This Site Chosen By Microsoft As THE Afghan Web Link for Encarta
Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange
(Origins Of The Afghan Hound)



The Afghan Hound originates from..... Afghanistan. It may seem academic to state this, but I have been asked many times if they really do come from Afghanistan, and the answer is yes, they originally came from Afghanistan.

Recent Photograph Of A Native Afghan


Our corrrespondents (Judy and Gary Newton,USA) have a friend (Mr Abdul Wahab Kamal, a native of Afghanistan) who lives with them when he visits the USA. Shown on the right is a recent picture from Afghanistan provided by Wahab. Pictures from this area are hard to get out as the Taliban often confisticates his film as he travels through the country.

Wahab is a native of Afghanistan who still hunts with Afghans when he is in that country. Wahab may be reached at Judy and Gary's email address.

Wabah is writing a book on Afghans in Afghanistan which we all look forward to seeing.

If you have any questions, please email Judy or Gary.


The Afghan Hound was first introduced into the western world in the late 1890's, but none of these early hounds exist in our pedigrees. The real introduction of the Afghan Hound started in the early 1920's when British military officers and families returning from Afghanistan via India brought with them a collection of Afghan Hounds. It is this nucleaus of perhaps less than two dozen Afghan Honds from which all modern Afghan Hounds are descended.

When the Afghan was introduced to the UK, two "types" of Afghans arrived. The first arrival was the "Bell Murray" type, long, rangy, elegant, sparsley coated. A couple of year later the second type "Ghazni" arrived, different type - stockier, more heavily coated. The former is often referred to as the "plains" type, the latter the "mountain" type, inferring that one lived on the flat/plains, the other lived in the mountaineous regions. Both types were "collected" by their owners from native Afghanistan tribesman, often with great difficulty, and in most cases, the breeding was unknown. They were adjudged by their respective owners to be Afghans and these hounds formed the nucleus of their breeding programs. Recorded pedigree stops at around 1916, earlier than that, there are no recorded pedigrees.



There were a few imports into the UK prior to this, but they were either not bred from, or if they were, their offspring do not contribute to the recorded pedigree history. There were also a few other imports from Afghanistan since the 1920's that also contribute to breed history, but the main foundations go back to the above two types.

From the above original imports into the UK, offspring were exported to the rest of the western world which then undertook their own evolutionary and development path. Thus, all "pedigree" Afghan Hounds in the world today, trace their ancestry and roots back to the original imports into the UK. There have been a few other imports from Afghanistan in the interval which also contribute to a lesser extent to the pedigree history of the Afghan Hound

As you will discover as you navigate and explore this site, there are many fascinating twists and turns in the last 80 years development of the Afghan Hound.

We hope you can add or contribute to these pages.

Further reading.....

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