Quick Links: Table of Contents
- Azawakh Breed Overview
- History of the Azawakh Breed. Where Azawakhs came from
- What the Azawakh Looks Like
- Best Azawakh Breeders
- What Colors do Azawakhs Have?
- How Long Azawakhs Live
- How Fast Azawakhs Can Run
- How Popular are Azawakhs with New Dog Owners?
- Health Problems in Azawakhs and How to Prevent Them
- Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Azawakhs
- Other Things to Know About Azawakhs
Azawakh Breed Overview
The Azawakh is a large-sized dog.
The adult Azawakh stands 23 to 27 inches tall at the shoulder.
The Azawakh belongs to the Hound Dogs group.
Dogs in the Hound Dogs group, like the Azawakh, were bred to pursue and hunt warm-blooded animals. Hounds hunt by using their good sight or their good sense of smell. Dogs that belong to the Hound Group have strong prey drives and often will stop at nothing to catch what they are pursuing.
The fact that Azawakhs belong to the Hound Dogs group is one of the reasons why Azawakhs have the personality and temperament that they have.
The temperament of the Azawakh is generally described as:
- Affectionate
- Aloof
- Attentive
- Fierce
- Refined
- Rugged
History of the Azawakh Breed. Where Azawakhs came from
It is unknown when the Azawakh first originated exactly but they are thought to have originated before the 1800s in places such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger over in West Africa.
This dog was bred to be a sighthound for those who hunted on West African lands for prey like antelope.
People would have to follow the herds during migration seasons and would use their sighthounds to help them find suitable herds to hunt from.
The Azawakh became a useful ally during hunting but was not so much a companion animal at home.
Although loyal and protective of its owners, the Azawakh needs the room to run and things to do to alleviate boredom.
Activities that foster their prey drive in a positive way helps to wear out the Azawakh so it doesn’t turn to destructive behavior.
Training is highly recommended for this breed so they have structure and know what to expect in their day to day lives.
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What the Azawakh Looks Like
The Azawakh is a medium-sized breed of dog that resembles a Greyhound but is more closely related to a breed known as the Saluki.
Azawakhs are tall and have long legs and slender bodies with longer fur on the tail and ears.
The soft and silky short haired coat on an Azawakhs can be and all shades of brown ,black, blue, brindle, cream, red, fawn, gray, grizzle, parti-color, sandy, or white.
There is no particular standard of color for this breed as so many colors are accepted.
Azawakh’s come from West Africa and are considered to be sighthounds.
They are extremely fast and have a higher than average prey drive to run and chase small moving rodents.
This can be useful in racing and lure-catching competitions and Azawakhs are highly successful at these events.
This breed is super sweet and loving and will be loyal to their owners.
They like to play and be silly although they appear as a serious and stoic breed.
Azawakhs need their exercise in order to stay healthy.
It is important to have space for them to roam or the time to take them on long and drawn out walks.
Azawakhs can be good in families with older children that can take the time to equally spend with their pet.
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Best Azawakh Breeders
We have researched reputable Azawakh breeders that you can buy a puppy.
Go to this page for our complete list of reputable Azawakh breeders in various states in the United States.
On this page, you will see how much these breeders sell their puppies for, and how many puppies they have available.
A few of these breeders are listed below.
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Azawakh Ayur-es-Sahel
Puppy Price: Check with breeder
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Aliya Taylor / Kel Imajaghan Azawakh
Puppy Price: $2500
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Kel Simoon Azawakh
Puppy Price: Check with breeder
What Colors do Azawakhs Have?
Azawakhs come in the following beautiful primary colors:
Azawakhs come in the following lovely secondary colors in addition to their primary colors:
How Long Azawakhs Live
The lifespan of the Azawakh is typically from 12 to 15 years.
Azawakhs live long if they eat well, drink well, exercise well, and visit the veterinarian regularly.
How Fast Azawakhs Can Run
How fast a dog breed can run is a good measure of how athletic the dog breed is.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) regularly conducts dog running competitions. The AKC records the running speed of competing dogs in these competitions. These competitions are open to all dog breeds.
Based on our analysis of the speeds of 14 different Azawakhs, the average speed of the Azawakh is 25.4 mph (40.8 kmph).
The fastest speed on AKC record that the Azawakh ran in a race is 29.98 mph (48.2 kmph) and the minimum speed on record in a race for a Azawakh is 8.87 mph (14.3 kmph).
Click here to see how the speed of the Azawakh compares to the speed of other dogs and other mammals such as cats, horses, humans, etc.
How Popular are Azawakhs with New Dog Owners?
Every year, the American Kennel Club (AKC) publishes information on how popular a dog breed is in that particular year. The AKC gets the popularity information of a breed from how many dogs of that breed the owners register with the AKC every year. The AKC collects this data for about 200 dog breeds.
The graph below shows the popularity trend of the Azawakh.
The popularity of the Azawakh averaged over the years is Number 189 out of about 200 dog breeds.
Do not get a dog breed just because it is a popular dog breed. And do not reject a dog breed just because it is an unpopular breed.
Health Problems in Azawakhs and How to Prevent Them
Every dog breed has its own set of health problems that it tends to develop. There is nothing like a perfect dog breed.
The Azawakh is prone to certain genetic health conditions. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) is an organization that keeps track of genetic health problems in dog breeds.
From the extensive records that the OFA keeps, the OFA knows what health problems each dog breed is naturally prone to develop.
Hence, the OFA recommends which health screening breeders should perform on a dog breed to make sure that the breeders won`t breed `defective` dog parents that can pass down defective genes to their puppy offspring.
If you want a Azawakh puppy that will grow up to be healthy, make sure that your Azawakh breeder screens your puppy or your puppy`s parents for the health problems that the OFA recommends for your puppy`s breed. This will increase the chances that your puppy is free from genetic defects.
The following are the health tests that Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) recommends that breeders should screen Azawakhs for:
You can find out more about OFA`s recommended tests for Azawakhs here.
Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Azawakhs
If you have not made up your mind on which dog breed to get, you may also want to consider some other dogs similar to the Azawakh.
We crunched the numbers and found that the following dog breeds that have similar behavior and temperament as the Azawakh:
- Canaan Dog (74 percent match with Azawakh). Learn more about the Canaan Dog here.
- Sloughi (73 percent match with Azawakh). Learn more about the Sloughi here.
Other Things to Know About Azawakhs
Here are some of the very important characteristics of the Azawakh that you need to know about the Azawakh breed:
