THE AFGHAN HOUND

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 10

THE AFGHAN HOUND

IMPORT INTO AUSTRALIA

FEAR OF POSSIBLE MENACE

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, April 177

The importation by a Sydney man of an Afghan hound, said to be the first of its kind to reach Australia, has caused alarm among certain pastoralists and others who think that, like the Alsatian, it might become a menace to sheep and cattle. The hound was procured from a native owner in the hills of Afghanistan. The species is claimed to be the oldest type of domesticated dog in the world. The president of the Institute of Stock Inspectors (Mr. C. J. Woollett), at the annual conference of the institute, said that the Afghan hound was acclaimed as a hunting dog, courageous and powerful enough to pull down a leopard. That was not pleasant knowledge. He feared the spread, over sheep and .cattle country, of new breeds of hunting dogs. The advent of the Alsatian dog had disturbed the rural mind sufficiently without the trouble extending. ' Districts that at first championed the Alsatian dog had changed their views, and hardly was the Act authorising the local banishment of the breed proclaimed when they asked to be included under its' operation. ' ■ > Mr. James McDougall, importer of the Afghan hound, sprang quickly to its defence. He said that the Afghan hound found kindred sympathies in such dogs as the Borzoi, the Irish wolfhound, the saluki, the greyhound, and the deerhound, but to say that the Afghan hound could kill a leopard was to say that the Borzoi or Irish wolfhound would kill a wolf. The essential difference between an Afghan and an Alsatian was that the Afghan was a hound with the true protective instinct of the canine,. whereas the Alsatian had the marauding impulse of the wolf, from which many claimed that it descended. "The Afghan is not a fighting dog," said Mr. McDougall. "It is purely a hunting dog in the same category as the greyhound. It is gentle, docile, and companionable. In the official handbook of the Kennel Club of England the Afgan is described as faithful, affectionate, a wonderful companion to children, and a wonderful house dog.' That is more than the same authority claims for the Irish wolfhound or the greyhound. A high valuation is placed on the Afghan living in the mountain huts with the hill shepherds, for its attitude to domestic creatures like sheep and goats. The true valuation of the Afghan, of which there are thousands in England and on the Continent, is that it has never been known to kill a domestic animal or harm a child. The Afghan is only a greyhound gloriously feathered with fine silky hair, although it is smaller."