Afghan Hound Heritage
The Brothers Badshah and Tufan of Ainsdart
By Donald A Smith 1967
Any differences in character and conformation between typical American-bred Afghan hounds and those of England and other countries over the past 30 years must be due, in large part, to the great influence of the brothers Badshah and Tufan. One or both appear in virtually every pedigree created on this side of the Atlantic since 1935 - close up in the early years and farther back, but many times over, as the years went by.
The litter which produced Ch Badshah Of Ainsdart and Ch Tufan Of Ainsdart was bred in England, of course, by Mrs J Morris-Jones and was whelped in May 28 1930. The feature of the breeding was that it crossed the greatest of the Ghazni dogs with the essence of the Bell-Murray bitch.
In England, moreover, the tendency in subsequent generations was to breed away from the Bell-Murray side so that the greater part of the foundation was Ghazni and other dogs. In the United States, however, with the preponderant use of Badshah and Tufan, the Bell-Murray heritage was more or less "locked in", and, for a long time at least, the ideal Afghan Hound in most American eyes was rather close to being a "Bell-Murray" head and body with a Ghazni "coat".
Both Badshah and Tufan were imported to this country in 1933. Badshah having previously obtained his English championship and being destined for the Prides Hill kennels of Q A Shaw McKean, while Tufan was owned at first by McKeans neighbor and agent George s. Thomas.
Badshah was registered in the December 1933 issue of the AKC Stud Book, with his color given there as "dark golden brown". This latter entry has always posed something of a mystery, since he was clearly what we today would call a "brindle"... a legitimate heritage from the Bell-Murray side tracing back to Pushum. Badshah in turn, would seem to be primarily responsible for brindle being a more common color here than abroad.
Settled in Massachusetts, Badshah promptly scored a great success as a show dog and was much used at stud. His first breeding in July 1933 was to Zahera of Prides Hill (Omar x Asra) and this was repeated at east three more times Other early breedings were one by Bayard Warren to Barberry Hill Illusive (Omar x Asra) producing Ch Barberryhill Dolly, two breedings to Asra of Ghazni, one to Sultana of Prides Hill (Omar x Asra), one to Westmill Taree (see November article), one to Kacana Of Prides Hill (Omar x Asra) and one to Gaida Of Enriallic (import by Rupee x Souriya of Enriallic). There were of course, many others over the span from 1933 to 1946, with perhaps the ultimate being that to his own grand-daughter Ch Shireen Of Prides Hill to produce Ch Rudiki of Prides Hill.
The registration of Ch Tufan of Ainsdart was published in September 1934, his color being given as "Golden fawn: and transferred to Miss Amelia White the following month. At her Kandahar Kennels in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he became to some degree an equivalent in the West to his brother in the East. Alex Scott, Miss White's kennel manager, once told me that he felt Tufan basically was a better dog than Badshah but that "his color was against him". Certainly it is true that even in those days the darker colors and marking found more favor than "blah" self-color fawns, creams and reds.
This, plus the fact that Santa Fe is a bit off the beaten track and that there was more activity at the time in the East than in the West probably accounts for the fact that Tufan was used at stud less often than Badshah. Tufan's breedings, however, would seem to have been more varied and led eventually to some to the key individuals in breed history.
In 1935 Tufan was bred to Zara of Prides Hill - yet another of those Omar x Asra bitches and later the same year to Isis Of Kandahar, a black by Badshah x Zahera of Prides Hill. In 1936 he was bred to the Indian Import Fatima - a combination in back of a good many later breedings in California. For Tufan, what proved to be perhaps the most important mating was to Ch Shabra (Badshah x Zahera) in 1937, since this produced Ch Yusseff C.D. and thereby the major heritage of Taejon and others. Flo Flo of Ghazni was also of this same breeding, apparently repeated a few years later.
It is unfortunate that we all do not have more first hand data on Badshah and Tufan. Not only does virtually every modern pedigree trace back to one or both, but for so many years they were considered, not necessarily flawless Afghan Hounds, but in themselves and their progeny, the embodiment of "true" Afghan Hound conformation and personality
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