Azawakh

FEDERATION CYNOLOGIQUE INTERNATIONALE

SECRETARIAT GENERAL: 13, Place Albert I - B 6530 THUIN (Belg)

Standard N0 307 / 19.09.1994/GB

 AZAWAKH

TRANSLATION Mrs. Peggy Davis.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN Mali

PATRONAGE COUNTRY France.

DATE OF PITBLICATION OF THE VALID ORIGINAL STANDARD : 22.08.1994.

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

F.C.I. CLASSIFICATION Group 10 Section 3 Short-haired Sighthounds Without working trial.

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 Azawkh. 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. slightly superior in the bitches.

- Height of chest/height at the withers about

- Length of muzzle/length of head = 1: 2.

- Width of skull/length of head 4 10. This ratio may be 4 : 10.

BEHAVIOLR 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 color 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 p]aced 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

FOREOUARTERS

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 degrees.

Feet:  Rounded shape, with fine and tightly 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 degrees).

Stifle The femoro-tibial angle is very open (about 145 degrees)

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 tightness, 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.

COLOR:  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 brindleing is admitted.

SIZE AND WEIGHT

HEIGHT AT THE WITHERS Dogs : between 64 and 74 cm, Bitches between 60 and 70cm

WEIGHT Dogs about 20-25 kg, Bitches about 15-20kg

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

- General appearance heavy.

- Body too long.

- Skull too wide.

- Accentuated Stop.