History of the Beagle

Beagle is small, popular hunting dog with amazing tracking instinct. But do you know, where and how they have been developed? Beagles have long long history and it is hard to trace it 100% correctly. But we are pretty sure, that there were similar dogs, in size, apperance and temperament in 6th century BC. These dogs lived in Greece and were used for hunting hare. They spread to other parts of Europe, we know, that they lived in ancient Britain in 3rd century.

In the past, in 18th century, Beagles were way smaller than today. They were still hunting dogs, but Royal English family started using them for amusment and for their melodious singing voices. The Royal family stopped using Beagles for hunting and instead, they used larger Foxhounds. Fortunatelly, farmers and some hunters still used Beagle for hare hunting in southern England, otherwise they would be probably extinct today.

Watch full video about Beagle history here: