Beagle (dog)

The Beagle is a breed of small to medium-sized dog, who is a member of the Hound Group.

The origins of the beagle are clouded but they probably originated in Wales, where the Celts raised the ancestors of today's breed.

A beagle-like dog was used in France as a courser for hares and brought to England at the time of the Norman Conquest.

The first mention of the beagle by name in English literature dates from ca. 1475 in the Esquire of Low Degree.

During the days of King Henry VIII of England, beagles were sometimes bred with wiry coats and were so small they could be carried to the hunt in coat pockets.

The modern breed was developed in Great Britain around the 1830s from several breeds, including the Talbot Hound, the North Country Beagle and the Southern Hound.

Beagles were in the United States by the 1840s at the latest, but the first dogs were imported strictly for hunting and were of variable quality. The breed was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1885.

Former US President Lyndon Johnson had several beagles, and caused an outcry when he picked up one of them by its ears during an official greeting on the White House lawn.

In June 2006, a trained beagle assistance dog was credited with saving the life of its owner after using her owner's cell phone to dial an emergency number.

A 9-year-old beagle named Purin broke the world record for the most balls caught by a dog with its paws on March 22, 2015, by catching 14 balls in 60 seconds  The record-breaking feat took place in Sakura, Japan, and was witnessed and verified by officials from Guinness World Records. Purin, whose name means "pudding" in Japanese, had been trained by her owner, Makoto Kumagai, to catch and return balls using only her front paws. 

The Peanuts character Snoopy denied being a beagle, the first time he was referred to as one in the strip. As Snoopy dozed, Charlie Brown paraphrased Gertrude Stein: "Beagles on the grass, alas." To this, Snoopy replied, "I ain't no stupid beagle!"

Beagles are the dog breed most often used in animal testing, due to their size and passive nature. Of the 8,018 dogs used in testing in the United Kingdom in 2004, 7,799 were Beagles (97.3%).

The typical American beagle is short-legged, stands 30 to 41 cm (12 to 16 in) high at the shoulders, weighs about 23 kg (about 51 lb), and has a smooth coat that is usually white with black and tan markings. It has a long, slightly domed head; brown or hazel eyes that have a gentle expression, drooping ears, a straight and square-cut muzzle, sloping shoulders and muscular hips and thighs.

Most beagles are born with a white tipped tail. That was a trait selected by breeders to make them easier to identify among tall grass and dense vegetation while hunting.

Beagle pixiebay

Some beagles exhibit a behavior known as reverse sneezing, in which they sound as if they are choking or gasping for breath, but are actually drawing air in through the mouth and nose. The exact cause of this behavior is not known, but it is not harmful to the dog.

Sources Wikipedia, Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc