Azawakh

Azawakh pictures ➜

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Mali.

PATRONAGE COUNTRY: France.

UTILISATION: Sight hunting. The nomads considered the dog equally as a “show piece” and as a companion.

BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY

It is an African sighthound of afro-asian type which appeared in Europe towards 1970 and comes from the Nigerian middle basin, among others from the valley of the Azawakh. For hundreds of years he has been the companion of the nomads of the South-Sahara.

GENERAL APPEARANCE

Particularly leggy and elegant, the Azawakh sighthound gives a general impression of great fineness. His bone structure and musculature is transparent beneath fine and lean tissues (skin). This sighthound presents itself as a rangy dog whose body fits into a rectangle with its longer sides in vertical position.

IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS:

Length of body/height at the withers = 9:10. This ratio may be slightly superior in the bitches.
Height of chest/height at the withers = about 4:10.
Length of muzzle/length of head = 1:2.
Width of skull/length of head = 4:10.

BEHAVIOUR AND TEMPERAMENT

Quick, attentive, distant, reserved with strangers and may even be savage, but he can be gentle and affectionate with those he is willing to accept.

HEAD

Long, fine, lean and chiselled, rather narrow, without excess.

CRANIAL REGION

The skull is almost flat, rather elongated. The width of the skull must definitely be inferior to half the length of the head. The directions of the axes of the skull and the muzzle are often slightly divergent towards the front. The superciliary arches and the frontal furrow are slightly marked. On the other hand, the occipital crest is clearly protruding and the occipital protuberance marked.
Stop: Very slightly marked.

FACIAL REGION:
Nose: Nostrils well opened. The nose is either black or brown.
Muzzle: Long, straight, fine towards the front without exaggeration.
Jaws: Long and strong.
Cheeks: Flat.
Teeth: Scissor bite.
Eyes: Almond shaped, quite large. Their colour is dark or amber. Eyelids pigmented.
Ears: Set quite high. They are fine, always drooping and flat, quite wide at the base, close to the skull, never a “rose ear”. Their shape is that of a triangle with a slightly rounded tip. Their base raises when the hound is attentive.

NECK:

Good reach of neck which is long, fine and muscular, slightly arched. The skin is fine and does not form a dewlap.

BODY

Topline: Nearly straight, horizontal or rising towards the hips.
Withers: Quite prominent.
Loin: Short, lean and often slightly arched.
Hipbones: Distinctly protruding and always placed at an equal or superior height to the height of the withers.
Croup: Oblique without accentuated slant.
Forechest: Not very wide.
Chest: Well developed in length, deep but without reaching elbow level. It is not very wide but must have enough space for the heart, so, the sternal region of the chest must not abruptly become narrow.
Ribs: Long, visible, slightly and evenly curved down to the sternum.
Underline: The sternal arch is accentuated and joined without abruptness to the belly which tucked up very high below the lumbar arch.
Tail: Set low, long, thin, lean and tapered. Is covered with the same type of hair as that of the body and has a white brush at its extremity. Is carried hanging with the tip slightly raised, but when the dog is excited, it can be carried above the horizontal.

QUARTERS
FOREQUARTERS:

Seen as a whole: Long, fine, almost entirely vertical; set perfectly well-set.
Shoulders: Long, lean and muscular and only slightly slanting seen in profile.
The scapulo-humeral angle is very open (about 130°).
Feet: Rounded shape, with fine and thighly closed toes; the pads are pigmented.

HINDQUARTERS:

Seen as a whole: Long and lean; legs perfectly vertical.
Thighs: Long with prominent and lean muscles. The coxo-femoral angle is very open (about 130°).
Stifle: The femoro-tibial angle is very open (about 145°).
Hock: Hockjoint and hock are straight and lean, without dewclaws.
Feet: Round shaped – Pads are pigmented.

GAIT – MOVEMENT: Always very supple (lissom) and with particularly high action at the trot and the walk. The gallop is bouncy. The Azawakh gives a great impression of lightness, even elasticity. The movement is an essential point of the breed.

SKIN: Fine, tight over the whole of the body.

COAT

Hair: Short, fine, down to none on the belly.
Colour: Fawn with flecking limited to the extremities. All shades are admitted from light sable to dark fawn. The head may or may not have a black mask and the blaze is very inconsistent. The coat has a white bib and a white brush at the tip of the tail.
Each of the four limbs must have compulsorily a white “stocking”, at least in shape of a trace on the feet. The black brindling is admitted.

SIZED AND WEIGHT
Height at the withers: Dogs: between 64 and 74 cm
Bitches: between 60 and 70 cm
Weight: Dogs: about 20 – 25 kg, Bitches: about 15 – 20 kg.

FAULTS

Any departure from the foregoing should be considered a fault and the seriousness of which shall be penalised in exact proportion to its degree.

General appearance: heavy.
Body too long.
Skull too wide.
Accentuated Stop.
Hipbones placed distinctly lower than the withers.
Distinct depigmentation of the nose.

ELIMINATING FAULTS

Lack of type (in particular when showing a recent crossing with another breed).
Size out by more than 3 cm from the standard measures.
Strong non-accidental anatomical deformation.
Disabling anomaly not acquired.
All obvious redhibitory vices.
Ribs curving in at the base of the chest which thus takes on the look of a “violin box”.
Upper or lower prognathism.
Harsh or semi-long coat.
Coat not conforming to the standard.
Absence of any white marking at the extremity of one or more limbs.
Light eye: i.e. bird of prey eyes.
Timid character, panicky or aggressive with attack.

N.B.: Males should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.