	Shelby and Toby
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Hi everyone, welcome to our place in the Beagle Web Page Kennel. My wife Denise and I have had dogs in our home since 1967, but our first beagle was Shelby (right, in the photo), who we acquired in September 1995, a few months after our previous dog died from cancer. Shelby was such a wonderful dog that we have become big fans of the breed and decided to get her a beagle companion, as our two crabby old cats would have nothing to do with her. We heard about a beagle in a Bellingham (WA) shelter and went up and adopted him before his time there ran out. Shelby is now about 17 months and Toby (the lefthand dog in the photo) is estimated to be about 2 yrs old. Both are tricolored, as you see, although Toby has a lot more white than Shelby. (Both are neutered.) Shelby is probably taller than the 15" standard, has long graceful legs, a deep chest and loves to run like a racehorse. She has a perpetually mournful look about her, and eyes that seem to look different directions from each other. Since joining the list I've learned she has a single coat, since she feels silky smooth, like a dobie looks. She is a Kong bouncer, with a great flipping technique, but don't let her get started while anyone's asleep in the house! She can sit for hours with her feet propped on the low garden wall watching people go about their lives from the vantage point in our yard up on a hill. She does an odd creeping move where she drags herself by her front feet with her hind legs stretched out straight behind her, when she first gets out of her crate in the morning. She is a very sweet, affectionate dog, who rarely barks (although she excitedly ARROOOS at dogs). Toby is another story, and a great lesson about the variety within a breed. He is a stiff, stocky, muscular fellow, who seems to have trouble curling up in a chair. He falls over trying to get at his own tail. He has the habit of flapping his cheeks when he is excited or agitated, making a snorting sound. His voice is like a bullhorn and echoes back off houses blocks away. His feet are HUGE paddle like things compared to Shelby's, so it's a good thing he doesn't (usually) share her enthusiasm for digging. He's a Kong cruncher, who can demolish almost any chew toy that he doesn't bury in the couch cushions, with great careful nose-shoveling movements. He thrashes his tail with wonderful enthusiasm and cheers you up just by that audible thumping greeting when you walk in the room. Toby is also a wonderful "uncle" to our daughter's shepherd-mix puppy, Emily. He loves playing with her and obligingly falls over when she "attacks", so she can get at him better. He even reacts with great restraint when she bites too hard with those little needle-teeth. I think he's teaching her how to play with proper dog etiquette. Shelby and Toby as a combination are like a third dog, different from either of them when alone. They are rough, turbulent and energetic in their play together. Toby will grab at Shelby's neck to get her started and when she retaliates his ears flatten back on his head and he skitters around on the flooring getting Shelby to chase him, zig-zagging around the tables and other furniture. She yips excitedly, cutting him off with her speed, only to have him carom off in another direction. It's like a Keystone Kops comedy routine. Outside, it takes on a three-dimensional aspect as they chase each other around the narrow grass strips and up and down and across the hillside in our yard - Toby like a mad windup dog, legs a-blur and Shelby streaking after him like a beagle-cheetah - with dirt-flinging turns just before they plow into the fence on either side of the yard (our poor garden!), and ear-flapping leaps as they dive over the garden wall and down the hillside. After all this workout, and a towelling off on muddy days, they are ready to curl up, sometimes in the same chair and rest up for the next romp.

Shelby and Toby

Hi everyone, welcome to our place in the Beagle Web Page Kennel. My wife Denise and I have had dogs in our home since 1967, but our first beagle was Shelby (right, in the photo), who we acquired in September 1995, a few months after our previous dog died from cancer. Shelby was such a wonderful dog that we have become big fans of the breed and decided to get her a beagle companion, as our two crabby old cats would have nothing to do with her. We heard about a beagle in a Bellingham (WA) shelter and went up and adopted him before his time there ran out. Shelby is now about 17 months and Toby (the lefthand dog in the photo) is estimated to be about 2 yrs old. Both are tricolored, as you see, although Toby has a lot more white than Shelby. (Both are neutered.) Shelby is probably taller than the 15" standard, has long graceful legs, a deep chest and loves to run like a racehorse. She has a perpetually mournful look about her, and eyes that seem to look different directions from each other. Since joining the list I've learned she has a single coat, since she feels silky smooth, like a dobie looks. She is a Kong bouncer, with a great flipping technique, but don't let her get started while anyone's asleep in the house! She can sit for hours with her feet propped on the low garden wall watching people go about their lives from the vantage point in our yard up on a hill. She does an odd creeping move where she drags herself by her front feet with her hind legs stretched out straight behind her, when she first gets out of her crate in the morning. She is a very sweet, affectionate dog, who rarely barks (although she excitedly ARROOOS at dogs).

Toby is another story, and a great lesson about the variety within a breed. He is a stiff, stocky, muscular fellow, who seems to have trouble curling up in a chair. He falls over trying to get at his own tail. He has the habit of flapping his cheeks when he is excited or agitated, making a snorting sound. His voice is like a bullhorn and echoes back off houses blocks away. His feet are HUGE paddle like things compared to Shelby's, so it's a good thing he doesn't (usually) share her enthusiasm for digging. He's a Kong cruncher, who can demolish almost any chew toy that he doesn't bury in the couch cushions, with great careful nose-shoveling movements. He thrashes his tail with wonderful enthusiasm and cheers you up just by that audible thumping greeting when you walk in the room. Toby is also a wonderful "uncle" to our daughter's shepherd-mix puppy, Emily. He loves playing with her and obligingly falls over when she "attacks", so she can get at him better. He even reacts with great restraint when she bites too hard with those little needle-teeth. I think he's teaching her how to play with proper dog etiquette.

Shelby and Toby as a combination are like a third dog, different from either of them when alone. They are rough, turbulent and energetic in their play together. Toby will grab at Shelby's neck to get her started and when she retaliates his ears flatten back on his head and he skitters around on the flooring getting Shelby to chase him, zig-zagging around the tables and other furniture. She yips excitedly, cutting him off with her speed, only to have him carom off in another direction. It's like a Keystone Kops comedy routine. Outside, it takes on a three-dimensional aspect as they chase each other around the narrow grass strips and up and down and across the hillside in our yard - Toby like a mad windup dog, legs a-blur and Shelby streaking after him like a beagle-cheetah - with dirt-flinging turns just before they plow into the fence on either side of the yard (our poor garden!), and ear-flapping leaps as they dive over the garden wall and down the hillside. After all this workout, and a towelling off on muddy days, they are ready to curl up, sometimes in the same chair and rest up for the next romp.