The Show Dog, Par Excellence – The History of the Afghan Hound
By Lee Connor
Originally published: February 2020
February heralds only one thing for most dog lovers…the Westminster Show. And if there is one breed of dog that completely encapsulates the beauty, elegance, showmanship and sheer glamour that is required in a show dog, it surely has to be the Afghan Hound.
And, fully befitting its eye-catching, exotic looks, this breed has a fascinating history filled with some equally fascinating characters!
Now, writing the history of a breed such as the Afghan Hound, with its origins buried in such an inaccessible land, is quite a formidable undertaking. Unlike our native breeds, whose progress can easily be charted using references in canine literature, old paintings and sketches, there is very little reliable documentation prior to its appearance in England before the 19th Century.
And the situation (for the budding breed historian) certainly isn’t helped by the fact that since the 7th Century, Afghanistan has been overwhelmingly Islamic; Mohammed dictated grave penalties against those who persisted in raising and worshipping ‘heathen images’. Even drawings of animals were considered as idol worship. The dog (except the Saluki and the ancestors of the Afghan) were widely regarded as ‘unclean objects of loathing’.
With all this in mind, one can clearly understand the dearth of ancient historical evidence for the breed.
Reading back through the archives though, it is incredible how many stories are so willingly repeated without any real evidence to back them up. I suppose when you have a breed that lacks representation in art or the written word and then throw in its origins in an inaccessible and somewhat hostile land, it certainly leaves the field open to speculation and imagination and boy, the canine writers from the past sure didn’t disappoint on that front!
An oft-repeated story is that the Afghan Hound is, ‘probably one of the oldest domestic breeds in existence and this is proved by very ancient rock carvings within the caves of Balkh of dogs exactly like Afghan of today.’
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Posted by Liz
on Sep 4 2023. Filed under Current Articles, Featured.
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