I encountered my first Afghan Hound in the early seventies when my first opportunity to have a pet presented itself.

I contacted the local rescue to see what they had available and as luck would have it,they told me about this young female Afghan Hound. She had been badly neglected and in very poor condition.

I had never heard of or seen an Afghan Hound before so I had no idea what to expect. However, when she appeared at my door step with the rescue officer my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Despite being bedraggled, dirty, skinny and full of fleas, I can honestly say that I had never seen anything so stunningly beautiful in my life before.

A few days later after bathing, grooming and delousing she was a sight to behold and there began a 35 year love affair with this exceptional dog breed.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I had the opportunity and facilities to introduce more than one of these wonderful creatures in to my family but pretty soon I was up to nine.

Until this day I have always had circa nine Afghan Hounds in my life and I can tell you they have been the most fulfilling years of my life.

Over that time I have owned many other breeds also, including mutts, as I have been actively involved in dog rescue. As such I have, as you would expect, in 35 years, experienced everything there is to know about dogs, their behaviors, health, care grooming etc.

Now normally I would advocate that dogs are individuals and their characteristics are attributed to their individual personalities and not their breed.

However, in the case of the Afghan Hounds I have to back down on that.

Yes, Afghan Hounds as a breed, are most definitely different to other breeds of dog and have often been described as cat like in characteristic.

Having lived with Afghan Hounds for so many years I have come to know them well and to those of you who are unfamiliar with the breed and are considering becoming an Afghan Hound owner I would give you these pointers:

• They are aloof which means that they like their own space, they will come for some love and attention on their terms and then will want to find somewhere to curl up and sleep. They love their sleep.
• They have bags of stamina and love to run and play so they need somewhere safe to this. They must always be kept on a leash or in a securely fenced area otherwise they would most definitely run off and cover long distances in a matter of minutes.
• As they are sight hounds they focus on distances and therefore are not aware of the dangers of traffic. Also, as natural hunters, small animals such cats, squirrels and even small dogs would be in peril.
• Grooming, in this respect they are high maintenance. They require brushing every other day and bathing every other week. On bathing day a good grooming session can take two or three hours and you would need a good collection of brushes, combs and preferably a special hair dryer. A show dog would probably need bathing once a week and you would need to familiarize yourself with the special shampoos and conditioners.

Luckily I discovered activities such as Afghan Hound Racing, showing and lure coursing and all of my Afghans participated in one or all of those activities.

For me the Afghan Hound is the king of dogs and two of my Afghan Hounds of the past will be remembered by me as the most remarkable and special characters that I have ever encountered in my life, animals or humans alike. They were just incredibly special characters and I will remember them forever.

If you are an experienced Afghan Hound owner or just starting out there is one book that I have read many times over and is always my point of reference whenever I need information about the breed. Afghan Hounds by Lynda Race, it is an exceptional read and illustrates the breed in tremendous detail, much better than I ever could.

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from my Afghan Hound Album.

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Having owned Afghan Hounds for more than 40 years and studied their history, I’m afraid I could’t agree less.

Infact I would go as far as saying that the Afghan Hound is amongst the most intelligent of breeds.

If their inteligence is measured by their ability to obey instructions from their owners then we are doing them a big injustice.
When you consider that they are one of the oldest recorded breeds, then acheiving this status as dumbos I would suggest would be very difficult.

Infact in their early history they were providers of food for their human counterparts. They would do this by travelling miles in difficult terrain and under dangerous condition.

The Afghan Hound would fight off any and all competition such as Snow Leopards and Wolves. They would catch all kinds of prey including wild boar and bring this back to the shepherds and of course the shepherd dogs, you know, the intelligent ones. All this the Afghan Hound did without human instruction, thinking for themselves, living on their witts and working as a team.

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From the Southern desert region there evolved a taller and leaner hound with longer body and lighter boned.
Afghan Hounds often hunted with the partnership of falcons, which were trained to swoop at the quarry. It was these varied and impressive skills that endeered this breed to the Chiefs and Shikaris and became much coveted and protected pets.

However, in this case their incredible hunting skills were used by the Royalty for sport and not necessity.

As a result of their history the Afghan Hound has developed great stamina, strength and speed and it’s most striking physical capabilities are its leaping distance and nimbleness.
It was in the 189s that the Afghan Hound arrived England with returning British troops and their families. During their time in Afghanistan they had become fascinated with the breed which at that time it was referred to as “Barukhzy Hounds” or “Persian Greyhounds”.

The Afghan Hound was quite a diverse breed so in order to establish a breed standard a model dog was used that best represented the elegance of today’s Afghan Hound. That dog was named Zardin.

The breed’s popularity was very slow coming, but eventually made a name in the show ring. In fact, the Afghan Hound quickly became one of the most glamorous and competitive dogs in the show ring.

During the 1970s the Afghan Hound enjoyed incredible popularity, but since then their status in the pet world has declined.

The Afghan Hound Personality

Because of it’s glamorous looks and striking features people are unaware of its history and would never guess just how skillful a hunter they are. This dog is a hunter at heart, capable of finding its prey through rough terrain, yet is peaceful and gentle, especially with children. It needs exercise on a daily basis and can be somewhat shy and reserved around strangers.

Caring for Your Afghan Hound

the Afghan Hound, contrary to common belief is highly inteligent and needs daily stimulation, both mentally and physically. This will keep the Afghan Hound in a happy state of mind. It will love the opportunity to free run at full speed if you can do so in a safe area. They should live indoors with the rest of the family but have access to an enclosed, outside area during the day. Grooming does take a little extra work with the Afghan Hound. Its coat is long and may need to be brushed thoroughly every other day.

Health Information

The average lifespan of a healthy Afghan Hound is between 12 and 15 years. They are generally very healthy dogs with absolutely no major issues and the only minor concerns that may spring up are cataracts. Occasionally seen are CHD and necrotic myelopathy, but these health problems are extremely rare.

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