American Canine Association

Breeds

Beagle


History

Bred from the Harrier Hound, Southern Hound, and Talbot Hound to name a few, the Beagle is one of the best scent tracking hounds that exist. Tracing all the ways back to the 1800’s, Beagles were used to hunt rabbits, birds, foxes and other small animals. Today, they are still used for this. In the 1800's Beagles were finally in the United States from Great Brittan where they originated, and have since been a part of history. From making appearances in historic paintings, to being the main character in the famous cartoon, "Snoopy", this breed is very well known. With selective breeding, this breed has three different varieties; standard beagle, miniature beagle, and pocket beagle.

Appearance

The Beagle is a medium sized breed with males and females measuring 13-15 inches in height and weighing 20-24 pounds in weight. This breed is very adorable in appearance. Their body is built lean and solid in appearance with a wide forehead transforming into a rectangular muzzle that comes to a scissor bite. Two pendant shaped ears hang gently alongside of their face. Their two large, oval eyes are generally hazel to black in color. Their tail is medium in length, tapers down to a point and should remain positioned down and upwards at the end when relaxed. This breed has a single layer coat that is available in tri color, black and tan, red and tan, orange and white, fawn and white, blue and red tick and all color combinations of these.

Temperament

This breed is not recommended for every household, as it does not due well with small animals due to its hunting instincts. Generally kind, very sweet, gentle and happy, the Beagle is a wonderful companion to add to your family if you have the proper facilities to own one. It is recommended to have a safe, fenced area for this breed to roam freely in everyday, and never recommended to be off leash because of their scent tracking traits unless you are using this breed as a hunting partner. This breed does well with other dogs, elderly and children. Easy to train because the Beagle is eager to learn, positive reinforcement works best with these dogs. The Beagle is used to being in "packs", so they are prone to separation anxiety if you have no other dogs.

Grooming

Beagles have very short hair, and do not require much grooming at all. Bathe your Beagle when it is needed, but not on a regular basis. This breed sheds average.

Special Notes

Please note that Beagles are prone to back and eye problems. This breed requires a properly installed fence to roam freely in, or a proper harness and lead while outside at all times due to following scents or small animals. Please fully educate yourself about the Beagle prior to adding one to your family to ensure that this is the correct breed of choice. Do not add a Beagle to your family unless you are able to provide life long physical and financial care. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

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