History - Beagle
Beagle Bogotá Colombia
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It is known that from the earliest times there have been hounds beside the man, as faithful allies in the search for daily food. On the evidence found in caves, paintings, and the bones found in archaeological excavations, we know that from ancient times lived and hunted with the hound kind of man a stiff tail and ear pendants. Tangible evidence of the existence of the Beagle as a unique race do not appear until the fifteenth century, only the certainty that we have had one or more types of hounds very similar to it before that date.
During the reign of Henry VII, in the sixteenth century, and are more reliable evidence that race exist as such, although it is possible, once again, that they were like a brother. It is easy to understand why the cinófilos doubts about the date of the origin of the Beagle, bearing in mind that since antiquity it had been doing definitions might be applied to race. Xenophon described, in 350 BCE some hounds that are, in most detail, the Beagle. Two other Greek and Arian Oppian, describing about Beagles.
The first was a poet and his descriptions were, therefore, very detailed. But you can not talk about the word Beagle until much later, at a date that roughly corresponds to the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509). In 1644 appeared for the first time the word Beagle to define a very specific type of hound, comes this word in the books - if they can call home notebooks of that time - belonging to the Dukes of Belford, which had always planned an extraordinary provision of food for their Beagles.
It is true that before the word had appeared Beagle in the words of James I of England, as if to describe a small-sized dog. From 1650 all British royal families disposed of their individual packs and, if I may say in this way, their own bloodlines. Among others, and the alleged quality of Rehal, we quote William III, Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. By then, hunting was not considered a sport only for gentlemen, and queens spent much of the day to monitor the status of their dogs.
There were still very different size dogs, some of which did not exceed half of what a normal Beagle today, and others who reached the height at the withers of a Foxhound. During World War II, the population of Beagles, then very nourished, greatly decreased and disappeared many bloodlines.
Hunters and farmers who worked to revive the race, looking for new blood and better specimens, homogenized and were responsible for giving a logical aspect of hound. Completely disappeared very small dogs, given that fox hunting was responsible for the larger size dogs, like the Foxhound, it was decided to give the race a medium format but strong, solid legs not very high, but well square. Beagles are dogs more Britons have been exported abroad, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, central Europe.
They also came to South America and India. In the United States was the first official test of field with the Beagle from 1888, and agility of these dogs roused enthusiasm everywhere. In England also were holding field trials, as in France or Germany, but most fans originated beauty contests. Thus, some packs, affixes and breeders gained tremendous popularity worldwide. We can talk about Rehal of one James Russell, who until 1910 won all the prizes have or might have. James Russell was a famous hunter, but above all the best breeder of Beagles that were in history, say the experts. Other famous names are those of Sir Frederick Fitz Wygam, the Woodvale Goff with his kennel, the Marquis of Linlithgow - who was renowned for raising Beagles very small size -, later, the famous kennel Satchville Thorpe, Otto Paget, was definitive to improve some bloodlines. This man managed to sell their litters at exorbitant prices, but always of the highest quality.
It would be utopian to want to list all affixes and particular names of those who contributed to the perfection of the race. Suffice to say that only in England, for over a century, there has been no major dog show of beauty which have not been present one or more copies of this race. And they are rare field trials in America or the UK who do not have the presence, often accompanied by success, a group of Beagles.
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