in a way that is good and healthy, and that way alone.  Thank you for your consideration of this important detail.  This issue of size seems to be the most important detail in the minds of most people that contact us.  We wanted to explain how our little puppies are in size and to tell you why we do not have smaller beagles than the miniatures.  If you have questions, we welcome you to contact us on that.  Thank you.