The Afghan Hound is a hound distinguished by its thick, fine, silky coat, and a tail with a ring curl at the end. The breed is selectively bred for its unique features in the cold mountains of Afghanistan. Its local name is Tāžī Spay or Sag-e Tāzī. Other names for this breed are Tāzī, Balkh Hound, Baluchi Hound, and Barakzai Hound.
The EnglishGreyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgence in popularity as a family pet.
The Irish Wolfhound is a breed of large sighthound that has, by its presence and substantial size, inspired literature, poetry and mythology. Strongly associated with Gaelic Ireland and Irish history, they were famed as guardian dogs and for hunting wolves.
The Italian Greyhound is an Italian breed of small sighthound. It may also be called the Italian Sighthound.
The Saluki is a standardised breed developed from sighthounds – dogs that hunt primarily by sight rather than strong scent – that was once used by nomadic tribes to run down game animals. The dog was originally bred in the Fertile Crescent. The modern breed is typically deep-chested and long-legged, and similar dogs appear in medieval and ancient art. The breed is most closely related to the Afghan hound, a basal breed that predates the emergence of modern breeds in the 19th century, and the Saluki has been purebred both in the Middle East, including by royalty, since at least that era, and in the West since the 1840s, though as a free-breeding landrace, similar dogs are common as feral animals in the Middle East. A related standardised breed is the north African Sloughi.
Sighthounds, also called gazehounds, are a type of dog, hounds that hunt primarily by sight and speed rather than by scent and endurance as scent hounds do.
The Scottish Deerhound, or simply the Deerhound, is a large breed of sighthound, once bred to hunt the red deer by coursing. In outward appearance, the Scottish Deerhound is similar to the Greyhound, but larger and more heavily boned with a rough-coat.
The Whippet is a British breed of medium-sized dog of sighthound type. It is closely related to the Greyhound and – apart from its smaller size – closely resembles it. It has sometimes been described as "the poor man's greyhound". It is kept as a companion dog, and also for showing and for amateur racing and lure coursing. It has the highest running speed of any breed of its weight, and may have the fastest acceleration of any dog.
Lure coursing is a sport for dogs that involves chasing a mechanically operated lure. Competition is typically limited to dogs of purebred sighthound breeds. The AKC has a pass/fail trial for all breeds called the Coursing Ability Test (CAT) and a timed 100 yard dash called Fast CAT where the dog's speed is converted to points.
A lurcher is a crossbred dog resulting from mating a greyhound or other sighthound with a dog of another type such as a herding dog or a terrier. The lurcher was for hundreds of years strongly associated with poaching; in modern times, it is kept as a hunting dog or companion dog.
The South Russian Ovcharka or South Russian Shepherd Dog is breed of flock guardian dog. It developed in the areas of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union that are now Ukraine and southern Russia, and is thought to derive from cross-breeding between local dogs of the Russian steppes and long-haired shepherd dogs brought to the area from Spain in the late eighteenth century together with Merino sheep. These may have been similar in appearance to the present-day Gos d'Atura Catala.
The kangaroo dog or kangaroo hound is an Australian type of sighthound purposely crossbred from a variety of sighthound breeds to produce a hunting dog.
The Rampur Greyhound is a breed of sighthound native to the Rampur region of Northern India, which lies between Delhi and Bareilly. It is believed the Rampur Greyhound descends from early Afghan Hounds, with their present-day appearance due to extensive crosses to the Greyhound in the 19th century to improve the breed's speed. The Rampur Greyhound is a shorthaired, powerfully built sighthound that resembles the Sloughi in appearance. It is rarely seen outside of its native land where it is retained as a coursing dog and is rarely kept as a companion.
The Taigan, and also known as Kyrgyz Taighany, Mongolian Taiga dog is a breed of sighthound from Kyrgyzstan. The Taigan is found in the alpine Tian Shan region of Kyrgyzstan on the border with China, it is closely related to the Tazy and the Saluki.
Dog types are broad categories of domestic dogs based on form, function, or style of work, lineage, or appearance. Some may be locally adapted dog types that may have the visual characteristics of a modern purebred dog. In contrast, modern dog breeds strictly adhere to long-established breed standards, that began with documented foundation breeding stock sharing a common set of inheritable characteristics, developed by long-established, reputable kennel clubs that recognize the dog as a purebred.
Wolf hunting with dogs is a method of wolf hunting which relies on the use of hunting dogs. While any dog, especially a hound used for hunting wolves may be loosely termed a "wolfhound", several dog breeds have been specifically bred for the purpose, some of which, such as the Irish Wolfhound, have the word in their breed name.
The Mahratta Hound, sometimes called the Mahratta Greyhound, is a breed of dog found in India. It is a sighthound, and like the Banjara Hound it is bred and used for hunting by the nomadic Banjara of Maharashtra. The Mahratta Hound is believed to be of Arabian or Persian heritage, is often blue and tan in colour and stands around 22 inches (56 cm). It is prized for its prowess in hunting panther and boar, both very formidable prey for a hound, as well as blackbuck.
Tesem was the ancient Egyptian name for "hunting dog". In popular literature it denotes the prick-eared, leggy dog with a curled tail from the early Egyptian age, but it was also used with reference to the lop-eared "Saluki/Sloughi" type. It was one of several types of dogs in Ancient Egypt; particularly the latter Saluki/Sloughi type of Tesem, having the appearance most similar to that of a true sighthound.
The American Staghound, referred to by various names including the Cold-Blooded Greyhound, the Longdog of the Prairie and the American Lurcher, is a crossbreed of various sighthounds. It has been bred in the United States from the 19th century where it is used for hunting.
