Afghan Hound: From Mountain Hunter to Show Ring
In Afghanistan's cold mountains, a hunting dog developed a protective coat. The Afghan Hound combined those qualities in a striking form: a long, fine coat, large paw pads, and a tail ending in a small ring. Its coat helped shield it from the harsh mountain climate, while its pads absorbed shocks on rocky ground. The breed has also been known as Tazi, Thasi, Barakzai Hound, and Balochi Hound. Its typical temperament can be aloof and dignified, yet happy and clownish when playing.
The breed's landscape also included desert plains, and its different types reflected different conditions. Less heavily coated dogs belonged to the steppe or desert type, while mountain dogs carried a heavier coat. Other hounds of similar appearance included the Taigan of the mountainous Tian Shan region and the Barakzay, also called the Kurram Valley Hound. The name Tazi, used for a desert coursing dog, suggests a shared ancestry with the similar Tazy of the Caspian Sea area in Russia and Turkmenistan. Genetic research has placed the breed among basal dogs whose origins precede the emergence of modern breeds in the nineteenth century, with the Saluki its closest relative.
During the nineteenth century, army officers returning from British India brought sighthounds to England. Dog shows were becoming popular, and these imports appeared under several names, including Barukzy hounds and Persian Greyhounds. A particular dog, Zardin, arrived from India with Captain John Barff in 1907. His appearance became an early ideal for the breed, and he formed the basis of its first written standard in 1912. World War I interrupted that breeding effort. The next important arrivals came after the war, when separate groups of imported dogs helped establish the lines that would shape the modern Afghan Hound.
In 1920, Major and Mrs. G. Bell-Murray and Miss Jean C. Manson brought hounds from Balochistan to Scotland. Their dogs became known as the Bell-Murray strain and had the lighter coats associated with the steppe or desert type. Mary Amps brought another group to England in 1925 from her kennel in Kabul. She and her husband had gone to Kabul after the Afghan war in 1919. Her kennel, Ghazni, had a foundation sire resembling Zardin, and its dogs represented the more heavily coated mountain type.
Most Afghan Hounds in the United States developed from the Ghazni strain from England. Australia's first arrivals came from the United States in 1934 and also belonged to that strain. Mountain and steppe lines eventually mixed, and a new standard followed in 1948. An Afghan Hound from the Amps kennel, Sirdar, was an early champion, but he did not win Best in Show at Crufts in 1928 or 1930. The breed's show career continued with Westminster victories in 1957 and 1983 and a Best in Show win at the World Dog Show in Budapest in 1996. In Australia, its popularity peaked during the 1970s, when dogs of the breed won many major shows.
The coat that attracted attention in the ring requires considerable grooming. A long topknot contrasts with a shorter-haired saddle along the back, and high hipbones contribute to the dog's distinctive outline. Coat colors vary widely; many dogs have a black facial mask, and a specimen may have a beard on the lower jaw known as a mandarin. Patterned coats can have lighter feathering, a deeper saddle, and shorter hair on the face and neck. These patterns descend through the Bell-Murray and Ghazni lines and are believed to be associated with dogs from hotter parts of Afghanistan. White markings, particularly on the head, are discouraged.
A long-haired variety called Bakhmull has been bred mainly in Russia. Its name means velvet in Pashto, referring to its silky coat. The coat covers much of the body but leaves the saddle, muzzle, and fronts of the legs shorter. Its colors are fawn, ivory, or white, with a darker saddle. Military men returning from Afghanistan brought foundation dogs to Russia in the 1970s, and Moscow became a breeding center in the following decade. Natalia Gherasiova established the National Bakhmull Club, and a breed standard was published in 1985, followed by a shared revision in 1997.
Away from hunting and showing, the Afghan Hound also entered art and fiction. Virginia Woolf included a dog named Sohrab in her 1941 novel Between the Acts. Pablo Picasso said his 1967 sculpture in Chicago's Daley Plaza represented the head of an Afghan named Kabul. In science, the breed gained another unusual place: Korean researchers announced the cloning of Snuppy on August 3, 2005. Although team leader Hwang Woo-Suk later lost his university position over fabricated research data, Snuppy was a genuine clone and became the first cloned dog in history.