Some Bench Show Data 269 



point, filing his claws to give the appearance of 

 field work or road work, and keeping him heavy in 

 flesh, which would detract from his field ability? 

 Yet these are tricks of the game that are used in 

 connection with the winter shows. Now it must be 

 understood that it is not the intention to detract 

 from the bench show and what these shows have 

 done to better the type of beagle in the last twenty- 

 five years ; but it must be understood of course that 

 the beagle is essentially, first and foremost, a hunt- 

 ing dog, and for this reason can not be compared 

 with some of the other breeds so prominently shown 

 on the bench. 



Referring to the measurement of the beagle, 

 there are two methods employed, one in the east as 

 adopted by the National Beagle Club, which uses 

 a "T'' form of steel upright which is placed over 

 the shoulders of the hound at the bone, fastened, 

 and then the distance measured from the bottom of 

 the upright to the cross arm with a steel foot rule ; 

 and that adopted by the Western Beagle Club, 

 which is a folding wooden "U" shaped measure 

 which is fixed at the thirteen or fifteen inch scale 

 of size or height and the hound then measured 

 under it. Both systems have their advocates, but it 

 would seem as if it were possible to push a hound 

 under a fixed measure, which is impossible with the 



