Gatzby the Beagle was rescued and came with two things: a heart condition and double dew claws on his back legs. His heart is doing ok for now and the dew claws are just plain...strange looking.
Close up of the freaky dew claws. Not sure how common this is but in 10 years of doing dog photos, this is a first for me. A rear dew claw is officially known as a hind-limb-specific preaxial polydacyly. I prefer to call it a rear dew claw.
Here's a nice pose for something like...Beagle Monthly or Better Homes and Beagles. Maybe a dog food bag...
Anyway, the Beagle - as a quick Google search will tell you - was developed in the 1800's in Great Britain to hunt rabbits. As such, Beagles are excellent sniffers and are known as "scent hounds". They are very good at tracking and if you've ever owned one you'd know that it's almost impossible to pry them away from a good smell. Alongside the Bloodhound and Basset Hound, the Beagle has one of the best developed senses of any dog.
We had a fun shoot! He's a lucky boy with all the right Beagle moves and I bet his owners think they're lucky too.