North Country Beagle facts for kids
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| Origin | Great Britain |
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| Breed status | Extinct |
| Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | |
The North Country Beagle was a type of dog that lived in Great Britain a long time ago, probably until the early 1800s. It was also called the Northern Hound or Northern Beagle. We don't know the exact date it disappeared, but it likely mixed with other dog breeds, especially the modern Beagle, until its original bloodline was gone.
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Where Did This Dog Come From?
The exact beginnings of the North Country Beagle are not very clear. Many people think it came from a dog breed called the Talbot. The Talbot was a mostly white dog that was slow and had a deep bark. It was a scent hound, meaning it used its nose to track animals.
At some point, Talbots were mixed with Greyhounds to make them a bit faster. However, they were still quite slow dogs. They relied more on their amazing sense of smell than on speed when chasing animals.
What Did the North Country Beagle Look Like?
The North Country Beagle was a large, bony hound. It had a square-shaped head and long, floppy ears.
A writer named Gervase Markham, who wrote books about animals in the early 1600s, described the North Country Beagle. He said it had a more slender head with a longer nose. Its ears and lips were not as deep. It had a broad back, a thin belly, long joints, and a small tail. Overall, it looked more slender and like a Greyhound.
Another writer, John Henry Walsh (who used the name "Stonehenge"), wrote in 1859 that you could tell the North Country Beagle apart from a similar dog, the Southern Hound, by a large flap of skin under the Southern Hound's neck called a dewlap. The Southern Hound also had a deeper, more musical bark. The North Country Beagle, Markham said, had "only a little shrill sweetness" and didn't have a deep voice.
Where Did It Live?
The North Country Beagle was mostly bred in Yorkshire, a region in northern England. It was common in the northern parts of England. However, south of the River Trent, a similar dog called the Southern Hound was more common.
The North Country Beagle was a faster dog than the Southern Hound. In a book from 1809, William Nicholson said that "dashing sportsmen" (people who liked fast hunting) kept the North Country Beagle. This was because it could "run down a brace of hare before dinner." This means it could catch two hares quickly. Even though it was a good scent hound, it probably wasn't as good at tracking smells as the Southern Hound.
Why Did It Disappear?
Both the North Country Beagle and the Southern Hound became less popular during the 1700s. People started to prefer faster dogs for hunting, like the Foxhound, because hunts took less time.
The North Country Beagle might have been part of the groups of dogs kept by farmers in the south of England for rabbit-hunting. These groups of dogs eventually became the start of the modern Beagle breed we know today.
Even in the 1800s, some dog packs in places like Wales, Devon, Yorkshire, and Sussex still looked like the North Country Beagle. However, experts weren't sure if these dogs were truly pure North Country Beagles.
Modern Dogs with North Country Beagle Blood
Besides the Beagle, other modern dog breeds are thought to have North Country Beagle ancestors. These include Harriers and Foxhounds.
Other breeds like Coonhounds and Bloodhounds probably have more influence from the Southern Hound and Talbot dogs. This is because they are excellent at tracking smells but are not as fast as some other hound breeds.
See also
In Spanish: North Country beagle para niños
