Beagle
The small hunting and family dog

Beagle - aware and friendly

The dog Beagle is originally developed for hunting hare and rabbit but today it is even more a popular family dog. The Beagle has become especially well-known as Snoopy in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.

Beagle is a scent dog and as its relatives it has an impressing nose and can sense a smell even better than most other dogs.

With the nose close to the ground - a typical position for a beagle

The Beagle has a friendly temper and gets easy along with children and it is therefore very suitable as a family dog. It has a reputation of being difficult - or even impossible - to use for serious training. This is not true but for sure it needs more consequence than many other dogs.

Beagle - drawing

Originally the Beagle is closely connected to England and the English hunting traditions but today Beagle is a popular pet dog in many countries and as a pedigree dog even more popular in America than in its homeland.

Dogs of the same size and purpose has been known for hundreds of years. Often the origin of the Beagle breed - and also the scent Basset hound - is connected to the Talbot Hound brought to England by William the Conqueror after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In Medieval times the name Beagle was used as a more general name for smaller dogs much less specific than a modern dog exhibition would accept

BeagleIn the 18th century the breeds Southern Hound and North Country Beagle started a process among others involving greyhound - ending up with the modern Beagle and the foxhound - among others. Beagles as we know it today were developed in the 19th century and The Beagle Club in England was founded in 1890.

The name Beagle was also the name of the ship H.M.S. Beagle which helped Charles Darwin to collect information about life on the planet Earth and write the book The Origin of Species

This background also inspired to the name of the Mars lander Beagle 2, which reached Mars in December 2003. Earlier American Mars landers had the names Viking 1 and Viking 2.

Read more about Beagle at Dog Breed Info Center or the very informative WikiPedia description about Beagle history and breeding.

Beagle
Relevant articles:

Wikipedia about Beagle

Dog Breed Info Center