The American Beagler Forum

I have had people say the best beagles they had was over bite and under bite and was f.c. and lprch. Then some would say they would never have a over bite or under bite or breed to one. Can anybody explain this. Does this have anything to do with running rabbit. Thank you

Imo if the dog can smoke a rabbit I don't care what type of bite it has. A so called "defect" doesn't make or break the hound. Just my two cents.

A female with an under or over bite may have a harder time biting off the umbilical cord from pups. Resulting in umbilical hernias. A male with this fault can pass it on to his pups.

Cherry-eye, kinked tails and hernia's can be fixed & don't effect the running of the rabbit either but how much are your willing to accept.

I looked at some pups yrs ago, the daddy had high toe on his front feet and the mama dog was cross-jawed and underbite, I think the owner must have chewed the cords off on the pups. He wanted $300. ea because they were of a popular bloodline. The original breeder gave the fellow his culls, the fellow had the keys to the coalmine grounds, he was breeding them and selling pups off the field trial popularity they had. Sometimes fame can be a curse, folks will breed anything. jmho

If you read the mission statements of the all the various registries , the wording is all very similar "To improve breeding of purebred dogs of all breeds establishing a stud file of all dogs registered with (registry name) , by encouragement to breeders "to use only the best conformation and temperament in their breeding program".
Personally I would never breed to a hound with conformation flaws, no matter what his rabbit running ability.

Looks like only a few will touch this subject.

Not improving the breed when you just breed based off looks. Just because two looks sharp, but can't run worth a lick don't mean you'll get barn burners. You'll more then likely get yard dogs.

I guess it all boils down to is what is important to you; show looks or rabbit running and jumping ability. If you are planning on putting the dog in the show ring, bite is very important, you can lose because of bad bite.
Thanks,
Bob

I recently got rid of a bitch due to her under bite. I got her from a buddy and he never said anything about it. Didn't know until I got her. I couldn't stand it. She was bred to my male for another buddy to get the pups but none of them got the bad bite. I don't show any dogs but I just didn't want her.

This was the thinking drilled into us at an early age by the AKC back in the 40's. Some of us carried it too far.

Ever seen a coyote or fox with a bad bite? Mother Nature has culled that defect long ago. Mother Nature is not able to cull our defective beagles, so we have to be man enough to be demanding in what we breed for the improvement of the beagle hound.

So here is the scenario....outstanding female...clean, quick, accurate mouth, sound in all areas. Intelligent, good mouth, good hunt, just a natural.

Under bite.....scissor bite in reverse...teeth touch. Linebred to do exactly what she does and shows no other weaknesses. Natural talent that very few have.

Her litter of 5 she is the only with a bad bite. Mother good bite, father good bite. She has a good bite until she hits a growth spurt about 5 months and now the above bite described.
The litter, four living, are all on there way to above average hounds...to muddy the waters more...lol.

CULL her??

Be interesting to get HONEST answers......or internet answers....LOL.

To me mine was a cull. She was by far perfect but she was a good solid hard hunting dog , killed a bunch of rabbits over her. Fc bred too. Just personal preference.

No need to cull her just don't breed her and possibly pass on that fault.jmo

I understand, BUT is the underbite as condemning a fault as others classify unbreedable females(lack hunt, not enough foot, not enough nose, loose mouth, bark in kennel, etc.)?

HONEST answers, not your theories, PROVEN points.....be forthcoming....some of the guys who have bred hounds for 20 plus years chime in....I am quite confident not ALL females bred were conformationally perfect, but maybe excelled in the field and they used them and culled there pups hard......

You can PM me....I am not in this to mud sling.....thanks!