Back in the 1300’s and 1400’s the British monarchy was in full swing and there were things that they found to be very appealing to them. One favorite pet of the British monarchy back in those days was a breed of beagle known as the pocket beagle. A pocket beagle measured only 9 inches to the shoulders and back in those days it was very popular. But today the American Kennel Club only lists beagle breeds that are 13” and 15” as being the current breeds of beagles. So what happened to the pocket beagle?

The pocket beagle breed was declared extinct in 1901 by both American and British breeding clubs and since then it has been accepted that you really cannot get a true pocket beagle anymore. With all of this there are still breeders selling pocket beagles and it is feared that the only way to get a pocket beagle is to sell an unhealthy dog that has had its growth stunted because of physical problems.
If you go looking for pocket beagle breeders you will find a very different story than many of the breeding associations are currently telling. There is a breed of pocket beagles being sold all over the world being referred to as old English pocket beagles and they differ just a little bit from the original pocket beagle breed. An old English pocket beagle is considered to be any beagle 12” or smaller and it almost seems as though many people are trying to get their dog to fit into a category that it may not be part of.

Breeding has a big part in all of this, as breeders are the ones that can help insure that beagle puppies are clean of any kind of health risk or any unhealthy situation. Many times a beagle marketed as a pocket beagle is a beagle, which the breeder allowed to be born with common physical ailments in beagles such as hip dysplasia and epilepsy. Be certain to ask many questions if you intend to buy a dog marketed as a pocket beagle.
For the foreseeable future it looks like there will be people arguing that they are more than capable of breeding healthy pocket beagle and then people on the other side claiming that pocket beagles are extinct and what the breeders are selling are unhealthy dogs. Anything is possible and maybe it is not naïve to open up your mind to the possibility that there are healthy pocket beagles being bred in the world today.

The main dog breeding associations of the world all have very specific parameters on what a healthy beagle is in this day and age and they would argue that beagle that falls below their criteria is not only an unhealthy beagle but it would be unethical to sell such an animal. This debate will rage on for years and as long as it rages on the pocket beagle will remain a popular breed all around the world.

There are many beagle types and this article talks about one of them. You will find valuable beagle information in this article about the pocket beagle.