Health Issues, History of and Famous Beagles

Beagles are a healthy breed, often living for 12 to 15 years, but they do have a few common health problems.

The Beagle's ears are long and floppy, which can trap warm moist air or prevent air from reaching the ear canals. This condition can be successfully treated with regular cleaning daily and sometimes medication for major cases. Careless bathing can get water into their ears, potentially causing ear infections.

Sometimes their eyelashes grow into the eye and irritate the eye, also known as distichiasis; this might require surgery to remove the eyelashes.
 

Obesity is a common health problem in Beagles due to people overfeeding them in response to their playful and kind behavior. A healthy Beagle should have some definition to its waist and have an hourglass appearance when viewed from above. You should be able to feel their ribs. Excessive weight can lead to problems such as hip dysplasia and heart trouble. They need exercise and a good diet.

Some Beagles are prone to congenital heart disease.

In some rare cases Beagles may develop polyarthritis (where the immune system attacks the joints) even at a young age. This can be sometimes treated effectively with cortisone.

Beagles are also prone to seizures and epilepsy. This disease is treatable with medication.
 

History

Beagles (or their ancestors) appear to have been used for hare hunting in England as early as the reign of Edward III, who had a pack of up to 120 hare hounds with him on the battlefield during the Hundred Years' War. The first mention of the beagle in English literature by name dates from 1475. The origin of the word "beagle" is uncertain, although it has been suggested that the word derives from the French begueule (meaning "open throat", or more colloquially, "loudmouth") or from an Old English, French, or Welsh term beag, meaning "small." Other possibilities include the French beugler (meaning "to bellow") and the German begele (meaning "to scold").

Beagles were originally used for hunting, and still are in some places. Beagling has been referred to as "the poor person's foxhunting," as a Beagle pack (30–40 dogs) is followed on foot, not horseback. The usual quarry is the hare. Beagles are admired by some for the bloodcurdling "Beagle music" they emit when in full pursuit, also called tonguing. Beagling, like foxhunting, is banned in England. Drag hunting is another Beagle sport.
 

Working life

Beagles have superb noses and, despite their self-willed temperament, are sometimes used as sniffer dogs for drug detection. More often, though, they are the breed of choice of the United States Department of Agriculture to detect food items in luggage being transported into the U.S.

[ A very happy beagle puppy. ]

The force is called the Beagle Brigade and these dogs wear a green jacket. Beagles were chosen because they are small and easy to care for, and because they are not as intimidating for people who are uncomfortable around dogs. They are also used for this purpose by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in New Zealand and by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (for whom they wear maroon jackets).

Beagles are the dog breed most often used in animal testing, due to their passive nature.
 

Beagles in popular culture

The Peanuts comic strip character Snoopy and his siblings are beagles.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Shiloh trilogy is about a beagle.
The Beagle Boys in Disney's DuckTales.
Character Audrey fforbes-Hamilton has a Beagle in the BBC series 'To the Manor Born'
Lou in Cats and Dogs
Porthos in Star Trek: Enterprise
Buster in The Wonder Years.
Buckley in The Royal Tenenbaums
According to Garfield, Odie is half-beagle and half-brick
Gromit from the animated cartoon "Wallace & Gromit" is a beagle
 

Famous beagles

US President Lyndon Johnson owned three Beagles named Him, Her, and Edgar.

Beagle Dog Breed Information and Pictures

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Beagle".