Beagles 183 



into rough and smooth hounds not exceeding 16 

 inches and over 12 inches ; not exceeding 12 inches 

 and over 10 inches; and not exceeding 10 inches. 



The American Beagle Club have their limit of 

 height fixed at 15 inches, and rule that any dog or 

 bitch exceeding this height shall be disqualified. 

 Coarseness in a beagle is more than a venial fault, 

 and connoisseurs are strongly opposed to a hound 

 displaying such characteristics. Strictly speaking, 

 a typical beagle should be a miniature Foxhound, 

 and the nearer it approaches such type of conforma- 

 tion in a modified form the more orthodox the hound. 

 The coat must be close, and that covering the head 

 short and finer than that on the rest of the body. 

 In the rough coats the hair must be dense and wiry. 

 The American Beagle Club Hke a coat moderately 

 coarse in texture and of good length, regarding a 

 short, close and nappy coat as a disquaUfication. 

 The head, the legs and the feet constitute 40 per cent, 

 of points, so that judges pay particular attention to 

 these parts of the anatomy. The head must be of 

 medium length and have a well-domed skull, there- 

 fore a clearly-defined "stop"; any tendency to- 

 wards a snipy muzzle is objectionable, but Beagle 

 bitches lack the masculine characteristics in this 

 region; the flews or cheeks should come well down 

 and meet a powerful lower jaw. 



For size these hounds are wide in the breast. 



