Welcome to the forum . When you have time take a look around as we have many forum sections from health care to nutrition and just about anything you would need for a Beag.
You will find many proud Beagle owners with special tips for you as you wonder through puppyhood. Please don't forget to pot a pic of your new Beag , we love em.
As for the training , your life will be made much easier with a puppy obedience class if you can swing it. This helps your new Beage in many ways that will become self-evident in time and will also serve as a bonding activity , and , you will learn together. Your Beag will be happy knowing he is learning and doing a good job.
Welcome and congrats to you and your boyfriend on your new family member!
I agree about the puppy training class. It is such a huge help especially if you don't have training experience. We have tried to train on our own but never had as much success as we did with a basic manners class. They have classes at Petsmart and Petco and often times shelters have really good classes.
If you don't have a local class or if they are too expensive, you can get some really good beagle training books on Amazon.com. I have about 4 books and they are great for info about beags in general, training issues, health management etc.