The temperament of a beagle as a young dog tends to be very outgoing and into everything.  So until we get some of their energies under control and ground rules understood we like to keep them in a kiddy pool with an exercise pen around it and shavings in the bottom with a bed to sleep in,  in the most used area of the house so someone is always going by to pick the puppy up and  visit with it.  In the case of a puppy that is going to be a show dog we keep a small grooming table close to the puppy pen and 1 to 4 times a day we stack the puppy. 

After feeding and pottying, whether outside or in their shavings,  is a good time to let the puppy out and have some free time. When you first get a puppy about 1/2 hour is about as long a free time as is safe.  When the puppy is out you should always be in the same room as the baby, playing with it or just making sure that it is not learning bad habits while you are away, such as chewing on the wrong thing or pottying in the wrong place.  If you catch your puppy pottying on the floor just pick it up while it is in the process , tell it no with a little shake and place it in the appropriate place. If you find a spot the the puppy has messed and you didn't catch in the process, just clean it up. After it is done, a puppy wouldn't understand why you were reprimanding at it. As it gets older and has some understanding of where the right place to potty is, you can lightly remind it that this was not the right thing to do. 

As far as household area beagle really don't take a lot of room.  They enjoy just playing in their house, so long as the owners don't mine romps through the house and over the bed.  They are like little kids enjoying what they do, but if you can't deal with puppy play maybe a dog isn't for you anyway. 

A kennel in the yard is fine, providing that your puppy is going to be a house dog.   If you don't plan for your companion to be a house dog, I would at least advise that it is crate trained.  A beagle left to play outside everyday is sure to learn to chase everything it can and learn to bark way too much, like any breed, beagles are for sure not the worst barkers. Herding breeds and toy breed are far worse. 

Beagle are unique in there enjoyment for life and the clown attitude they keep for most of there lives.  You always need to look out for the days that they just need to get into trouble. That is why a crate is the place to leave them when you are away from home.  It is so much nicer to come home and let your pet out of its crate and then out to potty and then let it come in to play, than is is to have to come home and yell at a dog that by  the time you get home has NO idea why you are mad.   Dogs don't remember what they did a 1/2 hour ago no matter how much you want to think your dog understands you.  It is really your response to things that your dog understands.  Getting mad at this time does nothing except scare you pet and maybe help it think you are nuts. 

Is it better to get an older dog or a puppy?

In any dog age really depends on how the puppy has been raised. If it has been in the house or outside, only seen when fed it's not likely to be a well socialized dog.  A puppy needs daily love and play.  It is not impossible to teach a older puppy to be social but it sometimes takes a long time and sometime never happens. It really depends on the individual dog . It takes years to develop the understanding to GUESS if the puppy will come out of it and be the dog it could have been.  With an older puppy you need to take the time to see how it warms up to you, rarely will an older puppy just be willing to love up to someone that it has never met if it has not been well socialized.   Sit down on the floor at its level and have some feed in your hand, feed the puppy but don't try to grab it.  If it comes up to you and take the food there is a good chance  it  will warm up to you in no  time. If in the case of a show puppy, if the owner stacks it you should be able to go over the puppy without much resistance.  It might want to check you out or lean away from you but it should be possible for you to touch it all over. 

What is the difference between a SHOW beagle and a FIELD beagle?

Show and field beagles are a world apart. I am sure there are some I don't know that are closer to being the same breed, but for most purposes they are far from it. The main reason being that field beagles need the drive to do their job and the way we breed our Show beagles is for companion temperament, and by doing that we've lost their drive to hunt. They'll play at chasing a rabbit, but they soon grow bored. Not to say that ALL show beagles can't hunt, for there are certainly some that can.  For a house dog you want one that will play and then cuddle up with you, is trainable, and will SOMEWHAT come when called.  Fields dogs have a higher energy level and most don't take to training as well because they are so intent on what they want to do. Either show or field beagles are somewhat stubborn, but a field beagle, with all it's extra energy, makes it the harder to deal with.

What should I look for in a puppy?

When you go to look at a puppy for your family, be sure to keep in mind what you want in a companion. Do you want a puppy that will sit down and snuggle with you or one to go on long hikes with you? Another thing to keep in mind is never decide you have to have a certain puppy because of how it looks at 2 weeks old because you could be missing out on the best personality later on. We never let anyone pick a puppy until they are at least 6 weeks old and have started to show their personalities. Try to stay away from letting yourself get hung up on a certain puppy's color or markings, because they won't amount to much in your later evaluation of the dog, who you'll come to love, NOT by color & marking but by their personality. Also gender is something many people get stuck on, and in beagles, there is not much difference in personality. The only issue that recommends a bitch is that dogs can be a problem with marking, which isn't a problem if you have your dog neutered.

Be sure to spend lots of time with the puppies you're choosing between if you can visit them. If not, tell the breeder WHAT you want in a puppy, and they should know their babies well enough to send you one that will be what you want. Take time when looking for a puppy, get to know the breeders and their dogs if you can, see if what they have is really what you want in a dog because, hopefully, you'll be spending a long time with this dog in your life. Hasty decisions can lead to having a dog that you can't live with and as breeders, we all would like our dogs to stay in their first homes.

As for the individual puppy, meet the parents if you can, just to know what they are like. The puppies themselves you'll find are quite different in personality if you sit with them for a while. The most outgoing isn't necessarily going to be the one for you, so don't get caught up in that misconception. The most outgoing could just mean the most trouble actually, because, from experience I can tell you, they tend to be into everything and in trouble as much as they can. Even a quiet puppy will be playful and fun once you get to know it, just because it hangs back doesn't mean it'll be shy. The ones to avoid are those that shy away from you violently or that get angry and snap.

We had the perfect example of someone picking their puppy a couple of years ago. These people had a deposit placed on the first pick pet female of a litter of 7 pups. They came out and sat with the puppies for probably two hours, playing with them all to try to pick between the girls. But there was this one little male who hung back and stuck by himself, he'd always been the quietest of the litter. One of the kids picked him up and he didn't shy or try to get away, after a while the boy set him aside. The puppy went back and sat in his lap. They talked for a long time, deciding whether the more active, more outgoing girl they were looking at originally or this quiet male would be the better puppy for their family. They finally decided that the male would be better suited to their household.