[QUOTE=KBC;6519316]
I’m glad someone asked this question, I am puppy shopping at the moment, and it is a bit of a nightmare…
I controversially want a small Beagle, dons tin helmet…I so far have found many descriptions, Pocket Beagle, Olde English Pocket, Mini Beagle, Elizabethan Beagle…all arguing that the other types are sub standard.
I understand that they are not a KC recognized breed, and that’s fine, I want a pet not a breeder or a show dog, but trying to buy responsibly…
Prices from $350 to $1800
Lots of fancy, but hard to navigate websites.
Lots of talk about ‘adopting puppies’ err no you are selling I am buying…
I could go on.
I see nice healthy looking puppies, then find that the kennel is listing several other breeds for sale, that really smacks of puppy mill to me.
People who are dying to ship me a puppy without asking any questions other than “How would you like to pay” screams puppy mill.
What else do I actually look for?
- So far I'm looking for people with nice plain looking websites, who list their bitches and dogs for me to see.
- Pictures that are taken in the home, rather than behind a wire fence.
- Not to many puppies available,
- People who ask me questions about why I want a puppy and if I know which end is which.
What else can I do?[/QUOTE]
There is a standard in AKC for smaller beagles, from 9 to 13 inches is one class, the other for 13 - 15 inches, at least in field competitions, I know less about the conformation ring. The original “pocket beagles” is a rather funny expression historically because ‘begel’ is where some think the name derived which in old French means small. Queen Anne, not Elizabeth, thank God, was the one who bred packs of these smaller beagles to carry in satchels on horseback, a moveable pack so to speak since they were hunting rabbits and they just do not run like a deer or stag. Generally the cottontail rabbit, for instance, will run in a circle of about an acre or so. Bigger running rabbits such as the Kansas Reds or San Juans run a much bigger loop according to their environment.
When we bred beagles for hunting and for field trial purposes, we from time to time would have a smaller, not necessarily runt, but smaller beagles, rarely though. One famous one was named Ruby, a red and black and altogether a fine looking dog and was not a dwarf, and she stood at 9". It is possible to find someone who breeds through a publication called “Hounds and Hunting” out of Pennsylvania and go through the want ads, or look at the kennel listings. Now, not when we were competing, but now there are bench competitions along with the field trials and that has helped create what I had always wanted when I was younger, a beautifully made, short coupled hound with a good head, free movement and with stamina to burn. The obscenities that I saw at the time were parrot mouths particularly, that, I think has been pretty much obliterated.
I would contact some through those publications and ask them to hold a small puppy for you from one of those litters. It is possible to breed 9" or so called pocket dogs without getting into the miniaturization of the beagle and all of the atrocities that go along with creating toy dogs. They are neat little creatures and will be just as healthy as any of the so called “regular” sized dogs because they are at the low end of the traditionally sized scale that was always accepted in the field work of the AKC.
BTW, the magazine Hounds and Hunting has been in publication for about 100 years. They have some very interesting histories of the beagle in the US alone. Read about the famous black and white “Patch Hounds” and enjoy your “merry beagle”.
