Afghan Hound Times
(Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange)
EARLY AFGHAN HOUNDS AND TIMELINE FOR
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BREED WORLDWIDE
(By Steve Tillotson 1996, updated 2011)
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Acknowledgements
My thanks to Jess Ruffner-Booth for Jess's ongoing support with contributions for these early history pages. I would also like to complement Jess for some exceptional research and reporting. Jess has undertaken some serious research on the subject of Mustapha and Muckmul, hitherto often considered as two separate Afghan Hounds. I think Jess has established very clearly that these two dogs are in fact the "same dog". An outstanding piece of work, Well done Jess.
TIMELINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BREED 1921 - 1938

The sequence of distribution of the Afghan Hound over time is as follows - Afghanistan to Scotland, Scotland to England, Scotland to Ireland, Afghanistan to England, Eng/Scot to Holland, England to Ireland, India to England, India to USA, England to USA, England to Switzerland, Eng/Holl to Germany/Belgium.

So by 1938 The Afghan Hound had arrived in 7 European Countries and also arrived in the United States. Belgium and France pretty much imminent also at this point in time

Afghan Hound Times - Distribution Of Breed Worldwide


Some interesting points arising from this graphical timeline -

1. People often believe that the Afghan Hound was first imported into England, and thence to the rest of the world. Well as we see above, the first meaningful/contributing hounds were imported into Scotland (Bell Murray/Cove) in 1921, then these hounds came to England. The first meaningful/contributing hounds into England from Afghanistan, occured in 1925 when Major and Mrs Amps (Ghazni) returned to England and established their kennel in the Midlands in England

2. We should also note that the origins of the breed are not confined to two types. In addition to Bell Murray/Cove and Ghazni, other imports of the UK foundation era that impacted the breeding/pedigree history included - Shahzada, Afroz, Ardmor Anthony, Lakki Marwat.

3. Similarly in the USA, the foundations are not limited to UK imports - Lawrence Peters pair of Afghanistan imports - Tazi Of Beg Tute and Saki Of Paghman are very significant in the history of the breed in the USA.

4. People often believe that the Afghan Hound in America was first imported by Q A Shaw Mckean (Prides Hill, Massachusetts). The first (in terms of contributing to pedigree history) were Westmill Omar and Asra Of Ghazni, imported by the Marx brothers who later transferred them to Q A Shaw Mckean. Later after he obtained Omar and Asra, Q A Shaw Mckean imported Badshah of Ainsdart. Miss Caroline Hall Richmond (Fatima Afghan Hounds) imported two hounds from India to the USA a few years prior to Badshah's imporation..

(Actually Afghan Hounds were exported to the USA from the UK before any of the famous/foundation lines (eg Prides Hill, Laurence Peters, Caroline Hall Richmonds Fatima's etc). The first Afghan Hounds registered by the AKC were registered by the Dunwalk kennel and registered in 1926. The three registrations were Bell Murray importations from the UK. The O Faida Valley Farm kennel registered the first homebred litter with the AKC in September 1928. Another early enthusiast was Mr E Abram of "De Flandre" Afghan Hounds. Click here to view the details . Whilst O Faida Valley/Dunwalk/De Flandre kennels do not contribute to the breeds pedigree history, they earned the distinction of being the earliest pioneers in the breed in the USA).

Afghan Hound Times - Fatima USA


The above is a photo of a painting of Fatima done by L Borman and was published in the dog press in 1939 with accompanying narrative from Phyllis Robsom the editor of UK Dog World."The glorious Fatima was born in Afghanistan in 1928 (Ed note. Fatima was imported from India. We have no evidence whether Fatima was born in Afghanistan or India, so we don't know how accurate the preceding statement is) and is her owners friend, pride and joy. She is a red-gold with a black mask and has the muchly desired Eastern outlook. She is a wonderful breeder, though it was not until she was 8 years of age that she had her first litter, comprising 5 males and 3 females and 4 have become champions. Miss Richmond has retained 1 son and 3 daughters which are extra good. The dog is a big smoky brindle, with a black mask. He wa best of winners as a 10 months puppy at a 5 pt. show. He is 29 inches at shoulder, weights 70 lb, yet has not a trace of coarseness, and is the most typical outstanding hound in the States to-day. Another lovely bitch is Queen of Sheba who has 6 puppies by Tufan. There is also Blue Mist of Egypt a blue chinchilla, and Fatima's Daughter Peri a chinchilla, blue and quite famous, as well as Fatima's Daughter Kushdil and Fatima's Daughter Fatima. Queen of Sheba, Blue Mist and Nadir Khan are offspring of Tazi Of Beg Tute x Saki Of Paghaman who came from Afghanistan, so these three offspring are a complete outcross to exportations from England".

5.In 1934 Q A Shaw Mckean imported Badshah of Ainsdart, and his litter brother Tufan Of Ainsdart, the latter being transferred to Ameilia White (Kandahar) in New Mexico. Fatima was mated to Tufan and produced several champions from this breeding.

6. So, its probably more accurate to state that Q A Shaw Mckean was the driving force in establishing the breed on the East Coast as well as providing founding stock for other pioneering kennels across the country. For example - Kandahar (New Mexico), their foundation stock included Zara Of Prides Hill and Ch Amanullah of Kandahar both bred by Q A Shaw Mckean at Prides Hill. Miss Caroline Hall Richmond also contributed to establishing the breed on the Western side of the country.

GENERAL DISCUSSION ABOUT EARLY AFGHAN HOUNDS


(India)
We tend to talk about "Afghanistan" as the country of origin of our hounds, but we don't know really enough about India and its role and contribution. At the turn of the 20th century, the "gateway" to Afghanistan was via the military presence in India and their excursions into Afghanistan. Imports from Afghanistan invaribly came via India as this was the main shipping route of that era. The photograph we show below of the Zardin family type was taken in INDIA -
Afghan Greyhound - Frank Townsend Barton 1913

So there is some doubt/confusion about the country of origin as opposed to the country of shipping. Further, we know that Major and Mary Amps (Ghazni) maintained kennels in Afghanistan and India, some of the Ghazni's being bred by "Natives". Also, some hounds were exhibited in India before being exported to the UK, for example Zardin and Sirdar were both exhibited in India before being exported to the UK. We hope to establish a research contact in India and see if we can clarify and make a clearer statement at some future point.

(Signfigance Of Some Early/Non Contributing Afghan Hounds)
The Afghan Hound was accepted as an established breed in 1926 when The Kennel Club (UK) granted the breed individual breed classification and awarded the breed its first CC's (Challenge Certificates). Click here to read the KC statement from 1926 Prior to 1926, Afghan Hounds were usually entered in "Variety" or "Foreign" exhibit classes. Whilst there were quite a number of early Afghan Hounds exhibited in England prior to 1926, most of them (one notable exception being - Zardin) had no impact on the breed. However, whilst these early Afghan Hounds do not figure in the pedigrees or bloodlines today, their existance and appearances at shows did a lot to promote interest in the breed. By registering these early Hounds the owners helped encourage The Kennel Club to recognize the validity of a new breed and by virtue of increasing registrations, breeding and show appearances, encouraged the KC into granting the breed individual classification in 1926. Other factors such as the existance of a Breed Standard (AHC, 1925) for Afghan Hounds further encouraged The Kennel Club. So, these early Afghan Hounds, their owners, their exhibitors and other pioneering people in the breed did a lot between the 1880's-1926 to help establish The Afghan Hound for the future generations to come..

(Renaming Of Dogs In The Early Days Is A Problem For Researchers)
In the early days of The Kennel Club it was permissable to totally rename a dog. For example, in my "tail chasing" (pedigree hunting) days I was stumped and could not find Manda Of Chaman (UK). A few years later I eventually located the "Transfer Of Ownership" record. Manda Of Chaman had been renamed "Keschang Of Pushtikuh". just prior to transfer to new owner. The Chaman affix belonged to Molly Sharpe (UK), the Pushtikuh affix belonged to Mrs Semple (UK). To further complicate my hunting down Manda - she was exported to Canada and then re-exported later to the USA. This was as late as the mid 1930's. One also has to be aware that one dog may appear at a show under various names (see Muckmul, Mustapha, Shah below).

(What Should We Call An "Afghan Hound"? What about "Persian Greyhound"?)
In those early days (1880-1910) it was quite common for an (Afghan Hound) to be entered in the "Foreign Dog" or "Variety" classes, often without the breed being stated, or the name of the breed stated varied between (for example) Persian Greyhound, Afghan Greyhound, Afghan Sheepdog, Barukhzy Hound and many other exotic names. You will see evidence of this as you explore the timeline below. You will also see evidence that despite achieving KC recognition and a separate breed classification that Afghan Hounds continued to be entered in Foreign/Variety classes sometimes, and "Persian Greyhounds" were also still being exhibited. (If the term Persian Greyhound means Afghan Hound why were the PG's not entered as Afghan Hounds?

Jess Ruffner-Booth kindly provides us with a plausable explanation on the use of the term "Persian Greyhound" - "Hounds were variously called Barukhzy hounds, Cabul (or Kabul) hounds, Baluchi hounds, Balkh Greyhounds, Afghan greyhounds, and Tazis. They were also referred to as Persian greyhounds, and this is where things get confusing. (The British called pretty much any sighthound-shaped dog a greyhound.) Accounts, usually by military personnel who were actually in the country of origin and saw the dogs in question, frequently refer to Afghans as a type of Persian greyhound. A distinction is made between the 'regular' Persian greyhound, which had silky hair, short on the body and long on the tail and sometimes the ears and backs of the legs, and the 'hairier' form, also found in India, which had hair on the body as well, typically the thighs and shoulders. Sometimes it is stated that both types are found in the same location. Sometimes the hairier dogs are relegated to the mountains. Later accounts shift the name to Afghan greyhound, which is often elaborated on as a variety of Persian greyhound. Once this information gets back to England, where authors were often relying on second or third-hand information, very often from another author that was also relying on information from elsewhere and had never seen an example of the dogs in question, everything gets a bit mixed up. The Persian greyhound type then gets divided into several sub-breeds, including Turkish, Afghan, etc".