Big Beagles

jlboomer · Post by **jlboomer** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 5:44 pm

How common and what line's throw over sized hounds. I had a guy call me the other day about a big dog. I like 15" hounds most of my dogs are 13 to 14 1/2". He said he had a male that would go about 16" well went and looked at him ran pretty good and all so i figured id take a chance on him he looked big but we had him out by himself i really didn't realize how big he was until i put him in the pen with some of my other dogs man he towers above them i measured him the best i could and he will go a easy 17" how common is this ive seen alot of 16 inch beagles but this guy is my biggest and he has perfect confirmation he's a houndy lookin hound. the guy said he's been rasing some nice pups from him but yet to get one that big. IM going to run him a bit and make up my mind on him he may be to big for me lol plus don't know if id trust breeding to him being so big. whats your guys thoughts on the big beagles.

CottontailRunner · Post by **CottontailRunner** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:33 pm

Droopy[my hound] is around 16.5in... both the sire and dam were alot smaller. 13.5 and 14. [approx]
My dog isn't the best around but we have a hell of a time.

NorWester · Post by **NorWester** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:54 pm

I prefer bigger hounds. My Boomer male is 16 inches and he produced a son that is that tall at 9mths. Now this pup has a brother close to that and sisters that are around 13 inches. Their dam is under 13 inches but she has a half brother that is over 15. I was hoping the bitches in that litter would be tall as well but they werent. Boomer is basically a Haunted Hill Shaker/Swampghost Patch cross.

zambron · Post by **zambron** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 7:18 pm

i like the big dogs my feeling is if your just hunting the dog who cares how big they are if you like the dog you need oversized males to get true 15 inch females most of the time

jlboomer · Post by **jlboomer** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 7:24 pm

yea i like big dogs to but this dog makes my females look tiny
in my 4ft lots when he stands on his hind feet his heads almost at the top lol.

TOUCHSTONEBGLS · Post by **TOUCHSTONEBGLS** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:18 pm

Might make a great rabbit dog but breeding a male that far over can cause real problems. Be cautious about breeding him to small bitches. May end up with C-sections or worse. The breed standard Disquallifies dogs over 15". 2" over is a lot. Some registries will not register pups sired by a disquallified dog. The reason for that is to keep the integrity of our breed standard. A dog that big should not be bred.

jumpmaster · Post by **jumpmaster** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:29 pm

I am with touchstone, you can run what you like, but I would not breed a dog that big. If you run in open country he should work out great, but throw him in really thick briars, and he would be at a disadvantage to say, a thirteen inch dog.

Alabama John · Post by **Alabama John** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:33 pm

The biggest dogs around here are Northway and Griffin bred. Lots of them in the beagles on fox trials.

S.R.Patch · Post by **S.R.Patch** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:44 pm

The breed standard disqualifies beagles for over 15" "FOR SHOWING" & "FIELD TRIALING" purpoeses only, not for registering and your own personal pleasure.
A bitch will regulate the size of the pups for birthing, the genes & quality food will determine the size they grow up to be.
Breeding a 15"to a 17" is no more, than breeding a 13" to a 15". Narrow hips or big show block head would be more of a threat in whelping than 2" on size. Size is the easiest to sort out.
If he's to big for you, there are boys to the north or south that like a big hounds for water or snow...

jlboomer · Post by **jlboomer** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:57 pm

not thinking of breeding him but im going to run him some he's suppose to be a toughin he's been hunting the tough stuff down here.

NorWester · Post by **NorWester** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:06 pm

Patch has it right. My male dewarfs my little bitch.....she had no trouble having pups by him. I couldn't care less what any registry says....thats laughable

The day I see a piece of registry paper with the company logo run a hare better than a dog is the day I'll start paying attention to what they have to say

S.R.Patch · Post by **S.R.Patch** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:14 pm

The main thing is, the pack you build runs well together as a group and all contribute... if he's so much faster, that none of the rest contribute, you need to cut from front, it's the same if the case was from the rear(one not keeping up)...
But, size does not always define speed, as others have said their small ones keep up quite well with the bigger hounds...
The only drawback will be the looks you get when you let this bg one out with the rest of your group. Folks always like the look of a level pack...

TOUCHSTONEBGLS · Post by **TOUCHSTONEBGLS** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:18 pm

SRPatch, AKC or other registries may allow a disquallified dog to sire or whelp registered litters but UKC does not.
How can a bitch possably determine how large the pups inside of her grow before she whelps the litter? Nutrition has practically no use in the equasion except in the far extreme of starving the pups so that they do not develop properly. Even if starved their length of bone, etc is genetic. The best you could get from the lack of nutrition is tall but very rickety bones... I think it is fair to say that all pups should get excellent nutrition regardless of how large you want them to be. If genetics determine that a dog will be 12", no matter how much or what you feed, it will likely be 12'' but could turn out to be rather obese. You did hit the nail on the head with the word genes. The genetic code of a 17" dog can produce disquallifiable dogs for generations to come.
The use of a dog as a sire is not a factor in the usefulness of the dog as a rabbit dog. I have had some really great rabbit dogs that were never considered as dogs to breed. That right should be reserved for select specimens of the breed.

S.R.Patch · Post by **S.R.Patch** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:01 pm

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree...

One interesting thing tho... I stayed a week in a mid 1600's cottage across the pond. Bumped my head on every door facing in the place, folks must have been alot shorter back then or not have ate as well as we do today... hummm maybe better food does equate to bigger/taller
When the puppies came back in from walk, some of the same litter were hardly believable as to being littermates. The Master reply was, "oh, so & so always sends back her walks, up on toes & very portly, to many kidney pies I thinks they get"

The bitch regulates the pups size by the blood supply the fetus is fed through, many runts are due to being located at a poor location in the uterus wall or overcrowding...

Well, there's something to work with, now go sniff it out for the truth...

bluegrass · Post by **bluegrass** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:54 pm

First of all, when did anyone start caring what size hound the UKC allows to be registered??
Patch has it right about nutrition being a contributing factor in the size a pup grown up to...but even after they are born, you dont have to starve a pup to stunt its growth, simply feed it inferior nutrients and see what you get...
A pup won't grow long bones and be rickety unless the foundation (nutrients) is there to promote that growth...
BTW, just send that oversized monster that cannot breed in the UKC my way, we'll see how many pups turn out over 15inches...

Tony