Harrier

History

Around for hundreds of years, the Harrier is a breed believed to of been from the Foxhound or Beagle bloodlines, though there is no evidence of which bloodlines actually created this breed. We do know that this breed is excellent at hunting all small wild animals such as fox, hare, groundhogs and more. This breed is very popular in the USA today and often mistaken for a Beagle!

Appearance

The Harrier is a medium to large breed dog with males and females measuring 19-21 inches in height and measuring 40-60 pounds in weight. This breed has a wedge shaped head that is broad between the ears, rounded at the edges where the ears are folded down along side of their face, and a rectangular muzzle. Their eyes are large in size, round in shape and available in a light hazel to dark brown in color. Their general body build is long, lean and active in appearance. Their tail is long in length, thicker at the base and tapering to a point and generally held upwards and curved. Their coat is a single layer, short hair coat that is close to the skin and soft to the touch. Their coat is available in tri color, as well as all other colors and combinations.

Temperament

The Harrier is an excellent hunter and family companion. This breed does like to bark and "bay", so it is important for potential owners to make note of this. This breed is not recommended for homes with any small, non-canine pets, due to their natural hunting instincts. The Harrier does fantastic with children of all ages, and is generally a very outgoing, fun, friendly, loving family dog. Full of energy, the Harrier needs a good deal of physical and mental exercise daily to be well behaved and content while indoors at night. This breed requires an active owner who is able to meet their needs and requirements, remain pack leader at all times and use positive reinforcement training methods. We recommend early socialization and obedience classes.

Grooming

This breed does shed. Daily brushing and bathing when needed.

Special Notes

This breed requires a properly fenced in yard, or properly fitting harness and leash at all times while outdoors, due to their natural nature to chase scents and while animals. Please fully educate yourself about the Harrier breed prior to adding one to your family to ensure 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.