History
The Afghan Hound has been identified as a
basal breed that predates the emergence of the modern breeds in the 19th
Century. It is most closely related to the Saluki.
Today's modern purebred breed of Afghan
Hound descends from dogs brought to Great Britain in the 1920s which King
Amanullah of the Afghan Royal Family gave away as gifts. Some had been kept as
hunting dogs, others as guardians.
Although the breed is demonstrably ancient,
verifiable written or visual records that tie today's Afghan Hound breed to
specific Afghan owners or places are absent. There is much speculation about
the breeds origin and possible connections with the ancient world among
fanciers and in non-scientific breed books and breed websites. Connections with
other types and breeds from the same area may provide clues to the history. A
name for a desert coursing Afghan hound, Tazi (sag-e-tazi), suggests a shared
ancestry with the very similar Tasy breed from the Caspian Sea area of Russia
and Turkmenistan. Other types or breeds of similar appearance are the Taigan
from the mountainous Tian Shan region on the Chinese border of Afghanistan, and
the Barakzay, or Kurram Valley Hound.
There are at least 13 types known in
Afghanistan, and some are being developed (through breeding and record keeping)
into modern purebred breeds. As the lives of the peoples with whom these dogs
developed change in the modern world, often these landrace types of dogs lose
their use and disappear; there may have been many more types of longhaired
sighthound in the past.
Once out of Afghanistan, the history of
the Afghan Hound breed becomes an important part of the history of the very
earliest dog shows and The Kennel Club (UK). Various sighthounds were brought
to England in the 1800s by army officers returning from British India (which at
the time included), Afghanistan, and Persia, and were exhibited at dog shows,
which were then just becoming popular, under various names, such as Barukzy
hounds. They were also called "Persian Greyhounds" by the English, in
reference to their own indigenous sighthound.
One dog in particular, Zardin, was
brought in 1907 from India by Captain Bariff,and became the early ideal of
breed type for what was still called the Persian Greyhound. Zardin was the
basis of the writing of the first breed standard in 1912, but breeding of the
dogs was stopped by World War I.
Out of the longhaired sighthound types
known in Afghanistan, two main strains make up the modern Afghan Hound breed.
The first were a group of hounds brought to Scotland from Baluchistan by Major
and Mrs. G. Bell-Murray and Miss Jean C. Manson in 1920, and are called the
Bell-Murray strain.
These dogs were of the lowland or steppe
type, also called kalagh, and are less heavily coated. The second strain was a
group of dogs from a kennel in Kabul owned by Mrs. Mary Amps, which she shipped
to England in 1925. She and her husband came to Kabul after the Afghan war in
1919, and the foundation sire of her kennel (named Ghazni) in Kabul was a dog
that closely resembled Zardin. Her Ghazni strain were the more heavily coated
mountain type. Most of the Afghans in the United States were developed from the
Ghazni strain from England. The first Afghans in Australia were imported from
the United States in 1934, also of the Ghazni strain. The French breed club was
formed in 1939 (FALAPA). The mountain and steppe strains became mixed into the
modern Afghan Hound breed, and a new standard was written in 1948, which is
still used today.
The spectacular beauty of Afghan Hound
dogs caused them to become highly desirable showdogs and pets, and they are
recognised by all of the major kennel clubs in the English-speaking world. One
of the Amps Ghazni, Sirdar, won BIS at Crufts in 1928 and 1930. An Afghan hound
was featured on the cover of Life Magazine, November 26, 1945. "Afghan Hounds
were the most popular in Australia in the 1970s…and won most of the major
shows". An Afghan Hound won BIS (Best in Show) at the 1996 World Dog Show
in Budapest. Afghan hounds were BIS at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in
1957 and again in 1983. That win also marked the most recent win at Westminster
for breeder-owner-handler, Chris Terrell.
The Afghan Hound breed is no longer used
for hunting, although it can be seen in the sport of lure coursing.
Description
This Afghan hound is black and brindle;
however, the photo shows it with a reddish tinge to the coat, which can occur
in a black-coated dog.
The Afghan Hound is tall, standing in
height 61–74 cm (24–29 in) and weighing 20–27 kg (44–60 lb). The coat may be
any colour, but white markings, particularly on the head, are discouraged; many
individuals have a black facial mask. A specimen may have facial hair that
looks like a Fu Manchu mustache. The mustache is called "mandarins."
Some Afghan Hounds are almost white, but parti-color hounds (white with islands
of red or black) are not acceptable and may indicate impure breeding. The long,
fine-textured coat requires considerable care and grooming. The long topknot
and the shorter-haired saddle on the back of the dog are distinctive features
of the Afghan Hound coat. The high hipbones and unique small ring on the end of
the tail are also characteristics of the breed.
The temperament of the typical Afghan
Hound can be aloof and dignified, but happy and clownish when it's playing.
This breed, as is the case with many sighthounds, has a high prey drive and may
not get along with small animals. The Afghan Hound can be a successful
competitor in dog agility trials as well as an intuitive therapy dog and
companion. Genomic studies have pointed to the Afghan Hound as one of the
oldest of dog breeds.
The breed has a reputation among some dog
trainers of having a relatively slow "obedience intelligence" as
defined by author Stanley Coren in The Intelligence of Dogs.
Although seldom used today for hunting in
Europe and America where they are popular, Afghan hounds are frequent
participants in lure coursing events and are also popular in the sport of
conformation showing.
Variants
The Khalag Tazi is a variety of the
Afghan. It was introduced to Europe in 1920 when an Indian Army officer, Major
G Bell-Murray, brought some animals back from Afghanistan. Tazi is a current
and ancient name for hunting dogs of the sighthound type in the Middle East. It
has been used to denote the Saluki, Afghan, Taigan, Persian Greyhound,
greyhound types of hound.
Health
Lifespan
Afghan Hounds in UK surveys had an
average lifespan of about 12 years. which is similar to other breeds of their
size. In the 2004 UK Kennel Club survey, the most common causes of death were
cancer (31%), old age (20%), cardiac (10.5%), and urologic (5%). Those that die
of old age had a median lifespan of 12 years, with 12% living to at least 14.
Health
concerns
Major health issues are allergies,
cancer, and hip dysplasia. Sensitivity to anesthesia is an issue the Afghan
hound shares with the rest of the sighthound group, as sighthounds have
relatively low levels of body fat. Afghan hounds are also among the dog breeds
most likely to develop chylothorax, a rare condition which causes the thoracic
ducts to leak, allowing large quantities of chyle fluid to enter the dog's
chest cavity. This condition commonly results in a lung torsion (in which the
dog's lung twists within the chest cavity, requiring emergency surgery), due to
the breed's typically deep, "barrel"-shaped chest. If not corrected
through surgery, chylothorax can ultimately cause fibrosing pleuritis, or a
hardening of the organs, due to scar tissue forming around the organs to
protect them from the chyle fluid. Chylothorax is not necessarily, but often,
fatal.
Because of its distinctive appearance,
the Afghan hound has been represented in animated feature films and TV shows,
including Universal Pictures' Balto (Sylvie), Disney's Lady and the Tramp II:
Scamp's Adventure (Ruby) and Oliver & Company (Rita), an Afghan hound also
appeared on 101 Dalmatians as well as in 102 Dalmatians as one of the dogs in
Cruella De Vil's party and the television series What-a-Mess (Prince Amir of
Kinjan; based on children's books by Frank Muir) and, as Prissy in the 1961
Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians and 101 Dalmatians II:
Patch's London Adventure. Brainy Barker from Krypto the Superdog claims to be
an Afghan Hound in the episode "Meet the Dog Stars", although her
design actually resembles that of a Saluki instead of an Afghan Hound.
Afghan hounds have also been featured in
television advertisements and in fashion magazines. The Afghan hound is
represented in books as well, including being featured in a series of mystery
novels by Nina Wright (Abra), and a talking Afghan Hound in David Rothman's The
Solomon Scandals (2008, Twilight Times Books). In the novel Between the Acts,
Virginia Woolf uses an Afghan hound (named Sohrab) to represent aspects of one
of the book's human characters.
On August 3, 2005, Korean scientist Hwang
Woo-Suk announced that his team of researchers had become the first team to
successfully clone a dog, an Afghan Hound named Snuppy. In 2006 Hwang Woo-Suk
was dismissed from his university position for fabricating data in his
research. Snuppy, nonetheless, was a genuine clone, and thus the first cloned dog
in history.
The Afghan Hound features prominently in
the avant-garde music video of popular French band M83's, "Set in Stone
(M83 Remix)".
