Modern dog breed standards of the Afghan hound

Hi reader!Welcome to the series on dog breeds by Kaivayala’s Ani-Mall. In our previous post, we have provided you with what might have been traditional viewpoints in breeding an Afghan hound. In this post, we will give a brief account of what is expected from a modern Afghan hound, how an Afghan hound should look like and a few more parameters on which the quality of an Afghan hound is judged.

Dog breeds; Afghan hound standards.

Modern dog breed standards of the Afghan hound — Source; https://www.kharizhounds.com/latest-news

Afghan hound standards
Other names	Afghan hound
	Tazi
	Eastern greyhound
	Persian greyhound
	Tazhi spay
	Dda Kochyano Spay
	Sage Baluchi
	Barakzai hound
	Ogar Afghan
	Kabul hound
	Balkh hound
	Shalgar hound
	Galanday hound
Country of origin	Afghanistan.
Physical standards.
Height	Male: 68 to 74 cms.
	Female: 63 to 69 cms.
Weight	Male: 45 to 60 lbs.
	Female: 42 to 55 lbs.
Coat	Long and dense coat with silky hair.
Color	Black.
	White.
	Tricolor.
	Fawn.
	Gold.
	Red.
	Cream.
	Blue.
	Brindle.
	Grey.
Litter	6 to 8 puppies.
Life Expectancy	10 to 13 years.
General Appearance.	Strong and Dignified dog.
	Combination of Speed & Power.
	Head is held proudly.
Expression.	Eastern or Oriental expression that depicts a strong personality.
Temperament.	Aloof.
	Wary of strangers.
	Not over aggressive but with some keen fierceness.
	Easily Distracted.
	Strong urge to chase.
	Difficult to train.
	Loyal and Playful with family but is moody.
	Children should be taught to respect Afghan hound.
Skull.	Long-nosed and bit elongated.
	Not too Narrow.
	With Prominent Occiput.
Stop.	Mild.
Nose.	Long.
	Not overly narrow.
	The black color is preferred on the muzzle.
	Liver color is permissible on nose in light colored dogs.
Muzzle.	Long.
	Not overly narrow.
	Close fitting jaws.
	Sissor bite.
Jaws.	Strong.
	Sissor bite to be perfect, regular and complete.
	Upper jaw teeth closely fits the lower jaw teeth.
	Upper jaw teeth overlaps the lower jaw teeth.
	Level bite or Pincer bite.
	A little deviation form pertect condition is tolerated.
Eyes.	Dark colored.
	Dark almond color is preferred.
	Light color or golden colored eyes permitted but not desired.
	Eyelids should resemble to triangle when normally opened.
	Base of eyelids to be linear.
	Upper eyelids to form a wave.
	Peak of upper eyelids to leaning towards inner corner.
	Slanting lightly upwards from inner to outer corner.
Ears.	Low set ears.
	Close to head.
	Naturally pushed slightly backwards.
	Should be covered with long silky hair.
Neck.	Long and Slender.
	Elegant.
	Carrying head with proud impression.
Back.	Levelled back.
	length equivalent to height.
	Muscled to support demanding efforts to chase.
Loin.	Not too long rather short.
	Linear rather Straight.
	Broad.
Croup.	Croup is the Start of the pelvis bone.
	Just before the start of hip bone.
	In Afghan hound croup is falling sharp.
	Hip bones are easily recognizable compared to other breeds.
	Hip bones are prominent in all over back limbs profile.
	hip bobes are wide apart to facilitate fast movement.
	The fall of croup is not steep.
	Fall of Croup starts a bit away from the stern.
	Stern is the beginning of tail.
Chest.	Deep chested breed.
	Wide to accommodate large breathing capacity.
	strong and sturdy.
	Rib cage can be felt rather easily.
Tail.	Small tail but not too short in length.
	Keeps tail low when relaxed.
	Ring formation at the end.
	Carries tail high during action.
	Marginally feathered as compared to body and limbs.
	Hair strands are seperated by greater space than body.
Shoulders.	Long shoulders.
	Slope is rather higher.
	Shoulders are rather set back by some margin.
	Shoulder blades are wide.
	Good muscle density.
	Strong.
	Not overly large as to stand out in view.
Upper Arm.	Long and muscular.
	Sloping and narrowing towards elbow joint.
	Good bone formation to support wide and long muscle fiber.
Elbow.	Striaght below the shoulder.
	Neither out of the line of Body nor bending inwards.
	Held close to rib cage.
Fore Arm.	Striaght boned.
	Strong.
	Elegantly long.
	Cylindrical profile with slight thinning near lower feet joint.
Feet.	Theoritically called metacarpus or pastern.
	Elegantly long.
	Good padding between joints.
	Retracting with spring action to absorb jerks.
Paw.	Very strong.
	Very large.
	Wide footprint.
	Very long.
	Hairy all around and even in between fingers.
	Abundantly padded.
	All paw pads are placed well on ground for good grip.
Hips.	Length between hip and hock is rather large.
	Powerful hips to help gain and sustain speed.
	seperation between hock and feet is rather small when compared.
	Large and abundant muscles.
Knee.	Rounded in outer boundary.
	Rather sharp turn on the back of knee.
	Well formed bent.
Hind Feet.	Elegantly long.
	Covered all over with hair.
	Hair is thicker than other parts of body.
	Covered with long hair.
	Bones not as thick as in the fore feet.
	Toes have sharp arch and are strong.
	Abundantly padded.
	All paw pads are placed well on ground for good grip.
Gait.	Typical sight hound Gait.
	Smooth in movement.
	Springy Gait but should not be jerky.
Coat.	Long coat.
	Fine Textured on hips and shoulders and on side chest.
	Behind shoulders and on back coat is shorter and denser.
	Long hair from just behind the forehead.
	Very distinctive bunch of long silky hair behind forehead.
	Long and silky dense coat on ears and legs.
	Hair should be short on muzzel and face.
	Full feet should be covered in coat.
	Signs of any clipping or use of sissors on coat is disqualification.
	Coat should develop naturally.
	Coat on pastern is desierable but bare pastern is permitted.
Faults.	Any major departure from above standards.
Testicles.	Should have two testicles.
	Both testicles should appear normal.
	Both testicles should fully descend into the scortum.
Breeding.	Dogs in conformation with above standards to be used in breeding.
	Dogs should be clinically tested and to be properly functional.