Afghan Hound

Some authorities maintain that the Afghan Hound is the oldest breed of purebred dogs. Pre-dating written history by a few thousand years, and developed in some of the world’s most remote locations, its time and place of origin within the vast area that is now Afghanistan, India and Pakistan remains a mystery.

For centuries Afghan Hounds were rugged, fleet-footed hunting companions and status symbols of royals, tribal chieftains, and aristocrats in Asia’s mountain kingdoms. However, because Afghanistan’s Islamic culture forbids the depiction of animals in art, there is no pictorial record of the breed. The only known early drawing is an etching from around 1813 that depicts a native soldier with a dog which remarkably resembles young Afghans of today.

The Afghan didn’t make its entrance on the stage of Western history until the late 1800’s when British military officers returning from the Empire’s far-flung corners introduced the breed to Europe.  By the early 1900’s, the Afghan was a preferred breed of the British gentry. The forebears of today’s Afghan Hounds were imported directly from Afghanistan. The breed still exists in Afghanistan, although only in very small numbers.