Dog Community

Hound + Hound = ???

Posted : 10/19/2006 12:39:35 AM

Mercy is a 4-year-old female. She's 18 inches tall at the shoulder, and weighs about 40 pounds. She was adopted from the pound, and they had her marked as a "Beagle/Basset mix". But we don't think she's anything like a Basset hound, or anyway, no more than any hound looks like a basset hound.

She does look an awful lot like a beagle, but she's too big by a few inches and a lot of other little things are off from what a beagle ought to look like. So what's she mixed with? Or is she just a BYB beagle who happens to be oversized and not quite up to standard? Or just a random hound who happens to look like a beagle?

Personality-wise, she is intelligent, willful, and extremely social. She's very anxious if left alone for more than 4 hours. She's always following some smell or other, and is famous around the neighborhood and at the local shelter for escaping a fenced yard, repeatedly. Very repeatedly.

So where, exactly, does this dog come from? All I can say is "hound" but that's an awfully broad category!

brookcove

Posted : 10/19/2006 9:40:38 AM

There's a bunch of hunting hounds that could have crossed with your basic beagle to produce your cutie. Walker comes to mind, looking at her head shape and so forth.

congrats on a great looking rescue!

rwbeagles

Posted : 10/19/2006 10:50:09 AM

One thing I can tell you is that it's rare to see a "red and white" Beagle with truly black points like your girl...that is to say a black nose and eyerims and lips. More often they are a dark liver color or pinkish...in Summer they get quite dark but are never truly "black". The pattern of red is also not often seen...it is more in line with a Tri color irish spotting pattern. The red's tend to have a "torn tattered" edge to their areas of red..not the nice rounded edges like your girl.

I wouldn't doubt if your girl was actually born with a black saddle that faded out to nothing...is that black tipping I see down by her tail? I'd love a side pic with tail included [] Her coat also look too slick to be a true double Beagle coat.

I would agree that another Hound...likely a coon dog was used. But as odd as this may sound her body type, coat and coloring fits the Basenji breed very well, too.

More pics would really help...side and also full face view so I can better see the set and length of her ears.

Danielle Tate

Posted : 10/19/2006 1:05:02 PM

She has no black fur on her anywhere, except her face; she has got some black-spotted skin under the white fur though, and solid black under the brown. You're right--her coat's only a single coat, and very soft. I'll see if I have a pic of her face; I don't have a digital camera, so I'll have to scan it...

[EDIT] Aha... here we go. I did have another picture of her. Sure loves to hang that tongue out, doesn't she? Her ears don't normally stick out that much; she's listening to me calling her over so she'll face me for a picture

brookcove

Posted : 10/19/2006 6:32:59 PM

Her color is ee yellow. This is the same as a yellow Lab, Irish setter, and a zillion other breeds. It's dominant over almost every color known to dogdom, so her color doesn't help a whole lot.

Obviously, she could have gotten the Irish spotting from the Beagle side. Redbones have the ee red and also have the spotting. English coonhounds don't always have the ticking - and definitely have the white gene!

She's so very, very houndy - it's so cute.

rwbeagles

Posted : 10/19/2006 9:28:44 PM

How does she carry her tail?

rwbeagles

Posted : 10/19/2006 9:33:52 PM

Does her back roach? Meaning does it have an upward rounding to it from the side behind her shoulders on the way to her tail...or does it go straight back from her shoulders to her tail not appearing higher anywhere?

Danielle Tate

Posted : 10/19/2006 11:44:16 PM

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

How does she carry her tail?

retty high, about 30 degrees from vertical. But she's always wagging it, so that's an estimate! (She's wagging it in the second pic--you can tell, because it's out to the side.)

Her back goes down from her shoulders smoothly, then up again, highest above the hips. The first picture shows it pretty accurately.

You're a Beagle breeder, aren't you? Or beagle lover, at any rate?

[EDIT] Oh, duh, of course you are; I checked your sig links. Those are some seriously gorgeous dogs. And hello to a fellow LOTR fan! *waves*

houndlove

Posted : 10/20/2006 8:56:39 AM

To get slightly (but only slightly) more specific, I'd say "coonhound mix". She's mixed with something that has produced shorter, narrower ears than your typical coonhound, and that could very well be beagle.

At any rate, she's adorable!

Danielle Tate

Posted : 10/21/2006 6:31:40 PM

I'm looking at some web pages on coonhounds, and their faces seem to resemble hers quite a bit--the eyebrows, especially. The body type is similar, but not dead-on; and they're bigger than she is; but... you know, it's a real possibility. I wouldn't know how to tell what type of coonhound, either

whtsthfrequency

Posted : 10/28/2006 12:50:06 PM

Looks like a nice Treeing Walker Coonhound to me

jetty

Posted : 10/29/2006 1:58:36 PM

She is so cute!!!! 18" is quite short for the larger hounds so she obviously is mostly beagle - and very sweet! She looks so happy and muscular/athletic! I don't see coonhound but perhaps it is just because there's only 1/4 coonhound or less!

She reminds me of my dog without spots and less white (he used to be her colour but the white hairs are invading his darker spots[

]).... He's 25" and 60lbs (American Foxhound)

jetty

Posted : 10/29/2006 2:00:11 PM

And a more recent shot:

Melaney B.

Posted : 10/29/2006 10:50:14 PM

I'm not sure, but when i saw her I thought of a Foxhound, similar breed and features to a beagel! Here's a pic posted below i found, it seems the liver color is more popular in this breed but i managed to find one that was closer to the color of yours!

Melaney B.

Posted : 10/29/2006 10:54:59 PM

Wow, now that i look in comparison, they're extremly close!