Posted by Jeanne on April 8, 2009
The Beagle is a dog that officially belongs in the hound group. This group is divided into two classes – those that hunt with their eyes, like the Greyhound and the Borzoi, and those that hunt with their noses, like the Dachshund and the Bloodhound.
The Beagle is a nose hunter, too. If you take a Beagle into the field, he’ll be off on the trail of a rabbit before you can say, “Go get him!” If you live in the country and rabbits keep digging up your garden, get a couple of Beagles and your rabbit troubles will be over. The Beagles will not only chase rabbits oft your property but woodchucks and moles as well.
When a Beagle is on the trail of game, he often goes through grass and brush so high that it it were not for his white-tipped tail sticking up in the air you wouldn’t know where he is. As long as you see his tail up, you know the Beagle has his nose down. As soon as the nose comes up off the ground, the tail comes down to a level with his body, sticking almost straight out.
The reason for this up and down signaling of the tail is that the dog can’t bark to let you know where he is as long as his nose is down tracking game. His tail has to tell you his location. But, as soon as he can bring his nose up, he can bark to signal where he is and he doesn’t need his “flag.’
There are big Beagles and there are small Beagles – whatever kind you have, you know that yours is a popular breed.
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Posted by Jeanne on March 18, 2009
You must have heard at one time or another that good things come in small packages. Of all living things, one of the most appealing is a kitten. But, for people who would rather have a dog than a kitten and who have neither the room nor the energy for a large dog, one of the toy dogs is the perfect answer.
Some of these small dogs look so much like their bigger brothers that it is hard to tell them apart in a photograph where there is no indication of relative size. The Toy Poodle looks exactly like the Standard Poodle. The Italian Greyhound and the big, sleek, racing Greyhound are exact duplicates except for size. And, the Miniature Pinscher looks enough like the Doberman to make people confuse the two.
There is a toy dog for every taste. It you have the time to groom your pet, there are a number of long hairs you can choose from. The Yorkshire Terrier will require the most attention – you’ll even have to put his hair up in curlers. The Pekinese, the Pomeranian, and the Papillon all enjoy a daily brushing.
The name Papillon, incidentally, comes from the French word that is spelled the same way and means butterfly. This dog is so named because of its ears. When held erect, the ears and the fringes along the side of the face of the Papillon look a lot like a butterfly.
lf you want a small dog that requires a minimum of care, you can pick one of the short hairs like the Toy Manchester, the Pug, or the Chihuahua, named after a state in Mexico, and pronounced chez-wa-wa. And, if you want a dog with no hair at all, you can get a Mexican hairless.
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