Tell us: Do you have a sighthound? What breed or mix of breeds is she? Why read breed profiles?ĭog breed profiles help everyone, whether you have a mixed breed or purebred dog, to better understand and improve the quality of your dog’s life. Thumbnail: Photography by Best dog photo / Shutterstock. Those descriptive words aren’t the synonyms of dumb, now are they? Sometimes humans label us as willful or obstinate, but we prefer the designation “self-governing” or “self-determining.” In work and play, we’re clever, alert, perceptive, adaptable and ingenious. We’re adaptable go-getters, with take-care-of-ourselves attitudes. We frequently pursued prey out of sight of hunters we didn’t require their guidance. Maerke.Ĭelebrated for our barklessness, we trace our origins back to Africa as courageous hunting dogs. Photography courtesy Linda Siekert and photography by Debbie A. May we recommend agility or coursing events? Basenji Basenjis are fairly silent sighthounds. Today, we’ll respond most readily to your commands if they’re correlated to movement sports. Less expensive to keep than Greyhounds, we provided entertainment, brought small game to the table and offered companionship. We were developed as the working man’s racehorse in 18th- and early 19th-century Britain. Our ancestry traces to ancient, graceful sighthounds developed for coursing.
Photography courtesy Mary Huff.Ĭompared to sporting and herding dogs who work closely with people (and rely on a human cues and commands), sighthound breeds like us were bred to chase and run game down without your instruction manual. We won’t drag behind on hikes! Whippet Whippets are a sighthound breed hailing from Great Britain. We’ll often respond to your high-handedness with stubbornness, so let’s instead focus on mutually enjoyable activities. We’re loyal, protective and always game for adventures. Notable for our ridged backs, we got famous for tracking and holding lions at bay.Ĭlearly, we didn’t develop this reputation from sitting around waiting for humans instructions. Early Rhodesian Ridgebacks worked as big-game trackers, but also protectors of property. Our forefathers accompanied Dutch and German farmers and ranchers traveling from Cape of Good Hope shipping centers to new homesteads. Rhodesian Ridgeback Rhodesian Ridgebacks are game for any adventure. We’d also likely top any instinctive intelligence ranking. In Stanley Coren’s 1994 Intelligence of Dogs report (ranking breeds by our readiness to learn and obey commands), we’re ranked #41, placing us in the average working/obedience intelligence group. We long-muzzled sighthounds have an especially wide field of vision, allowing us to hunt prey on the horizon.Īs for working obedience, we take instructions from humans generally well. Our eyes sit slightly toward the sides of our heads, offering a somewhat wider range of vision than yours. As sighthound breeds do, we needed to see animals moving, even at a distance, and in faint light. Famous for our height, we also have extraordinary vision. Favored with the aristocracy, we were gifted to royalty and nobles across the continents. We’re a powerful breed, developed in Ireland to hunt wolves, stags, boars and elks. Irish Wolfhound Irish Wolfhounds have two advantages in hunting - superior vision and height. Nobles, kings and chieftains throughout history saw little value in teaching us Sit, Stay or Roll Over commands. This visual aptitude, along with our athleticism and endurance, enables us to successfully hunt game across large desert expanses.
We sighthound breeds generally see “better” than other breeds, at least when evaluated by our quick reaction toward fast-moving objects at significant distances. Rather than over-focus on your definition of intelligence, let’s discuss our aptitude. We’re distinguished for our efficient body builds, nobility, speed, stamina and melancholy expressions. We’ve been hunting gazelle, fox, jackal, rabbits and wild pigs in North Africa for centuries. Photography © Peter Virag | iStock / Getty Images Plus. But maybe sighthound breeds, rather than being categorized as among the dumbest dog breeds, better distinguish between actions that benefit them (such as a successful hunt), and actions we request that don’t benefit them? These five sighthound breeds throw light on the “dumb hound” accusations … Sloughi Sloughis are a sighthound breed that have hunted in North Africa for centuries. Their independence challenges our Do as We Say mindset. We humans often typecast the sighthounds breeds in the Hard to Train class.
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