Beagle

Beagles have a somewhat oval skull; a medium-length, square-cut muzzle; large, hound-like hazel or brown eyes; long, low-set ears (big), turning towards the cheeks slightly and rounded at the tips; a medium-length, strong neck without folds in the skin; a broad chest narrowing to a tapered abdomen and waist; a short, slightly curved tail; an overall muscular body; and a medium-length, smooth, hard coat. One standard calls for ideally shaped beagles to be twice as long as tall, and twice as tall as wide.

They appear in a range of colors, not limited to the familiar tricolor (white with large black and light brown spots). Two-color varieties are always white with colored areas, including such colors as "lemon", a very light tan; "red", a reddish, almost orange-ish brown; "liver", a darker brown, is the only color not allowed. "Ticked" varieties may be either white or black with different colored spots ("ticking"), such as the bluetick beagle, which has spots that appear to be a midnight-blue color, similar to the bluetick coonhound. Some tricolor beagles also have ticking of various colors in their white areas. The brown is usually the last color to appear on beagles, usually taking 1-2 years to fully develop. Beagles typically have a white-tipped tail, or "flag", which is important in locating them in the field due to their short height.