"OUR AFGHANS"
The Independent Voice of the Afghan Hound Breed
45th Year Of Publication
The Eta Pauptit Letters
The Afghan Hound Standard In Detail Page1
As Published In "Our Afghans" Magazine August 2002.
(Compiled by Steve Tillotson)
OA Editors Preamble August 2002: This article, writen in 1978, was published for the first time ijn the vdOM Newsletter, Nr 25, European Edition, this fall. It was generously shared with OA, along with Eta's recent, masthead photo, by Mieke Englebos. We've added some clarifications to the English text for OA's readers, while leaving most of the copy alone on the assumption that you will substitute "Afghan Hound", f.e.. when the text refers to Oriental Hounds and know that "crossbred" refer to mixes of the different original types of Afghan Hound imports etc.
OA/AHT Compilers Note January 2012: I have known and collaborted with my friend Mieke Englebos in Belgium since the very early days when there were but a handful of Afghan Hound websites out there. Mieke has spent decades documenting the history of vdOM . I encourage you to visit Mieke's site - The Home Of The Belgium Afghan Hound where you can view and enjoy Mieke's devoted research.
****We recently published the views of Reigh Abram (Dureigh USA) who also had experience in breeding Mountain and Desert types It is very helpful to READ BOTH this (vDOM) article and then also read the Dureigh article to gain the maximum perspective on the differences in type and the difficulties of trying to crossbreed them. Both tried, both failed, both settled for one type or the other. Thanks to Reigh Abram and Eta Pauptit's words we can learn of the differences, the difficulties and how/why they eventually went the directions they decided upon.
Steve Tillotson 2012
The Afghan Hound Standard In Detail Page1
(Eta Pauptit, "Our Afghans", August 2002
Animal breeders have to be conscious of an ideal specimen as a goal. With this ij mind, standards are set up and, in my opinion, they have to be very strict. Speaking o f Oriental Hounds, it is necessary to see them in the context of their native encironment, taking hardships and a cruel climate into account
Many, perhaps mot Afghan Hounds in Europe and many other parts of the world, are by now far removed from their original life because of the differences in nutrition and our breeding programs. Often the goal seems to be to raise an easy going pet or an object, of which to make money, rather than breeding a highly intelligent, alert hound, lean and hard, not too large and not too small - or little of of the original type for maximum return on the investment.
In Asia, people have hardly enough food for themselves, making it difficult if not impossible to feed large dogs, As I look back in history, our Standard is based on Zardin and Sirdar, and in their day the goal was to breed all imports to each other, try to mix the best and base the standard on the resultant breedings. Most early dogs looked like the desert type, while the mountain type appeared later. To the best of my knowledge, no short-haired or smooth Afghans were among the imports. I understand that the Kabul Museum had a creamic of two short-haired Afghan Hounds but did not see it when I visited the collection. I know of a few instasnces where a short-haired Afghan resulted from a breeding 10 to 20 generations later from partly different pedigrees. They were not the desert type, but rather built like the mountain type. Recently a number of short-haired Afghans were imported for racing, but they carry the blood of the Indian Greyhound or Rampur to a high degree.
This becomes obvious by looking at the head (ears and eyes), the tail (long and like a Greyhound's), and particularly the feet which are round and more like cat's feet and upright, and the legs are straighter which is better for sprinters. As time went on, breeders tended to breed mostly on the mountain type, both for financial reasons, and because there was only a small base of desert types, as well as the brindle Pushum (as far as I recall, a son of Bhalbhul) who was quite different in appearance - heavily coated but less hound like in outline
In Holland, we were lucky have a few breeders of the mountain type, though later on we have a few breeders of the mountain type, though later on we could not avoid adding a little desert type because of the dangers of inbreeding on too large a scale. Later in Holland we had a few direct mported bloodlines, as was true in the USA. Most of them were used bfor breeding and we can trace them all the weay back in the pedigrees. Looking at all available information, it is now a fact that we must work with a widely varying inheritance and yet still try to breed within the standard, now mostly mountain type. It is a pity that so many breeders do not understand this. They say "I like this or that", and therefore they breed for it. This is fallacious, for it is not what we happend to like, but what the stasndard clearly requires. Of all the Afghan Hounds bred each year, only 5% should be used in breeding programsm, but far more are beingused, which explains why the average conformance with the standard is so terrihbly low. That is a pity, as our hounds came to us as originals being of beauty, well balanced and kinghly, able to hunt, yet lovely, charming creatues close to nature.
In all the years I have looked at Afghan Hounds, I have always had the ideal of the Afghan Hound standard in mind. The first glance at a dog provides a general impression of type, the second look is for movement, and that gives you the full picture of a well build animal you cannothear while it is moving, hardly touches the ground and is so close to nature that it has that remarkably light, springy, effortless gait. Speak of type! Well, I never was able to provide a good example of that concept, b ut it covers "as close to the standard as possible"> before I get to details I want to explain below. Let me first sout out a number of faults, that is faults in typical aspects and soundness. For ehile I certainly weant a sound animal, I have not had much choice in the past, so I have always gone for the most typical (meaning: fewest typical faults) for my own breeding program and I have taken some lack of soundness in the bargain. In the days when I was an active breeder, we also had a lot more difficulties in raising a litter as we had no shots, lots of skin trouble, adjustments to the difference in climate from the homelands of our hounds etc.
Regarding "typical points:. I alwasys try to keep in mine the differences between the two or three imported types of Afghan Hounds and their conformance with the standard. Let us first look at the mountain type:
Related Content
Reigh Abram (Dureigh Afghan Hounds)
Comments on Breeding
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