Puggle

No two Puggles are the same, so the feeding plan is a job for your vet, built around age, size and health history rather than a chart.

Obesity is the risk that sits under everything else here. Both parent breeds are prone to putting on weight when left to their own devices, so expect the cross to be the same. Measure meals, count treats and get a target weight from your vet.

Weight matters more than usual on this dog for two separate reasons. Hip dysplasia and patellar luxation both sit in the record, and extra load makes both worse. And any degree of the Pug's flattened face means extra weight also makes breathing harder, particularly in warm weather.

A Beagle's appetite is proverbial, and a Puggle that has inherited it will make the case for food far more persuasively than the label does. Do not negotiate.

Grooming is the easy part of owning a Puggle. The short coat needs only a weekly brushing, which leaves plenty of time for play.

The eyes need more attention than the coat. Both parent breeds are prone enough to eye problems that their official breed clubs recommend every Pug and every Beagle be examined by a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist. A Puggle inherits from both sides of that.

From the Pug side comes the risk of proptosis, where a large protruding eye partly or fully leaves its socket, which is an emergency. From the Beagle side comes cherry eye, where the tear duct becomes inflamed and prone to infection. Watch for redness, discharge, cloudiness or a dog pawing at its face.

Check the skin and ears while you brush, since brachycephalic conformation predisposes dogs to skin and ear disease as well as to the breathing problems it is better known for.

Puggles are far too full of energy and intelligence to spend their days lounging, whatever the lap-dog dimensions suggest. Both parents are active, intelligent breeds needing daily mental and physical stimulation, and the cross needs the same.

Use the nose. A Beagle is a scent hound and a Puggle usually inherits the equipment and the motivation, so scent games and tracking work are the most satisfying exercise you can give one and they cost no distance at all.

That same nose is the reason for a leash or a fence. A dog following a scent is not listening, and this is a cross that will keep going.

Manage the heat. A Puggle's muzzle is longer than a Pug's, but a longer muzzle does not mean the issues associated with flat-faced breeds are avoided, and heat and exercise intolerance are among them. Exercise in cooler parts of the day and stop early rather than late.

Puggles are outgoing, playful dogs that enjoy the company of other dogs and of people of every age, which makes socialisation more a pleasure than a project. Both parent breeds are affectionate and gentle in families, including families with other dogs.

Train with the intelligence rather than against it. Beagles were bred to work both independently and as part of a team, so a Puggle can be self-directed without being disobedient, and interesting work holds its attention better than repetition.

Plan for company. Neither parent breed is well suited to long stretches of alone time and the offspring is no different, so the household this cross suits is one with people in it.

Choose the breeder on health. Find someone who prioritises health over profit and tests to reduce the incidence of the conditions above, several of which are inherited and none of which are cheap.