beagle

beagle

Beagle is a small dog breed and medium originating in the United Kingdom. According to the Federation Cynologique International, its default is the number 161, the race is part of the group 6, which belongs to section 1. The Beagle is a member of the hound group, is similar in appearance to but smaller foxhound, with shorter legs and longer and soft ears. Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking rabbits, hares and other animals in hunting. They have a keen sense of smell and its tracking instinct makes this race is used as sniffer dogs in activities prohibited as imports of agricultural products and foodstuffs in quarantine around the world. Beagles are intelligent, and are popular as pets because of their size, temperament and lack of genetic health problems. These characteristics also make the dog a target for animal testing.

Although beagle dogs have existed for over two thousand years, the modern breed was developed in the UK in the 1830s from several breeds, including the hound Talbot, the North Country Beagle, the hound southern and possibly the harrier.

The beagles are represented in popular culture since Elizabethan times in literature and painting, and more recently in film, television and comic books. Snoopy of the Peanuts comic has been promoted as the "most famous beagle in the world."