Description: Large-eyed and long-eared, with a pure, kindly and sometimes conniving expression best captured in cartoon version by Charlie Brown’s Snoopy.

Beagles have a keen sense of smell, a desire to hunt and track down strange odors and a tendency to bay unceasingly when something seems amiss.

Behavior: Beagles like to please their masters. Training must begin early or the beagle can get out of hand and indulge in its favorite habits -- overeating and making a mess. They are also excellent escapologists and will attempt to dig their way out of any jam.

This breed, for all its apparent innocence, can be stubborn, hard to housebreak and bark to an annoying degree. Yet they are gentle and good natured and get along well with other dogs. Even inside, beagles are prone to cruising around the house with their noses down, sniffing away as they make an olfactory map of the territory, then checking the area periodically to make sure everything is as it should be.

Tendency to bark: High

Level of aggression: Low

Suitability as guard dog: Medium

(Candidate photo by AP; sketch by Susan Donley, petspictured.com; breed photo by Chicago Tribune)