The Afghan Hound is a long hair ancient breed distinguished by its thick, fine, silky coat and tail with a ring curl. The Afghan Hound, also known as the Afghan Greyhound or simply the Afghan, is usually referred to by breeders and fanciers as the “Affie”.
Afghan Hound content overview
- History
- Different names
- Appearance and Characteristics
- Personality and Temperament
- Health & problems
- How to take care
- Puppy Information
- Puppy price
- Things to consider adopting a puppy
- Advantages & Disadvantages
- Photo gallery
History of Afghan Hound
The Afghan Hound is a very elegant and ancient dog breed native to Sinai, and mentioned several times in Egyptian papyruses and pictured in the caves of northern Afghanistan more than 4000 years ago. It has been identified as a basal breed that predates modern breeds’ emergence in the 19th century. The western world did not discover the Afghan Hound until the early 1800s. 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. The Afghan Hound breed is no longer used for hunting, although it can be seen in the sport of lure coursing.
Afghans made their first pilgrimage out of the Middle East with British soldiers, who brought them back to England in the 19th century. The American Kennel Club recognized the Afghan Hound in 1926. Afghan Hounds were also used to bring to bay predators such as wolves, jackals, wild dogs, snow leopards, and flush fowl such as quail and partridge. The breed quickly became the glamour world prize and soon became popular in other circles, such as dog shows. The Afghan Hound reached the apex of its popularity in the 1970s, but it is still well known throughout the world.
Different names or Types
Other names
- Afghanischer Windhund
- Baluchi Hound
- Sage Balochi
- Persian Greyhound
- Tazi
- Tazhi Spay
- Eastern Greyhound
- Levrier Afghan
- Da Kochyano Spay
- Lebrel Afgano
- Ogar Afgan
- Sage Baluchi
Recognized Names
Recognition
North American Purebred Registry, Inc. – NAPR
Federation Cynologique Internationale – FCI
Australian National Kennel Club – ANKC
American Canine Association Inc. – ACA
Kennel Club of Great Britain – KCGB
Dog Registry of America, Inc. – DRA
America’s Pet Registry, Inc. – APRI
New Zealand Kennel Club – NZKC
American Canine Registry – ACR
Continental Kennel Club – CKC
American Kennel Club – AKC
Canadian Kennel Club – CKC
National Kennel Club – NKC
United Kennel Club – UKC
Appearance & Characteristics
The Afghan Hound is an aristocrat, his whole appearance one of dignity and aloofness with no trace of plainness or coarseness.
Breed basic characteristics
| Origin | Afghanistan |
| Group | Hound |
| Size: | Large |
| Lifespan: | 12-18 years |
| Trainability: | Difficult |
| Exercise Needs: | High |
| Grooming: | High |
| Barking: | Minimal |
| Shedding: | Moderate, especially when losing the puppy coat |
| Protective Ability: | Suitable for older children |
| Brushing: | Brushed regularly |
| Hypoallergenic Breed: | Yes |
| Space Requirements: | Gardens and yards |
| Compatibility With Other Pets: | Good |
| Average Puppy Price: | Average $975 USD to $3050 USD |
| Height | Male: 68-74 cm, Female: 60-69 cm |
| Weight | 26-34 kg |
| Litter size | 1 – 15 puppies, average 8 |
Size, Proportion, Substance
Size: The Afghan stands 25 to 27 inches (63.5 to 68.5 cm) high and weighs from 50 to 60 pounds (23 to 27 kg).
Proportion: Square to off-square with a length of the body, measured from the point of the forecast to the point of the rump, is just slightly greater than the height at the withers.
Substance: The body is well put together, with sturdy substance and refined yet sturdy bone.
Head
The head is of a good length, showing much refinement, the skull evenly balanced with the foreface. The mouth level, meaning that the teeth from the upper jaw and lower jaw match evenly, neither overshot nor undershot. This is a difficult mouth to breed.
Skull: The skull should not be too narrow or too broad but should be significantly longer than broad.
Muzzle: Long, with punishing jaws.
Eyes: The eyes are almond-shaped, never full or bulgy, and are dark in color.
Ears: The ears are long, set approximately on a level with outer corners of the eyes, the ear’s leather reaching nearly to the end of the dog’s nose, and covered with long silky hair.
Nose: Nose is of good size, black.
Teeth: The Afghan Hound has a complete set of large, evenly spaced, white teeth meeting in scissors or level bite.
Neck, Topline, Body
Neck: The neck is of a good length, strong and arched, running in a curve to the long and sloping shoulders and well laid back.
Topline:
Body: The backline appearing practically level from the shoulders to the loin. Strong and powerful loin and slightly arched, falling away toward the stern, with the hipbones very pronounced; well ribbed and tucked up in flanks.
Serious Faults:
Forequarters
The assessment of the forequarters must be done in conjunction with the assessment of the body, as one is dependent on the other.
Shoulders: Shoulders have plenty of angulation so that the legs are well set underneath the dog.
Forelegs: Forelegs are straight and strong with a great length between elbow and pastern; elbows well held in it.
Fore Feet: The forefeet also act as brakes and will take most of the force of quick turning and stopping.
Hindquarters
Hindquarters powerful and well-muscled, with a great length between hip and hock; hocks are well let down; good angulation of both stifle and hock; slightly bowed from hock to crotch.
Rear Legs:
Hind Feet: The hind feet are broad and of good length; the toes arched and covered with long thick hair.
Tail: The tail set is not too high on the body, having a ring or a curve on end; should never be curled over, or rest on the back, or be carried sideways and should never be bushy.
Coat
The Afghan Hound’s long fine silky coat is another distinct feature of this breed, the saddle pattern. The coat must be silky in texture, never coarse or woolly.
Shedding: The Afghan sheds moderately. The more often you brush them, the less hair you will have to fall off the dog and onto your floors, furniture and clothing.
Color and Markings
Colors seen commonly are gold, silver, black, white, cream, blue, all shades of brindle, black & tan, black & gold, black & silver, black & brindle, and domino.
Gait: The Afghan Hound’s gait should be smooth and springy with a high order style.
Personality and Temperament
Personality
Afghan Hounds are known as beloved companions with highly individualized personalities. They can be independent thinkers with a strong prey drive. The breed tends to be aloof with those they do not know but has great affection and loyalty for their owners.
Afghan Hounds are a very sensitive breed and don’t do well with young children’s spontaneous rambunctiousness. They are best when they are raised alongside the child from puppyhood or placed in a house with children who are older and know how to behave properly around dogs.
Temperament
The breed is aloof, not demonstrative, and therefore not friendly with strangers. The Afghan Hound resents an automatic assumption of familiarity and will often drawback from a judge if approached too quickly. The breed is fiercely independent, and this demeanour should not be confused with nervousness
or aggression.
Activity Requirements
The Afghan Hound is a breed that needs to be kept active to be at its best. They are a powerful and swift-moving dog with great turning and stopping ability over a variety of terrain. The Afghan Hound is required to work for long periods and is not designed to be a sprinter, so it needs to have a great length from hip to hock and short from hock to foot.
Behavioral Traits
The Afghan Hound leaning towards independence, and owners should not be surprised if their Dog sometimes chooses to ignore commands. The modern-day Afghan Hound is said to have many Cat-like tendencies, loving to laze around the house and is generally much slower than its Middle Eastern ancestors.
Afghans are playful puppies, but as they mature, they become very independent. While they may have loved cuddling and romping like a puppy, the adult Afghan will decide when he wants to be touched.
Trainability
Afghans are notoriously difficult to train. They are stubborn and independent, and like a true aristocrat, don’t like being told what to do. Positive reinforcement treats and lots of patience are required when working with this breed. Afghan hounds make excellent guard dogs. They are extremely watchful, are wary of strangers and loyal to their owners. The females seem to be more protective than their male counterparts.
Health & problems
Health
Afghan Hounds are a rather sturdy, healthy breed with an average lifespan commensurate with other dogs in their size group. In Afghan Hounds, health problems can include hip and elbow dysplasia, juvenile cataracts, thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease that destroys the thyroid gland; laryngeal paralysis; and bleeding disorders as von Willebrand disease.
Feeding Plan
The food you give to your Afghan Hound will not be untypical for most dog breeds, but many people try different foods to “treat” the Afghan Hound’s coat – people who show their Afghan Hound, in particular. Recommended daily amount for your Afghan Dog breed is 2 to 2.5 cups of high-quality dry food a day, divided into two meals. It’s also important to feed a premium dog food that is made with predominantly meat. Nowadays, many pet food companies utilize concentrated vegetable proteins to cut costs.
- Afghan Hound pups between 8 and 12 weeks old need 4 meals in a day.
- Feed afghan hound puppies three to 6 months old three meals each day.
- Feed puppies six months to 1 year 2 times in twenty hours.
- When your Afghan Hound hits his or her 1st birthday, 1 meal every 24 hours is adequate.
- Some adult afghan hounds might do better with 2 smaller helpings. It is your responsibility to learn your Afghan Hound’s eating tendencies.
Living conditions
Afghan Hounds prefer sleeping indoors but need large lawns or open spaces and plenty of exercises to stay happy. They are not well-suited for apartments. The Afghan Hound fares well in the city or in the country as long as there is room to run.
How to take care of Afghan Hound?
Exercise
Afghan Hounds need physical activity to stay healthy, stimulate their minds, and stay healthy. The daily physical activity also really helps afghan hounds fight boredom, which can lead to difficult behavior. Individual exercise needs will vary based on your Afghan Hound’s age and her level of health—but 10 minutes outside and merely a walk around the block every day probably isn’t enough. If your Afghan Hound is a 6 to 18-month adolescent, her requirements will be relatively more.
Grooming & Bruising
The Afghan Hound needs a lot of maintenance because of its long, silky, and thick coat. You will have to brush your Afghan Hound every day and do a thorough brushing and grooming at least once a week. This includes removing numerous mats and tangles in the fur individually and carefully, using a fine-toothed comb, pin brush, and slicker brush for Afghans. Brush your Afghan Hound from the skin out, using a blow dryer on the low setting to part the hair. Pay special attention to the armpits, between the toes, and behind the ears.
Dental Health Check-up
Dental disease is the most common chronic problem in pets, affecting 80% of all dogs by age two. And unfortunately, your Afghan Hound is more likely than other dogs to have problems with her teeth. It starts with tartar build-up on the teeth and progresses to infection of the teeth, gums, and roots.
Proper dental health care is as important for every Dog; similarly, it is very important for the Afghan Hound dog. Brush your Dog’s teeth at least 2 or 3 times a week. You get a special toothbrush for dogs, and your vet can guide you on how to use them. If you don’t attend to your pet’s teeth, he can experience tartar build-up. This can lead to gum disease and tooth loss. Not only that, bad teeth can affect other parts of the body too.
Love & affection
Love and affection are useful for every Dog. If you give your Afghan Hound dog love and affection, then the dog will love you back. Your Afghan Hound puppy will be a member of your family, So Give lots of love and affection to your cute puppy. Most importantly, spend time with your Dog because that your Dog needs love and affection.
Feed Healthy food
Feeding healthy food in the Dog’s life is the most important. In this day, many healthy foods are available on the market so that you can choose any healthy food for your Dog. Healthy food is the most important for dog health care. The young Afghan Hound dog is not a hearty eater as most breeds his size. He must often encourage meat juices or bacon grease mix in the food to entice him to eat.
The Afghan Hound should do well on high-quality dog food, whether commercially manufactured or home-prepared, with your veterinarian’s supervision and approval. In general, Afghan needs a high protein, low grain diet, which helps prevent diarrhea and bloat. Always make sure that they have clean freshwater for drinking. However, their diet needs, including the amount and frequency you feed them, will change over time as they age.
Feed your puppy several times a day so they can grow up to be big and strong. Don’t forget to provide your Afghan Hound with plenty of exercises to keep them from becoming overweight or obese.
The following items should never be feed to Afghan Hound
- Alcohol, beer, wine or liquor
- Chocolate, coffee, or tea
- Grapes or raisins
- Moldy or spoiled food of any kind
- Onions, chives, and garlic
- Poultry bones
- Salt & salty foods
- Tomato leaves stem or unripe fruit
- Yeast dough
Puppy information
Start training your puppy the day you bring him home. Even at eight weeks old, he is capable of soaking up everything you can teach him. Please don’t wait until he is six months old to begin training, or you will have a more headstrong dog to deal with it.
Puppy Training
Afghan Hounds are a challenge to train, not because they are not extremely intelligent, but precisely because they are so intelligent. They bore easily repetitive commands and look down their noses at doing anything that makes them seem not on equal footing with their owners.
This breed is usually positive and pleasant with other dogs. You must train your afghan to relate to other people and dogs when it is young so that when adulthood comes, it will be a social dog.
Afghan Hound crate training
Crate Training is one of the most efficient and effective ways to train an Afghan Hound puppy. Puppies do not like to soil their resting or sleeping quarters if given adequate opportunity to eliminate elsewhere. Crate training also helps teach your Afghan Hound puppy to have bladder and bowel control. Instead of going whenever she feels like it, she learns to hold it and go at conveniently scheduled times.
Behavioral training
Before teaching the basic commands, it is important to establish a close emotional relationship between the dog and the owner. Behavioral training is very important for any dog. All of us, dog owners, need to administer some dog behavior training at some point in time. This training is very helpful for taking care of the dog. If you want to train your puppy to behavioral training to find out some common behavioral issues like breaking, aggression, food guarding, howling, mouthing and chewing, separation anxiety, etc and stop these behavioural issues and train your dog easily.
Socialization
The socialization of an Afghan hound is imperative. They are by nature aloof, which can turn into timid and scared if not exposed at an early age to a wide variety of situations and environments.
Obedience training
Take your Afghan hound to puppy and adult obedience classes. At the same time, basic training is required for this breed. Train your Afghan using only positive, reward-based techniques; punishment-based training can encourage and foster aggression in this breed. Enrol your Afghan hound in the AKC’s Good Citizen Program to ensure your dog is polite and well-behaved at all times; this also impresses potential landlords and insurance companies. This makes your dog a breed ambassador, showing others in your community that the pit bull can be well-behaved and well-mannered.
Afghan Hound puppy price
The cost to adopt an Afghan Hound is around $300 to cover the expenses of caring for the dog before adoption. In contrast, buying Afghan Hounds from breeders can be prohibitively expensive. Depending on their breeding, they usually cost anywhere from $1,000-$5,000.
Afghan hound puppy for sale
Finding the right Afghan Hound puppy can be dog gone hard work. PuppyFind® provides a convenient and efficient means of selecting and purchasing the perfect Afghan Hound puppy from the comfort of your home, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please take advantage of our PuppySearch or leisurely browse our directory of hundreds of dog breeds, Afghan Hound dog breeders, Afghan Hound dogs for adoption, and Afghan Hound puppy for sale listings with photos and detailed descriptions.
Find a breeder
Interested in buying a puppy or acquiring an Afghan rescue Hound? We will help you find that special puppy from a reputable breeder or put you in touch with one of our first-rate rescue groups.
- Alicia Jones
CA, San Pedro
Phone: 832-221-8422
Email: flycoastguard@yahoo.com - Ylla Carson
CO, Morrison
Phone: 303-697-8317, 720-210-8429
Email: ylla.carson@ucdenver.edu - Lucia Brown
CT, Monroe
Phone: 203-261-8650
Email: lucia@dragonflyafghans.com - Lorraine Tayeb
FL, Ocala
Phone: 801-513-7088
Email: azilahhounds@aol.com - Linda Shipley
GA, Atlanta
Phone: 404-303-8999
Email: Sharja@bellsouth.net
Things to consider adopting an Afghan Hound
If you are a confident dog owner and are looking for an active, intelligent and protective dog to keep you company, then the Afghan Hound temperament may suit you perfectly.
If you’re seriously considering adopting this dog, you should know.
- Before you adopt an Afghan, consider how much time your new family member will spend alone. Remember, a puppy requires constant attention.
- Before you adopt a puppy, ask yourself if you can walk your dog several times throughout the day.
- You also have the advantage of knowing that your dog is physically able to “hold it” for several hours at a stretch.
- Ask anybody who has adopted an adult dog then adopts an adult dog.
- If you’re unsure whether the new dog you’ve chosen is right for your family and lifestyle, consider fostering before committing.
Advantages of Afghan Hound
- Gentle and sensitive
- Suitable for all weather and terrain
- Excellent hunter
- Makes an ideal pet for people with high exercise level
- Strikingly beautiful
- Majestic looking breed with its lustrous coat
Disadvantages of Afghan Hound
- Obstinate and independent
- Needs a great deal of maintenance
- Requires a great amount of physical and mental stimulation
- Not suitable for small pets and children
- Sensitive to pain so requires extra care
Afghan Hound Photo gallery
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