Taigans - the Kyrgyz sighthounds

never heard of it.  Very pretty though..reminds me of a cross between an afghan and a saluki- which are my two favorite sighthounds!

Importing one of those dogs might be next to impossible.  The more likely scenario is to go over and bring one back.  With as few of those dogs as the site says, importing or obtaining one will not be cheap in any measure.

They are certainly beautiful.  They have the lines of a lurcher and a coat that appears to be a mix between Saluki and Afghan (as was said above.)  Their size is pretty large, from what I can tell.  And the temperment is very close to the temperment of other working sighthounds like the Azawakh and working Sloughis.  This isn't a dog to have as a pet.  As much as a Kuvasz, this is a working dog.   

i agree with all of the above statements.... my biggest worry is someone will bring back a pair of these dogs and try to turn them into a pets.... and then they will end up like the Irish Wolfhound  

DumDog

i agree with all of the above statements.... my biggest worry is someone will bring back a pair of these dogs and try to turn them into a pets.... and then they will end up like the Irish Wolfhound  

Thankfully most of the rarer sighthounds are highly (and I mean highly!!) prized by those that have owned and kept them for the last few hundreds of years.   What scares me is that some people are breeding "pet temperment" into alot of the primitive working dogs.  That's kind of like getting an "Azawakh 'light'" and it makes no sense to me.  Change the temperment and you change type and standard.  If I cannot have a dog that can do the job that it's ancestors did, then I'm not helping maintain the integrity of that particular breed. 

i couldnt agree with you more. sadly there are some breeders (i wont name who, but one is on this forum) that LIKES their non-prey driven wolf hounds... even if they have short unhealthy life spans.. they are great pets!

but if you read the IWH code ethics... thats the LAST thing they want to breed for... but you also have others that dont see a point in keeping the working breeds in a working frame of mind as the majority of dogs in the world are just pets anyway.... so in their minds they are justified in breeding show and pet quality....

i have quite a long rant about this... but thats the gist of how i feel... if i want a pet i'll adopt one....  but i prefer and intend to always have a working breed that works.... i balanced working dog should be able to relax with you.. that is.. if YOU are doing your job in keeping him fit..

i like the looks of the Kyrgyz hound but the other forum i go to you can see the same "Type" of dog in the first crosses of Saluki, Bedlington, and collies. i hope there wont be a mad dash for people to start importing them. i think this breed is safer if it stays rare... just my opinion though  

 I don"t think it"s fair to characterize the IWs or the SDHs with other sighthounds, with respect to drive.  The reason for this is that they are both recreations of breeds that died out.  Unfortunately the stipulations in medieval times as to who could and who could not own, possess or care for these dogs, created such a narrow gene pool and ultimately killed off the breeds.  This is especially true after the majority of large prey disappeared from those particular geographic areas.

 
Salukis are still quite capable of coursing and coursing very, very well over longer distances than one could imagine at higher speeds than one would think possible.   In their native lands they are still sharing the tents of the Bedouin as the only "clean" dog.  And they are still coursing gazelle, antelope and hare quite successfully.

 
Though I have only met one Bedlington, I know from what I've read and discussed with breeders and fanciers of the breed:  These dogs do retain the prey drive and fearlessness that they once had.  Even though they move, it seems, very carefully under handler guidance, they can and will go to ground as fiercely as any true terrier would.
 

Xerxes

Unfortunately the stipulations in medieval times as to who could and who could not own, possess or care for these dogs, created such a narrow gene pool and ultimately killed off the breeds.  This is especially true after the majority of large prey disappeared from those particular geographic areas.

yes true it isnt fair to compare them. but they did the same thing with Grey Hounds as they did with IWHs and SDHs. If you were caught with either breed in your possession you would be executed at dawn unless you were a rich lander owner. but the grey(and even the SDH) is doing so much better today than the IWH. and while the Irish wolf has died out... there are other game animals over there. or anywhere in the world for that matter. some still run deer with their hounds in the UK (though i'm not entirely sure thats legal in Ireland anymore..) but some also pay big bucks to take trips across the ocean to hunt with their hounds. in australia a popular hog dog is an IWH x greyhound. And a Canadian man i talked to recently has an IWH/Grey that he hunts coyotes with.. though the dog is still a pup he does alright for himself, but nothing compared to his old retired racing greyhound.

it seems to me that the IWH still exists but not by blood.... the people have recreated the original working wolf hound and they actually work him but he isnt line bred, show bred, or pure bred. he's just a dog that hunts any game you put him on. these people arent looking to get their names down in history books or anything silly like that well much like the Taigans.. they're a working man's working dog. and aside from all of that.. the further you stay away from closed breed registries and clubs the better off the future of the breed will be.... they do serve some purposes... keeping track of the best of the best increases your chances of producing champion pups... but for what? that's up to the club, true... but it hasnt done many breeds too many favours recently. especially if they keep changing the standard, or if they stick to rigidly too the standard.

as for Bedlingtons, they are still prized hunting dogs in the UK. though the hunters will be quick to point out the differences between a bench dog and a hunting dog. the way the breed books describe them is they are very mellow for terriers (thats what i have read anyway) but for being so mellow they fear no badger or fox and are eager to dive into any burrow.

thats one breed i have always admired... dont much like the hair cut, but thats in the eye of the beholder lol