Beagle basic information

A Beagle is a medium-sized dog breed and a member of the hound group, similar in appearance to a Foxhound but smaller with shorter legs, and with longer, softer ears. Beagles are scent hounds used primarily for hunting rabbits to larger hares.

The Beagle has a somewhat oval skull; a medium-length, square-cut muzzle; large, hound-like hazel or brown eyes; long, low-set ears (big), turning towards the cheeks slightly and rounded at the tips; a medium-length, strong neck without folds in the skin; a broad chest narrowing to a tapered abdomen and waist; a short, slightly curved tail; an overall muscular body; and a medium-length, smooth, hard coat. One standard calls for ideally shaped beagles to be twice as long as tall, and twice as tall as wide.

They appear in a range of colors, not limited to the familiar tricolor (white with large black areas and light brown spots). Two-color varieties are always white with colored areas, including such colors as "lemon", a very light tan; "red", a reddish, almost orangish brown; and "liver", a darker brown (liver is the only colour not allowed in the British Standard). "Ticked" varieties may be either white or black with different colored spots ("ticking"), such as the bluetick beagle, which has spots that appear to be a midnight-blue color, similar to the Bluetick Coonhound. Some tricolor beagles also have ticking of various colors in their white areas.

Beagles are almost always born black and white, with the brownish areas developing later. The brown is usually the last color to appear, taking sometimes 1-2 years to fully develop. Some beagles gradually change color throughout their lives. Beagles typically have a white-tipped tail, or "flag", which is important in locating them in the field due to their short height.

Breed varieties
The American Kennel Club and the Canadian Kennel Club recognize two separate varieties of Beagle: the 13-inch for hounds less than 13 inches, and the 15-inch for those between 13 and 15 inches. The Kennel Club (UK) and FCI affiliated clubs recognize a single type, with a height of between 13 and 16 inches. These standard dogs can reach 35 lb or more.

In Medieval times, there was a breed called a pocket beagle, which stood at 8 to 9 inches. Small enough to fit in a "pocket" or saddlebag, they rode along on the hunt. The larger foxhounds would run the prey to ground, then the hunters would release the small beagles to continue the chase through underbrush into their burrows. Queen Elizabeth I often entertained guests at her royal table by letting her pocket beagles cavort amid their plates and cups. This genetic line is now extinct.