"OUR AFGHANS"
The Independent Voice of the Afghan Hound Breed
45th Year Of Publication
The Eta Pauptit Letters
The Afghan Hound Standard In Detail Page4
As Published In "Our Afghans" Magazine August 2002.
(Compiled by Steve Tillotson)
The Afghan Hound Standard In Detail Page4
(Eta Pauptit, "Our Afghans", August 2002
Now lets deal with the whole body, as seen in profile. Taking two hounds with the same length of body, one of each type, we can see that the desert type is higher in the leg and the part of the quarters is smaller than the part between. As I see the mountain the mountain type in profile, I want the forequarters, the ribs and the hindquarters in the same proportions. In the desert type, the midsection is wider, which is mostly the result of a more upright shoulder and legs turn in the hind quarters. In the mountain dog, the heck flows slowly to the dip, in the other type, it goes more with a quick turn. The mountain type is often a little taller in the rear when young and also when the dog is thinking of what to do. The mountain type is more hooked so he can easily stretch up a little. The desert type is stiffer at this point. In Crossbreds, it comes to mind that our hounds original oval skull from the mountain type seems to look like a dome above the eyes, especially when such a dog has very little topknot. This looks coarse and in this type of crossbred, the eyes are often very light and the ears set high.
Which brings me again to coat pattern. In our original Afghans, I always saw bare pasterns which showed very prominently the type of feet of a hound. In today's crossbreds the forelegs often look like one column, which I find very atypical. At any rate, it seems strange to me that mingling generations of Tazi's without introduction of other breeds would create so many different types. Just the result of the mingle-mingle process. In this connection it may be interesting to mention a few crosses with other breeds I have seen myself. Mostly they look odd, but there was one particular litter by a rather large sort of Spaniel who was mated to an Afghan Hound which I watched for some time. The puppies looked exactly like desert type Afghans and some had brindling. The dam was red and white and none of the offspring showed any white markings except for small ones on the toes.
As I review my knowledge of Afghans, I would like to add a few words about temperament. I believe that the mountain type has a lot more personality and does not tend to panic in strange situations. I never saw a spooky hound of the original mountain type, but a lot of cringing crossbreds. It is said that this comes from the desert type. I personally have known a few pure desert types nearby who were medium tempered, docile, and showed a lot of suspicion in new situations. Nevertheless, our standard reads "aloof, alert and kingly etc" so I feel it is correct to prefer the mountain type behavior and I would not breed from nervous stock, as this trait will always come back in later generations.
Finally, good health is important for our hounds. Both types had a lot of trouble adjusting to our climate, but those who survived produced a good heritage. Most Afghan Hounds also made good mothers. I hope that today's breeders will know the joy of following a good litter and hope the foregoing will help with sorting out the breeding stock for best results. Learn what is right and wrong, learn all you can and don't forget that your first considerations will be movement, conformation, and then coat, etc. If you just want glamour and your first consideration is coat, please go to the glamorous man made breeds that do not harm our Asian breeds of old, old cultures.
Eta Pauptit , 1976
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