Chocolate Beagles are kind of Beagles with darker shades of brown color on their coat. The term Beagle comes from “Beagling” meaning, hunting hares and rabbits. In French, “Beagle” refers to loudmouth. They belong to scent hound dog groups. Unlike sighthounds, the scent hounds hunt primarily by smell and appear like foxhounds. Their sense of smell makes them excellent detective dogs.
Table of Contents
Chocolate Beagle Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
They can live in a variety of living conditions
Loud barkers
Low maintenance
Diggers
Sociable
Stubborn
Chocolate Beagle Basic Information
Name: Chocolate Beagle
Height: 13 to 16 inches
Weight: 18 to 30 pounds
Coat: Short haired and medium length thick coat
Color: Chocolate brown, dark brown, lighter shades of brown and red
Chocolate Beagles usually come under fawn, tan, and brown categories. According to AKC, chocolate is not the official color of a Beagle, unlike The National Beagle Club of America. Chocolate Beagles can be found in different color combinations like tan, white and black. The coat color results from a gene; the black gene turns into brown. Chocolate Beagles often have a smooth and silky coat and lose a minuscule amount of fur.
Chocolate Beagles bear charming big brown eyes or hazel eyes, a red or brown colored nose instead of black, and a broad head with long floppy ears. Their muscles are medium-sized and square. Beagles generally come in different coat colors; the purely bred Beagles would have an identical whitetail. Beagles have a double coat that requires less maintenance. Usually, Beagles shed hair during the Spring season.
Friendliness Overview
Affectionate with Family
High
Friendly with Kids
High
Friendly with Pets
High
Friendly with Strangers
High
Biting Potential
Low
Social Needs
High
Adaptability Overview
Adapts well to Apartment Living
Medium to high
Good For New Owners
Medium
Sensitivity Level
Medium to high
Tolerates Being Alone
Low
Tolerates Cold Weather
Low to medium
Tolerates Hot Weather
Medium to high
Chocolate Beagle Temperament
Chocolate Beagles are even-tempered and hence make a good family dog. They are loyal, lovable companions. However, you must see that they don’t suffer from separation anxiety. Their playful and curious nature can lead them to dig in the ground as their olfactory nerves are sharply tuned. They are brilliant, and this makes them stubborn. Early socialization helps them from stranger anxiety. However, they have a high prey drive. Hence, it is suggested to keep them on leash. They bark loudly but don’t bite. Beagles make good therapy dogs. They are excellent at searching and rescuing, helping locate missing people and lost things.
Chocolate Beagle Training
When you think of an active and good-natured dog, your search ends at Beagle. They generally don’t expect you to show the direction. They are potential scent hounds and high-energy dogs and take the lead. It is better to commit to training sessions twice a day if the training becomes successful. Always use positive reinforcement methods to train. Do not punish. Beagles are motivated highly by food. You can give them some high-quality food treats as a part of reward-based training. Once your dog gets trained and responds regularly, you may reduce the number of rewards. It is preferred that your Beagle is taken on a leash. Playing some games like fetch or run has two advantages:
They are used to listening to your commands.
Since Beagles are power pack dogs, they may burn their energy by running, making them more receptive.
Train your Beagle not to bite. If your Beagle starts biting, stop him and give some space for him to become comfortable around you. Beagles may generally bite only in fear. Beagles can also be trained not to bark. It could be easy if you are an excellent observant. That is, watch his expressions before he barks, when you are at home, and you distract him from barking unnecessarily while outside. This can be followed by giving him rewards. It is recommended to avoid jumping and being knocked around with rough play because Beagle’s growth plates don’t close until nearing a year. Building core muscles is vital for overall health and conditioning.
Trainability Overview
Easy to train
Low
Potential Mouthiness
Medium
Intelligent
Medium to high
Prey Drive
High
Tendency to Bark or Howl
High
Wanderlust Potential
High
Chocolate Beagle Exercise Needs
The benefits of exercising your Beagles are:
It maintains their weight to an optimal level.
It helps to keep their musculoskeletal (skeleton, muscles, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, joints, and other connective tissue) cardiovascular and digestive system in an excellent condition.
It helps avoid strange behaviors such as restlessness and acting moody. Remember that Chocolate Beagles become destructive if left with the pent-up energy.
Exercise that you can provide your Beagle are:
Daily walk: A walk for about 30 minutes on average twice a day is good to go. Beware of weather conditions that suit your Beagle since hot weather conditions may cause heat strokes.
Play games: Fetch and come, Backyard agility like –hurdle jumps, tug of war, tunnels, or jumping through loops.
Mental Stimulation: Your Beagles may get mental enrichment from daily walks and free plays. It can be a fabulous idea to stimulate their minds. Scent and nose games, learning new commands, chewing on toys, playing puzzles, teaching new commands.
Over-Exercised Dog symptoms: Beagles can go hard and keep going on, not knowing when to stop. Check on symptoms like panting, entirely out of breath, excessive drooling, reddening of gums. If you observe any such symptoms, stop him abruptly and bring him to a shaded spot, make him drink some water, and let his body cool down.
Exercise Needs Overview
Energy Level
Medium to high
Intensity
High
Energy Needs
Medium to high
Potential for Playfulness
High
Chocolate Beagle Grooming
Grooming Chocolate Beagles is a pretty easy task. Appropriate grooming of Chocolate Beagles would involve bathing, brushing hair, brushing teeth, cleansing their floppy hound ears and eyes. Gather grooming supplies like dog-safe shampoos, cotton balls for ears, and soft bristle brushes for brushing their coat. Take your Beagles to vet if you notice the following symptoms-
Bad smell
Ear scratching
Colored Discharge (yellow, red, brown)
Redness
Beagles shed heavily for some weeks in the spring season. During this time of the year, you must brush their coat regularly to avoid shedding. Each brushing session should last 5 to 10 minutes. A rubber brush will remove the dirt from the coat and help distribute the healthy oil naturally present in the skin. Brushing can be effective if you move the brush in the same direction as the hair growth. Do not brush on your Beagle’s face.
Dryness of the nose is a common problem in Beagles. The cause can be sun exposure, dry air, or dehydration. If your Beagle has a dry nose, you may notice skin peeling or a crack on the skin. To keep the nose moist, use humidifiers to moisture your home during winter—constant access to fresh air and clean water. Also, apply a dog-specific nose balm to your Beagles during summers and winters. You can buy the ointment at your local pet store.
Trimming your nails is also an essential part of grooming. You will know when to trim when the nails make a clicking sound as your Chocolate Beagles walk on a hard surface. Use dog-specific guillotine nail trimmers. If you happen to cut the quick and it bleeds, place a styptic powder on the nail until it stops bleeding.
Grooming Overview
Amount of Shedding
Medium
Drooling Potential
Low
Easy to Groom
Medium to high
Chocolate Beagle Health
Not necessarily that all the Chocolate Beagles should suffer from the mentioned health conditions. Some may be breed-specific, some inherited or genetic, and others are common to all canines. Regular vaccinations for the dogs may include – Rabies, Kennel Cough, Canine Distemper, Canine Parvovirus, Leptospirosis, and Canine Parainfluenza.
Obesity: Beagles are “chow hounds” and are prone to overeating if left unnoticed. Due to a heightened sense of smell, Beagles may have a big appetite and are prone to gobble anything that attracts their nose. Hence, a balanced diet is vital for them. It is best not to keep open the foods we eat as Beagles might eat them without noticing when they smell them.
Hip Dysplasia: It is a state where the thigh bone doesn’t fit into the hip joints. If you find your Beagles bunny-hopping instead of walking, running in a different gait, then it is an indication that your Beagle is having hip dysplasia. Lack of exercise along with overeating causes this condition.
Intervertebral Disk Disease: The spinal cord is covered by a vertebral column. Between the bones of the vertebral column, intervertebral discs allow the movements of the vertebral, which often act like shock absorbers. They are made up of two layers, the outer fibrous layer, and the inner soft jelly-like layer. This condition occurs when the inner jelly-like layer protrudes and pushes the spinal cord, causing spinal cord compression—symptoms like neck and backache, paralysis, loss of sensation, bladder, and bowel control. This treatment would be based on factors affecting the injury and treatment location, severity, and time gap. In addition, surgery helps relieve the tension caused in the spinal cord.
Glaucoma: A condition that involves an excessive amount of pressure on the eyes, causing the eyes to stretch out due to aqueous humor that fails to drain out normally. When it is left unnoticed, it can cause blindness in Beagles. Symptoms include uneven pupil size, frequent squinting of eyes, bulgy eyes, cloudy cornea. You can resolve glaucoma with special eye treatment, and medication or an invasive solution would be surgery.
Cherry Eye: The protruding of a gland under the third eyelid appears like a cherry at the corner of the eye. Hence, the name cherry eye. This will involve a vet to remove the gland that’s protruding.
Progressive Retinal Atrophy: A degenerative eye disorder that causes blindness from the loss of photoreceptors at the back of the eyes. It can be detected earlier. A very later stage is blindness. Dogs with this condition can survive for several years since they have other senses to compensate.
Distichiasis: Few Beagles may suffer from an eye illness called distichiasis. This refers to an overgrowth of eyelashes that causes bending, irritating the cornea. Dogs with this condition keep pawing their eyes due to the discomfort caused. The good news is you can treat distichiasis. Either you can trim the lashes, or the long-term procedure would be surgery.
Epilepsy: A disease that causes mild to severe seizures, often an inherited neurological disorder. A long-term prognosis for dogs with idiopathic epilepsy is generally reasonable.
Hypothyroidism: An abnormality in the thyroid gland secretion can cause this condition. It holds responsibility for medical disorders like epilepsy, alopecia, obesity, lethargy, hyperpigmentation, pyoderma, and other skin-related diseases. A proper diet and medication help treat this issue.
Patellar Luxation: It is also known as “Slip Stifles,” generally common in small dogs. When the femur (thigh bone), patella (knee cap), and tibia (calf) are not aligned, an abnormal gait, skips or hops. Rubbing the patella can cause arthritis. The severity of the condition leads to surgical procedures.
Diabetes: This can be a hereditary condition that is affected either due to production of fewer insulin levels (Type 1) or a poor diet (Type 2), depicting a surge in sugar levels in your dog’s bloodstream.
Chocolate Beagle Specific Health Conditions
Dwarfism in Beagles: Dwarfism, otherwise called chondrodystrophy, is a genetic disorder in Beagles. A condition causing short legs due to poor growth of cartilage. It also involves premature degeneration of intervertebral discs. Symptoms include stiffness in the neck, back pain, abnormal reflexes, poor muscular coordination, and impaired urination. Later part of this ailment can lead to paralysis in the limbs. However, dogs can lead an everyday life with many movements.
Chinese Beagle Syndrome: If your dog walks on tiptoes all the time, it would be affected by Musladin Lueke Syndrome, otherwise called Chinese Beagle Syndrome. Beagles who suffer from this disease have short toes that tend to be upright. Chinese Beagle Syndrome is passed on by the parents to its offspring and generally doesn’t cure it. However, you can observe the symptoms as Beagle turns one month.
Health Overview
General Health
Low
Potential for weight gain
High
Size
Low to medium
Chocolate Beagle Diet and Nutrition
The recommended amount of high-quality dry food is ¾ to 1.5 cups, divided into two meals. A portion of ideal nutritional dog food must include 30 % of protein, 55 calories for a puppy, and is rich in omega – 3 fatty acids.
Chocolate Beagle Living Conditions
Unlike other hound dogs, Chocolate Beagles make excellent city dogs. They get easily adapted to apartment living and are also suitable for other smaller living places. They can also live indoors with people.
Cold and damp climates are unsuitable for Chocolate Beagles. However, when left outside or alone, they bark to keep themselves entertained and busy. The barking tendency causes them to surrender to shelters or rescues as it can cost the owner a penalty to maintain the city ordinances and laws.
Adding a Chocolate Beagle to your Family
Things to Remember before Breeding Chocolate Beagles
Chocolate Beagles have high vocals. Hence, those who don’t like barking dogs must avoid buying.
They are potential diggers and should not be left alone in the backyards.
Chocolate Beagles have an intense Fight or Flight instinct.
They are stubborn and may perform tricks or follow commands based on what benefits them at the moment.
Cost of Chocolate Beagle Puppy
The cost of a Chocolate Beagle Puppy ranges between $200 to $2000. The price varies from breeder to breeder.
