Beagle color variations
Basically all canine clubs and the International Kennel Association have defined the beagle color standard as "any hound shade except brown." Only here the "Kennel Club" of the USA also allows this color, causing controversy among dog breeders around the world about what color is still acceptable.
Today we will get to know the colors that are recognized as acceptable by the majority of big growers, as well as the rare but equally recognized shades of these magnificent dogs.
Basic colors
It is worth noting that in order to make it as clear as possible, the Kennel Club had already published an officially accepted list of beagle colors in 2010, and the editorial staff clearly indicated which colors were adopted as a standard and which were absolutely unacceptable.
The most memorable for most people who know or hold beagles is the three-color coloration: the back is black, the muzzle is white, the whole body is red. Many call this a classic coloring.
And yet, the variations do not stop there, and the gamut is made up of a whole variety, where it is difficult to call one color correct, and others unacceptable. Everything is very subjective and every big owner is proud of their hound.
There are several basic combinations:
- bicolor;
- tricolor;
- gray tricolor;
- brown tricolor.
There are also the most beautiful variations:
- spotted;
- maroon;
- motley.
It is worth considering them in more detail.
Bicolor
"Bi" means 2, that is, such a beagle - two-color, usually white and red. The red color can be presented as muted, closer to yellow, and bright, rather resembling red. The puppy will be born with pale specks that will darken over time. The nose will be dark. If the dog is light, then the lobe is more intense in color.
Tricolor
The colors are combined and interspersed in the most bizarre way, but the tip of the tail will always be white. The spots come in different sizes and the dominant shade will add an increasingly unique combination to the beagle.
If there is more white, then the animal will look very harmonious and innocent, while mixtures with black will add mischief to the external appearance. By the way, black also will not always be exactly in its intensity - sometimes the color can be paler, closer to gray, sometimes just charcoal, and sometimes even with a blue tint, which is also called "the color of the raven's wing." The nose is, as in the previous case, black.
Gray Tricolor
Another tricolor option is reddish-white-gray. The gray shade itself is often called blue, because the ebb when illuminated or in the sun creates just such an impression. The puppy will be born white-gray, and the adult beagle will already change its color - a red one will be added.
The nose is the shade of a graphite pencil, the eyes are very light, sometimes lemon shade.
Brown tricolor
In these beautiful beagles, breeders changed the gene responsible for black coloration and lightened it to chocolate. The eyes of these beauties are green, as if they have a bright brown pencil eyeliner. The nose is also brown. The shades of this color can be so different that it is not possible to list everything - up to 190 tones! This is ocher, and all "types" of chocolate, and sand, and gold, and nut, and wine, and many, many others.
The only shame is that such a variety of brown beagles did not impress the Kennel Society, and this magnificent color is not recognized by the standard.
Spotted
This color is jokingly called "torn tricolor" - because of how sharply the colors on the animal contrast with each other. White is, as it were, a base, and black literally "breaks" it everywhere. Sometimes you can see only black dots or spots mixed with red.
Maroon
Representatives of this color look very impressive - both two-color and three-color beagles can wear specks of different shapes and sizes. At first, as a rule, when the puppy is just born, no blotches can be seen, but they appear already at the 5th week of life. But there are also really speckled puppies that are already born with such a wonderful twist. An interesting detail is also that the color of the paw pads in such speckled dogs is solid dark, and pink is found in all other beagles.
Motley
Very unusual flavor. Different color intensities in these dogs create a rabbit-variegated color or lemon variegation. The rarest shade is badger-motley, when all base hairs are black.
Mostly these hounds are found in the United Kingdom, where they are favorites with breeders due to their unusualness, and the shade itself, in contrast to world decrees, is included in the standard.
The color of the lobes is dark, and the muzzle is necessarily red. But big-growers do not very clearly define where the boundaries of this variegation are. For some, when some of the hairs are of one color, and the blotches are of another. Others consider it a variegated coloration when black and red hairs are evenly distributed.
This color is also characterized by some peculiarity of white, which can never be called pure. In variegated beagles, it is always either "dirty" or with all sorts of pastel impurities. The border between white and other colors is very blurry.
As we can see there are a great many variations of even several described types and subtypes, and most often, in order to avoid mistakes, only two basic colors are simply recorded in the pedigree documents of the beagle: bicolor or tricolor... It is very rare to see additional explanations, but the owner certainly knows how unique the color of his faithful friend is, and will always proudly explain it in detail to anyone interested.
For the features of the beagle breed, see the following video.
