Afghans Afield
A gallery of Aboriginal Afghan Hounds – Afghan Tazis – Baluchi Tazis – Afghan Pashmi – Khalag Tazis – Hunting type Afghan Hounds from Afghanistan to California and many places in between, pictured out in the field and hunting as they have for centuries.
Afghan Hounds continue to test their hunting skills in fields from Afghanistan to Wyoming.
Afghan hunters with their Tazis. مزارِ شریف
Western Afghan Hounds coursing a Jackrabbit.
Native Afghan Hound (Tazi) catches hare.
A Native Afghan Hound in Pakistan.
Hardy hare hunters in Northern Nevada.
Aboriginal Afghan Hound in Ukraine.
Flooded fields result in unusual hunting conditions.
Turkman Afghan with Tazis and Saker Falcon
Afghan Greyhounds & Falconry
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [March, 1907.
Vol. III, No. 3. Note on the Saker or Cherrug Falcon. (Falco Cherrug).
The Late Sir Harry Lumsden, who raised the Guides, told the writer that the Amir of Kabul used to send him in the cold weather two Turkistani falconers with ‘eyess’ Sakers and Afghan Greyhounds, all trained for this flight.
Saker Falcon near Kabul, Afghanistan
The greyhounds* were first taught to wait on the hawk, by being slipped with a hawk at hares in a moderately close country where the hounds continually lost sight of the hare.
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Saker Falcon in Afghanistan
The greyhounds were leashed in the following manner :– The mounted falconer wore a leather belt, to one side of which a long leather strap was sewn. At the far end of the strap was a slit to admit the fore part of the rider’s foot. The end of the strap passed through a ring in the greyhound’s collar, the falconer inserted his toe in the slit, then placed his foot in the stirrup. To slip the eager and straining greyhound, the rider had merely to withdraw his foot from the stirrup and the greyhound was off. With a greyhound, leashed in this manner, a falconer can ride at a smart canter.
*Note that “greyhounds” mentioned in the article refer to Afghan greyhounds or sighthounds, i.e. the Aboriginal Afghan Hound or Afghan Tazi.
Hunting with Saker Falcons and Afghan greyhounds in Afghanistan.pdf
A group of Afghan Greyhounds owned by Capt. John Banff while stationed in India. From the 1913 book HOUNDS, THEIR POINTS AND MANAGEMENT by Frank Townend Barton.
Nice write up dude.
really interesting to see
“Most of the people in our breed, ( could be any breed) think it can be conserved adequately by paying careful attention to “pure breeding” (which means excluding “native” stock whose ancestry is not documented by a recognized registry) and to “correct type” as defined and maintained (supposedly) by the show ring and the written standard. Most of those people pay a certain amount of lip service to the original hunting function of the breed and cherish more or less romantic notions of how that was carried out … supported by a certain amount of “historical” literature not unlike that surrounding the Arabian horse. Only a very small minority have actually been in the hunting field with their hounds. Those who do go into the field commonly experience a radical change in their ideas about the breed and even about points of conformation. It is, however, a sign of the times that all mention of hunting has been expunged from recent revisions of the standard. ” part of an interview with Dr. John Bouchard.
Two of my hounds were taken back to Afghanistan, in about 1990, to help with the breed gene pool there. He chose my lure-coursing hounds, saying that he couldn’t find any “real” Tazis in the show rings of California. Last month, there were some of that group/project pictured on this page. They’ve been removed. Can you tell me where I might find those images again?