i would definetly say beagles! at the top kodiak talked about the short leg or long leg beagles. i will pretty much only use the short leg beagles for a couple of reasons: first if you run anywhere close to water the short legged beagles are a lot less likely to cross the water (we run around some swamps and the long legged beagles will always cross the swamp) the problem with this is that you either have to go across and get them or wait for them to come back! this could take awhile (have spent many nights waiting for dogs to come home.)
the second reason why i prefer the shorter ones is because they can not keep up with the deer when running them. they will find the trail and jump the deer to get them moving, but it does not take long before the deer as split from the dogs. the reason i like this is because this allows the deer to move and come back before the dogs chase the deer into the next county