While they are wonderful dogs, before adopting one, you might want to know their fur type, especially if someone in your home has dog allergies or you don’t like having a dog that sheds too much. So, what is a beagle’s fur type?
Beagles have a thick double coat and have a shedding season in spring. They have short, smooth hair, which makes combing easy. Overall, beagles are moderate to heavy shedders depending on the season. Therefore, beagles aren’t hypoallergenic, but their shedding can be managed.
We will explain why beagles have a thick double coat that causes them to shed more in spring. We will also discuss how to minimize and manage your beagle’s shedding to avoid your pup causing allergies around the house.
What Type Of Fur Does A Beagle Have?
Knowing the fur type of a dog breed before adopting them is an important consideration, especially if someone is allergic or sensitive to dogs. Beagles aren’t hypoallergenic, but the allergens they spread can be contained and managed to some extent.
Beagles have thick, coarse fur. They also have short, smooth hair, which makes combing easy. Combing your beagle is essential, especially in the spring when they shed their winter coat. Beagles have double coats to keep them warm in the winter, and they shed this thick double coat in spring.
Why do beagles need a double coat, you might ask? Beagles were originally bred for tracking and hunting small animals, such as rabbits. Therefore, they were often exposed to the outside elements while tracking through forests and fields. As a result, beagles required a thick, warm coat to help them adapt to the cold and wet European weather. Therefore, they were bred to have a double coat to keep them warm in winter.
Today people still use beagles to track small animals, even in America. However, the beagle’s thick coat helps to keep it warm and protected against the elements. This coat insulates the beagle and is waterproof, and the smooth hairs help prevent fleas and ticks from attaching to the beagle.
Although a beagle’s fur is practical for its breeding purposes, it does result in the beagle shedding more than some other breeds, such as poodles or miniature schnauzer terriers. However, beagles don’t shed as much as other dog breeds, such as Labradors.
Beagles are generally classified as moderate shedders, but their shedding becomes heavy in spring. Fortunately, there are ways to help minimize your beagle’s shedding and prevent anyone in your house from suffering from allergies.
How To Control A Beagle’s Shedding
Now that you understand why beagles have the fur type they do, you might want to know how to control their moderate or heavy shedding. This will help reduce the number of hairs they leave around the house and prevent anyone in your home from having an allergic reaction. These are some tips for managing a beagle’s shedding.
1. Manage Your Beagle’s Diet
Your beagle’s diet plays a significant role in how much it sheds. Feeding your beagle high-quality foods with sufficient protein, vitamins, and minerals will help keep your pup and its fur healthy. Most dog food contains essential vitamins and minerals to nourish your beagle’s coat, keeping it healthy and reducing the shedding.
However, at times, your beagle might have drier skin, which could lead to more shedding. If your beagle is starting to shed more, consider adding coat oil drops to its food. These drops contain essential oils to help condition your beagle’s fur and reduce shedding.
While your beagle’s diet can help limit its overall shedding, it will still shed more in spring, when the thick winter fur is shed that kept your beagle toasty during the colder winter months.
2. Brush You Beagle Frequently
While you cannot prevent your beagle from shedding in spring, you can manage where the shedding happens. By combing your beagle frequently, you help reduce the number of hairs the beagle spreads around the house. Brushing your beagle also helps keep its coat healthy and allows you to inspect its coat and check for dry skin, ticks, or fleas.
Experts recommend combing your beagle thoroughly once or twice a week to remove the loose hairs and prevent them from falling out in your home. Then, during the spring months, when the beagle sheds more than usual, you can give it a quick brush once a day to further reduce the beagle shedding.
Many great brushes are available on the market. We recommend buying a brush specifically for double-coated, short-haired dogs. These brushes are gentler on your beagle’s skin and help remove loose hair from both coats.
3. Don’t Bathe Your Beagle Too Often
People often think they can reduce a beagle’s shedding by bathing it more frequently. However, this is not the case because bathing your beagle too often will cause its skin to dry out and lead to poor coat health and excess shedding.
Because beagles have short, smooth hair, you shouldn’t wash your beagle more than once every six weeks. Use mild, non-irritating soap when washing your beagle, and ensure you rinse its coat properly afterward.
As mentioned, a beagle’s coat is waterproof, so getting it wet might take some time. However, washing your beagle once every two months will help remove dust and other allergens from your beagle’s fur, reducing the allergens your beagle spreads.
These tips will help you manage your beagle’s shedding. However, you cannot eliminate its shedding, especially in spring. Therefore, if you don’t like dog hairs around the house, or if someone is severely allergic to dogs, you should consider adopting another breed.
Can You Keep A Beagle In Warm Places?
As you have likely noticed, beagles were mainly bred in colder climates to track prey in the forests and fields. Therefore, their double coats are designed to keep them warm and dry. This might make you wonder if you can keep a beagle in warmer climates?
Fortunately, a beagle sheds its winter coat in spring. Therefore, the chances of your beagle overheating in summer are reduced. However, we recommend watching your pup during the hotter days to ensure it doesn’t get heat stroke.
Because beagles are such active dogs, they might get heatstroke on sweltering days. Therefore, monitor your beagle’s behavior and ensure it has a shaded area to shelter from the heat and sun if it stays outside.
Conclusion
Beagles have a double coat with short, coarse hair. They are moderate shedders but shed more in the spring when they no longer need thick winter coats. To manage your beagle’s shedding, feed it high-quality food, comb it once or twice a week, and don’t bathe your beagle too often.
Beagles were bred for tracking small prey such as rabbits through forests. Therefore, their double coats helped to keep them warm, and their smooth hairs helped prevent ticks and fleas. Beagles aren’t used for tracking as often, but their coats are still ideal for cold, wet climates.
References
https://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/beagle#/slide/1
