Tuesday, May 06, 2008

staghound puppies

no, no; i'm not expecting. however, those of you who have met my hounds, and especially this little shaggy guy, dmitri, know how incredibly laid back and cool he is. these two photos depict his favorite activities. well, great news for those of you who have told me "man, i'd love to have a dog like dmitri." you KNOW i've told you how rare these staghounds are: it's a safe bet that dmitri is the only one of his kind in iowa. most of them are found in florida and the mid-atlantic states. by the way, a staghound is a sighthound blend of greyhound, borzoi, and scottish deerhound, developed in britain and used for hunting--duh--stags. they combine the speed of a greyhound, the strength, agility, and durability of a borzoi [russian wolfhound], and the rugged coat and amazing disposition of the scottish deerhound. if you've been around scottish deerhound [or irish wolfhounds], you'll know how that the breed is known for its mellow zone.
a fellow sighthound lover, and breeder of lurchers [mixes of two breeds, one of which is a sighthound] has a bitch expecting puppies around june 1st. these puppies will be staghounds, which is a subset of lurchers resulting from a cross of two sighthounds [usually called a "longdog" for obvious reasons] when one dog is a scottish deerhound. you can learn more by going here. but be careful: get one, and you'll want more.

No comments: