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Sighthound

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Sighthounds (also called gazehounds) are a Dog type of hound dog that hunts primarily by sight and speed, unlike scent hound, which rely on scent and endurance.

Appearance

These dogs specialize in pursuing prey, keeping it in sight, and overpowering it by their great speed and agility. They must be able to detect motion quickly, so they have keen vision. Sighthounds must be able to capture fast, agile prey, such as deer and , so they have a very flexible back and long legs for a long stride, a deep chest to support an unusually (compared to other dogs) large heart, very efficient lungs for both anaerobic and Aerobic exercise sprints, and a lean, wiry body to keep their weight at a minimum. Sighthounds have unique anatomical and physiological features, likely due to intentional selection for hunting by speed and sight; laboratory studies have established reference intervals for hematology and serum biochemical profiles in sighthounds, some of which are shared by all sighthounds and some of which may be unique to one breed."Clinical pathology of Greyhounds and other sighthounds" S. Zaldívar‐López L.M. Marín M.C. Iazbik N. Westendorf‐Stingle S. Hensley C.G. Couto Veterinary Clinical Pathology Volume 40, Issue 4, first published: 24 October 2011

The typical sighthound Dog type has a light, lean head, which is dolichocephalic in proportion. This shape can create the illusion that their heads are longer than usual. Gray wolf and other Canidae are dolichocephalic or mesaticephalic, but some Dog have become brachycephalic (short-headed) due to artificial selection by humans over the course of 12,000 years. Dolichocephalic dogs have a wider field of vision but smaller overlap between the eyes and therefore possibly poorer depth perception in some of their field of view than brachycephalic dogs; most, if not all, dogs have less visual acuity than their antecedent, the wolf. There is no science-based evidence to confirm the popular belief that sighthounds have a higher visual acuity than other types of dogs. However, there is increasing evidence that dolichocephalic dogs, thanks to a higher number of retinal ganglion cells in their "visual streak", retain more heightened sensitivity than other dog types to objects and rapid movement in the horizontal field of vision.

History

Sighthounds such as the Saluki/Sloughi type (both named after the Seleucid Empire) may have existed for at least 5,000 years, with the earliest presumed sighthound remains of a male with a shoulder height around 54 cm, comparable to a Saluki, appearing in the excavations of Tell Brak dated approximately 4,000 years before present.Clutton-Brock, J., 1989. A dog and a donkey excavated at Tell Brak. Iraq, 51, pp.217-224. The earliest complete European description of a sighthound and its work, the Celtic vertragus Bronze statue beeldje_hazewindhond_ForumHadriani_015501_RMO_Leiden via wikimedia.org from Roman Spain of the 2nd century C.E., comes from Arrian's Cynegeticus. A similar type, possibly a moderately sized male sighthound, with a height of 61–63 cm, of approximately the same historic period, the Warmington Roman dog is described from a well-preserved skeleton found in England. Sighthound type "gracile" bones, dating from the 8th to 9th century CE, anatomically defined as those of a 70 cm (28 in) high "greyhound", were genetically compared with the modern Greyhound and other sighthounds and found to be almost identical with the modern Greyhound breed, with the exception of only four deletions and one substitution in the DNA sequences, which were interpreted as differences probably arising from 11 centuries of breeding of this type of sighthound. SVOBODOVÁ, H., BARTOŠ, M., NÝVLTOVÁ FIŠÁKOVÁ, M. and KOUŘIL, P., (2015). Genetic analysis of possibly the oldest greyhound remains within the territory of the Czech Republic as a proof of a local elite presence at Chotěbuz-Podobora hillfort in the 8th–9th century AD. SbNM B, 71, pp.17-24. Population genomic analysis proposes that true sighthounds originated independently from native dogs and were comprehensively admixed among breeds, supporting the multiple origins hypothesis of sighthounds.Li, Wu-Lue, et al. "Multiple origins and genomic basis of complex traits in sighthounds". Molecular Biology and Evolution (2023): msad158. msad158.pdf at watermark.silverchair.com

Although today most sighthounds are kept primarily as , some of them may have been bred for as many as thousands of years to detect movement of prey, then chase, capture, and kill it primarily by speed. They thrive on physical activity. Some have mellow personalities, others are watchful or even hostile towards strangers, but the instinct to chase running animals remains strong.

Bruce Fogle (2025). 9780751304718, Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 9780751304718

Apart from coursing and hunting, various dog sports are practiced with purebred sighthounds, and sometimes with and . Such sports include Dog racing, lure coursing, and other events.

List of sighthound breeds

Afghan Hound	Afghanistan	FCI, AKC
Azawakh	Mali	FCI
Borzoi	Russia	FCI, AKC
Chart Polski	Poland		Polish Greyhound
Chippiparai	India	KCI
Chortai	Russia
Cirneco dell'Etna	Italy
Deerhound	Scotland	FCI, AKC
Galgo Español	Spain	FCI
Greyhound	England	FCI, AKC
Irish Wolfhound	Ireland	FCI, AKC
Italian Greyhound	Italy	FCI, AKC	Piccolo Levriero Italiano
Kaikadi dog	India
Kanni	India	KCI
Kazakh Tazy	Kazakhstan
Kritikos Lagonikos	Greece		Cretan Hound
Levriero Sardo	Italy
Magyar Agár	Hungary	FCI
Mudhol Hound	India	KCI
Old Croatian Sighthound	Croatia / Bosnia-Herzegovina
Patagonian Greyhound	Argentina		Galgo Barbucho Patagónico
Pharaoh Hound	Malta	FCI, AKC
Rampur Greyhound	India
Saluki	Middle East	FCI, AKC
Sarail Hound	Bangladesh
Silken Windhound	USA
Sloughi	North Africa	FCI	Arabian Greyhound
Taigan	Kyrgyzstan	VDH
Whippet	England	FCI, AKC
Xigou	China	CKU	Xian Hound, Shanxi Xigou, Xiquan, Xiliegou, Xiǎn

Crossbreed sighthound types

American Staghound	USA	Greyhound, Scottish Deerhound, Irish Wolfhound, Borzoi, Saluki, Whippet
Kangaroo dog	Australia	Greyhound, Scottish Deerhound, Irish Wolfhound, Borzoi, Saluki
Longdog		Mix between sighthounds
Lurcher		Sighthound + herding dog or terrier

Breeds considered to be controversial, not having by origin a sighthound function

A number of breeds or types of dogs which do not hunt solely by speed and sight, as well as a number of non-hunting breeds, are currently being recognized as sighthounds, either formally or informallyBengtson, Bo. "How Many Sighthound Breeds? Would you believe more than 50?" Sighthound Review Vol. 5, Issue 4, Winter 2014–2015 by kennel clubs, or lure and live coursing clubs. These include:

Andalusian Hound
Basenji
Cirneco dell'Etna
Ibizan Hound (Podenco Ibicenco)
Peruvian Inca Orchid
Pharaoh Hound (Kelb tal-fenek)
Podenco Canario
Portuguese Podengo
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Thai Ridgeback

Kennel club classification

When competing in conformation shows, most Anglophone , including the American Kennel Club and The Kennel Club (United Kingdom), group pedigree sighthound breeds together with in a Hound Group, the Fédération Cynologique Internationale groups them in a dedicated Sighthound Group, whilst the United Kennel Club groups them in a Sighthound and Pariah Group.

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