Beagle (English Beagle) Appearance and Characteristics

Beagle is a scent hound with a devoted temperament and he is included in the top ten most popular dog breeds in the world. He has a beautiful and attractive appearance, long ears and kind eyes. Earlier, he was developed originally for hunting hare, now he is good companion and excellent family dog. The Beagle has an intelligent, fun, loyal and resolute temperament. He will be an excellent family dog. He loves children and gets along well with other pets, except hamsters (due to the strong hunting instinct). The Beagle completely devoid of aggression towards people, he pleased to see everyone and greet them with a wagging tail.

Beagle is scent hound so 1/3 of his brain is responsible for scent and his nose has 16 separate muscles. It is quite interesting because Beagle can smells in 200 times better than humans. Dogs of this breed are used as detection dog for prohibited agricultural imports and foodstuffs in quarantine around the world because the Beagle has a great sense of smell and superior tracking instinct.

Origin: Great Britain.

Utilization: Scent Hound.

FCI Classification: Group 6 Scent hounds and related breeds. Section 1.3 Small-sized Hounds. With working trial.

General Appearance Beagle: a strong, hardy hound with compact body.

Important Proportions:

• Length of head, between occiput and tip of nose, divided by stop, as equally as possible.
• Height to elbow about half height at withers.

Behaviour and  Temperament of Beagle: brave, active, stamina, watchful, intelligent and determination dog. He is amiable and alert without aggression or timidity.

Head is length and powerful without being coarse (in female is finer), free from frown and wrinkle.

Skull is slightly domed, moderately wide with slight peak.

Stop is well defined, dividing length, between occiput and tip of nose, as equally as possible.

Nose is black and broad with wide nostrils. It is permissible less pigmentation nose in lighter colored Beagle.

Muzzle: square-cut.

Teeth / Jaws are strong with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite (the upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth).

Eyes are large with mild appealing expression, dark brown or hazel color.

Ears are long with rounded tip, fine in texture and hanging close to cheeks. Ears have to reach nearly to end of nose when drawn out.

Neck is enough long to enable hound to come down easily to scent, slightly arched and showing little dewlap.

Body well balanced.

Topline: straight, level.

Loin: loins powerful, supple.

Chest: let down to below elbow. Ribs are well sprung and extending well back.

Underline/Belly: without excessive tuck-up.

Tail: sturdy, moderately long. Set on high, carried gaily but not curled over back or inclined forward from root. Well covered with hair, especially on underside.

Forequarters:

Shoulder: well laid back, not loaded.

Elbow: firm, turning neither in nor out.

Forearm: forelegs straight and upright.

Pastern: short.

Forefeet: tight, firm, not hare-footed. Nails are short.

Hindquarters:

Thigh: muscular.

Knee: well bent.

Hock joint: firm, well let down and parallel to each other.

Hind feet: tight, firm, not hare-footed. Nails are short. Well knuckled up and strongly padded.

Movement: free.

Coat: hair is short, dense and weatherproof.

Size Beagle:

• Desirable minimum height at the withers 33 cm.
• Desirable maximum height at the withers 40 cm.

Weight: Male Beagle 22–25 lb (10.0–11.3 kg); Female Beagle 20–23 lb (9.1–10.4 kg)

Life span of Beagle dog: 12–15 years

Faults: any departure from the foregoing points should be considered as fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and effect upon the health and welfare of dog and on his ability to perform traditional work.

Disqualifying Faults:

• Aggressive or overly shy
• Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural anomaly shall be disqualified.

N.B.:

• Male of Beagle should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.
• Only functionally and clinically healthy dogs, with breed typical conformation should be used for breeding.

Color of Beagle

• Tricolor (black, tan and white)
• Blue
• White and tan
• Badger pied
• Hare pied
• Lemon pied
• Lemon and white
• Red and white
• Tan and white
• Black and white
• Completely white

All this colors can be found as mottle, except of white Beagle. Other colors are not permissible. Tip of tail always white.