As defined by Merriam Webster:

Pronunciation: \-?bred, -?bred\

Function: adjective

Date: 1852

: bred from members of a recognized breed, strain, or kind without admixture of other blood over many generations

— pure·bred \-?bred\ noun

Basically, if your mom was a registered beagle (meaning her parents were registered beagles) and your dad was a registered beagle (his parents were registered beagles), then you are a beagle. But how is a beagle defined as a beagle?

The short version is that beagles are defined by a set of criteria written by breed clubs. 99.99% of our beagles would not pass AKC conformation, but they are still beagles. Uno, who won at Westminster, is a registered beagle. Billy the Kid, who won only in being saved from euthanasia (a much better win we think) is not a registered beagle. Can we say for certain that Billy's parents were both beagles? Of course not. He sure is a beagle though.

When we think of the term "purebred beagle" we may have an image of the typical tri-color version. The AKC allows "any true hound color, including tri-color, red and white and lemon"; I doubt you'll see any ticked beagles at Westminster any time soon. Georgia has a lot of ticked beagles though which seems to be a regional variation.

Registry sponsored shows such as Westminster award championships for conformation. That's pretty much all you'll see on TV unless you have a large selection of sports channels which may show field trials. Because of this you can sometimes see a striking difference in the way a dog that is breed standard for conformation looks versus a field champion. The most startling difference to us is the difference between German Shepherds bred for show and those bred for police and military work. Temperment aside I'll take a police dog any day.

Sadly we all too frequently see gorgeous "show" style beagles that have some serious behavior defects like aggression and anxiety. These dogs are usually bred by commercial breeders who sell to pet stores, or breeders who have a good local market for those searching for the "perfect" tri-color.

We ourselves prefer the scrappy failed hunting beagles. They were supposed to hunt, but ended up not being very good at it. Bred for agility, temperment and sturdiness, they are the perfect family pet.

No matter what they look like.