50 free Beagle trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Beagle trivia quiz covers the small British scent hound from Elizabeth I's 'singing Beagles' to Snoopy. The history questions run through the Southern Hound and North Country Beagle, Reverend Honeywood's Essex pack of the 1830s, 'Stonehenge' and his four varieties, the founding of the Beagle Club, General Rowett's American imports and the year the breed hit number one on the AKC list. The breed section covers what makes a Beagle a Beagle: the white 'flag' on the tail, the gumdrop nose, the tricolour that puppies are not born with, the 13-inch and 15-inch varieties, the famous mouse-in-a-field scent test, why they bay and howl, and the health quirks from reverse sneezing to 'Funny Puppy'. There are questions on beagling, the USDA Beagle Brigade, the breed's grim role in laboratory testing, and famous Beagles from Westminster champions Uno and Miss P to Gromit, LBJ's Him and Her, and the ship that carried Charles Darwin. Questions run from easy to expert with a difficulty score on each, so it suits a family quiz or a hound-lover's challenge. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and breed references and each question carries its citation. Also try our Dogs and Snoopy quizzes.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Beagle was bred primarily to hunt which animals?
Rabbit and hare
The sport is called beagling, and packs of up to 40 hounds are followed on foot rather than horseback.
Q 02The Beagle looks like a smaller version of which larger hound?
Foxhound
The Beagle's head is broader, its muzzle shorter and its legs shorter in proportion, and its expression is quite different.
Q 03Which monarch kept 'Pocket Beagles' that stood only 8 to 9 inches at the shoulder?
Elizabeth I
She called them her 'singing Beagles' and let them cavort among the plates and cups at her table to amuse guests.
Q 04Edward II and Henry VII both kept packs of what tiny beagle-type dogs?
Glove Beagles
The name came from their being small enough to fit on a glove; hunters carried them along and released them into the underbrush.
Q 05Gervase Markham likened the 'musick' of a beagle small enough to sit on a man's hand to what?
Reeds
He called it the 'little small mitten-beagle', a companion for a lady's kirtle that could still run cunningly in the field.
Q 06Which clergyman's 1830s Essex pack is believed to be the basis of the modern breed?
Reverend Phillip Honeywood
His hounds stood about 10 inches at the shoulder and were reportedly pure white; Prince Albert also had a pack at the time.
Q 07Which two 18th-century hare-hunting hounds are the breed's chief ancestors?
Southern Hound and North Country Beagle
The tall, slow Southern Hound had the better nose; the Yorkshire-bred northern dog was smaller and faster.
Q 08Which breeder is credited with refining Honeywood's hunting hounds into dogs that were also attractive?
Thomas Johnson
He developed both rough-coated and smooth-coated strains; the rough coat survived into the 20th century before dying out.
Q 09Writing as 'Stonehenge' in 1856, John Henry Walsh divided beagles into how many varieties?
Four
They were the medium Beagle, the dwarf or lapdog beagle, the fox beagle and the rough-coated or terrier beagle.
Q 10In what year was the Beagle Club formed in Britain and the first breed standard drawn up?
1890
By then the threat of extinction was fading, with 18 packs in England in 1887 rising to 44 by 1902.
Q 11Which Illinois general imported English Beagles in the 1870s and helped write the first US standard?
Richard Rowett
The standard he drew up with L. H. Twadell and Norman Ellmore in 1887 was modelled on his own hounds.
Q 12Between 1953 and 1959 the Beagle held what position on the AKC's list of registered breeds?
No. 1
Beagles have always been more popular in North America than in their native England, staying in the US top ten for over 30 years.
Q 13Uno, the first Beagle to win Best in Show at Westminster, triumphed in which year?
2008
Registered as K-Run's Park Me In First, he was also the first Beagle to take the hound group since 1939.
Q 21Tricolour Beagle puppies are almost always born in which two colours?
Black and white
The white areas are set by eight weeks, but the black may fade to brown over one to two years.
Q 22The tricolour with a jet-black saddle is known as the 'Classic Tri' or what?
Blackback
Other shades are the 'Dark Tri' and the 'Faded Tri', and some dogs lose their black markings entirely as they age.
Q 23Which very light tan Beagle colour shares its name with a citrus fruit?
Lemon
Two-colour Beagles always have a white base; tan and white is the commonest and liver is barred by some standards.
Q 14Miss P, the 2015 Westminster Best in Show winner, was related to Uno how?
He was her great-uncle
The tricolour from British Columbia notched 20 Best in Show wins in the United States and died in her sleep in 2021.
Q 15The OED's earliest 'beagle' in English literature is from about 1475 in which work?
The Squire of Low Degree
The word itself may come from the French begueule, meaning 'gape throat'.
Q 16The word 'beagle' may derive from the French 'begueule', meaning what?
Gape throat
It is a nod to the breed's famous voice, which carries over long distances in thick cover.
Q 17The Kerry Beagle of Ireland is unlike the modern Beagle in what way?
It is much taller
At 22 to 24 inches it towers over a Beagle, and it was originally used for hunting stags.
Q 18What is the white tip on a Beagle's tail called?
The flag
It was bred for on purpose so the tail stays visible when the dog's head is down on a scent.
Q 19A Beagle's tail is traditionally called what?
The stern
It is long, slightly curved and held upright when the dog is active, but never curls over the back.
Q 20The Beagle's nose is described in the standard by which confectionery comparison?
Gumdrop
It is black or occasionally liver, sitting on a medium-length, square-cut muzzle.
Q 24What are the two Beagle varieties recognised by the American Kennel Club?
13-inch and 15-inch
The UK Kennel Club and FCI recognise a single type of 13 to 16 inches, so British Beagles run slightly bigger.
Q 25How much does an adult Beagle typically weigh?
18–35 lb
They stand 13 to 16 inches at the withers, with females slightly smaller than males on average.
Q 26In Scott and Fuller's scent test, how long did Beagles take to find a mouse in a one-acre field?
Under a minute
Fox Terriers needed 15 minutes and Scottish Terriers never found it at all.
Q 27Along with the Bloodhound and Beagle, which breed is named as having one of the best noses of any dog?
Basset Hound
The long ears and large lips probably help trap scent close to the nose.
Q 28What is the popular Beagle-Pug crossbreed called?
Puggle
Some are calmer than a Beagle, like the Pug parent, but many are highly excitable and need vigorous exercise.
Q 29Several breed standards describe the Beagle's temperament with which single word?
Merry
They are poor guard dogs because strangers win them over so easily, but their bark makes them decent watch dogs.
Q 30Where does the Beagle sit in Stanley Coren's ranking in The Intelligence of Dogs?
72nd
Coren's scale measures working and obedience intelligence only, not the independence a scent hound needs.