100 
Beagles and Beagling 
it is as well that he confines himself to bench show 
strains; if, on the other hand, he wishes to develop 
a race of working beagles, for best results he must 
look to those families that are noted for such quali¬ 
ties, to produce them. However, there are numerous 
typical working strains of beagles and the beginner 
need not fear that he must sacrifice type in order 
to maintain the useful qualities. 
In the breeding of all domestic animals one must 
also have due regard for the weaknesses that may 
he prevalent in the various strains, whether they are 
latent or active. In beagles one finds such weaknesses 
as frequently as in other varieties. For instance, if 
it is discovered that descendents from certain fami¬ 
lies are nervous, rattle-headed and inclined to gun- 
shyness. The latter character may not he trans¬ 
mitted directly, but the predisposition to it is trans¬ 
mitted, hence the breeder must act accordingly, by 
selecting the parentage from such stock which is 
free from this taint. Constitutional disease is 
another character that is easily intensified. For 
instance, I have seen certain families of dogs where 
eczema and other skin diseases were almost incur¬ 
able. This is due to inheritance and the only wav 
to eradicate it in the progeny is to breed to another 
line of blood that shows nothing of this weakness. 
Cross breeding, line breeding and in-breeding are 
three other phases of beagle culture that should be 
given consideration. Cross breeding means the 
mating of strains that are directly opposed to each 
other, even though they may be of the same variety. 
For example, one crossed a strain of beagles that 
had no show qualities whatever, but were noted for 
