I have been thinking lately about what makes certain people love hounds? Usually you find that people either have all deerhounds or a mixture ie wolfies, borzoi, greyhounds but what is it about a hound that captivates us?
For me it is something that I find hard to explain. I find them beautiful to look at, I love their temperements..All I know is that hounds/lurchers have only ever been the dog for me and I just could not consider another breed

Hounds are a new breed to me. Before we've had Labs, Springers, B-Collies. I wanted a deerhound because I've always loved big dogs. I did not know anything of their personality or temperament traits, but as Mac has grown up I have found that I have a great fondness for hounds in general and even more so for Deerhounds. I think they are such an attractive breed, very beautiful and regal looking. They have great personalities , a little stubborn, a little cheeky, very loving and just so full of life , but happy to sleep all day on the couch. (bit like me really I would like to have a hound playmate for Mac sometime soon. We did attempt to rescue a lovely lurcher, but she half-killed the cat so we had to send her back. We were really sad to let her go, because she had a lovely temperament and she got on great with all our other dogs. It's such a shame that we don't have the time to train her to leave the cats alone. I did try to persuade Manda to let the cats go, so we could keep her, but she wasn't having any of it !

It is hard to explain...I have loved Deerhounds since I was a child as I loved medieval history and Deerhounds always seemed to pop up. I was attracted by their beauty, size and power. My first Deerhound was a pedigree rescue and she just cemented my love for them. I do love other sighthounds such as the Wolfie and Borzoi but I doubt I will have anything but Deerhounds.

For me it is watching a dog run, especially after their game.
I love big dogs too, but wouldn't ever be pursuaded to have a Leonberger, Rottie or other big dog.

I love the shaggy coat and the athletic build.

We've always had either Greyhounds or Lurchers, Deerhounds only came into our life nearly 4 years ago, and that was really because we couldn't find a Lurcher of Deerhound type that we had previously owned.

I do love IW's, nearly pursuaded hubby to get one, until I read somewhere that they used to be used to pull men off of horseback during wars! That put him off and we settled on a Deerhound!
I dont think I could ever have anything else well maybe a nice Lurcher!

I love watching them run too. It makes a walk out with them far more interesting.
I love the grace and speed of a Deerhound in full flight and at home they are very
loving without being in your face.

I love the deerhounds elegance and their size (don't have to bend down to pat them) but most of all I love their temperament, they are so laid back and gentle but also so affectionate and tuned to how you're feeling. We had a 16 month old toddler staying over the weekend and the dogs were so good, not at all fazed by a human smaller than them running around their house.
Maybe it's a hound thing but I'm not sure I could have a dachshund that is yappy or anything that is super standoffish (I've heard salukis are a bit like that, correct me if i'm wrong)

Iv'e also heard that Salukis can be remote and standoffish and I know from experience that Daxies can be very yappy - give me a good deep houndy bark anyday of the week

Houndy, you can have Murphy's deep houndy bark if you want. It tends to start when it gets dark, he goes into patrolling mode and who said Deerhounds don't bark or make good guard dogs

My first dogs were German Wirehaired pointers, then a Spinone. I like hunting dogs, even if I am no hunter myself. Theyhave a good health, and are intelligent. But the problem is that they cant relax. Evenif they get all the excercise they require, and a litle more, they are still excited, and ready for more. When they finally come to sleep, they dream that they are running and sniffing. My dogs sleep in my bed, and it is a challenge to sleep beside a dog that runs 40 kilometers during the night, snffing, and running, digging, turning..
They say that the time you had a german wirehair on earth, will be counted in your favour if you should happen to end up in hell...
When hounds have got the excercise they require, they can relax! They have the same pleasant character as the wirehaired pointers, but they have the "off" state that the hunting dogs miss. My oldest german wirehair is almost 13 years now, and he is as active as the hounds, even if age has learned him to sleep. The hounds are some 10 years younger. My borzoi is 3½, my IW soon 2, and my deer half a year old.

KimC wrote:



Wow, that is some big bed you have!!!

Lurch8252 wrote:


Thanks but Murrays is more than enough! He also 'patrols' the garden when it is dark and I have just had to hawk him in from the garden as he was deep barking - be getting complaints from neighbours lol

What I love about Deerhounds is that they have such a presence about them, they are so laid back yet can be so physical. If there is some truth in that saying that owners are like their dogs then I'm so glad I have a Deerhound, the thought of being like my friend's Terrier is so frightening.

Speaking of the Deerhound presense, I was driving down the lane where I live today and what should I see but a lady who lives fairly close walking her 3 Deerhound girls in a field off the lane. I must say that the sight of 3 the hounds being walked really made my day.

I would imagine , that this was a beautiful sight - one never gets to see oneself walking the hounds. When I bringmy 4 to our training weeks ( Tellington TTouch ) they tell me , it looks as if " I was walking with a cloud of dogs " . I thought , that sounded beautiful.
I had never owned any kind of sighthound , not even seen many , and never seen a deerhound when , out of the blue , I knew , my next dog was going to be a deerhound . This was shortly before immigrating to Canada . I managed to visit a dogshow where there were even 5 dhs entered and loved them , though the showring is for sure not " their place " . I took another 8 years or so before the first moved in - meanwhile I had subscribed to a deerhound magazine and visited a breeder regularly . After my first visit to her , when I " drowned " in the eyes of one of her females , who was laying outdoors with her puppies , under a bush and kept gazing into the hills/mountains in the distance , with this incredible soft intensity , I dreamt the following night , I was looking through tose eyes and saw old , dark ruins , overgrown with bramble and lush greenery - they had to be old castles , fallen long ago - and I saw those typical Scottish hills . I phoned the breeder and told her and she said , that it is said that " in the eyes of a good deerhund you see the history of Scotland " . I knew I was on te right path then and have never looked back , now living with 4 beautiful deerhound girls from all over the world.

I also do love what everyone of you has described and I do love their
" ancientness " , you can feel , they are old , wise souls - whose ancestors passed on a huge history . And their fire - when am lucky enough to see mine take off after some coyotes , up and up the hillsides , bounding and leaping an spreading out in formation , it is incredible , brings me almost always to tears of joy - even more so ,as they never got anything bigger than a small marmot - too much really dense bush out here , but , they get the joy of the hunt and I the one of watching.
And , I do love their sense of humor - they also seem to able to laugh about themselves and their own antics.
As a child my favourite 2 animals were , for the longest time , the cheetah and the wolf - no wonder , I ended up in love with sighthounds and have totally fallen for the shaggy , elegant , strongand yet soft deerhounds ( loving the rough coat , eyebrows and beard ) .

What a cool question!

While I don't yet have a Deerhound I am a sighthound person through and through.

I've grown up with Afghans and now have an Afghan and a Greyhound and know in my heart that I won't ever be without a hound however small it may be when I get old and grey.

There is something about sighthounds and their attitude. Gracious, dignified and yet nutty as fruit cakes too.

I agree that their ancientness is so much more apparent than other breeds. I've always been interested in history and hounds have been an integral part of most civilisations history around the world. Hunting for deer, gazelle or other game is a far more interesting job than herding sheep and I don't believe there is a more impressive sight than seeing a hound working (or pretending to aka lure coursing).

Their inherent elegance which they all possess even from the small Iggys to the mighty Wolfhound even when lazed on the couch or curled up on your pillow is enchanting to me. They are much like cats in that they seem to know we are mere servants to their vanity and play us like fools because of it.

I constantly admire their athleticism and love that they are the true to type built for purpose dog. I love their lean and clean lines with their strong elegant heads, powerful quarters and deep sweeping chests.

I love their aloofness and that take it or leave it attitude. I am not the sort of person that could live with a velcro type dog who wants to play ball constantly and their houndyness suits my personality and the way I live. That sounds quite clinical but its more of a meeting of minds than having a dog to suit my life.

I know people who could never own hounds - they can't cope with the hit and miss of the obedience or that the dogs are just as happy asleep on the furniture as they are when they are with their owner.

To each their own I guess but I know I'll never be converted!!

Libby

I am a newborn DH lover. I was grown up with a poodle and then I have a boyfriend who wanted a rottweiler and we buy an rottweiler, I love that dog and I lately dump the boyfriend and instead took care of the dog. We have 11 years together.
In many years after I have no dog because of working, studying and so on. But later I wanted to have a dog again. I was looking after a little smaller dog, perhaps a Springer Spaniel. In that time I have a working companion who was a breeder of Schipperke. In the first I think they was too small but when I going to know her dogs I realised that it was a big dog in a small body. I got one and I got two and I got three and so on.....

This was 15 years ago and now I am also a breeder since 11 years. But in about two or three years I've read about Deerhounds in a Dogmagazine. I was at work and I was fascinated in what I read. And I said to an working companion -Hey look this is my dog! She looked at me (she breeds american staffordshire) and she said what! Are you mad?
They are so big. Ok I said they are very big, but listen, and then I read what I just seen. Ok, she said and I was totally swallowed up in the magazine and I read it all night long. And then I made my decision. I will have a Deerhound some day.

It was this I found appeal to: A DH is not barking (now I found out that they can, but not like a schipperke, for sure) they like to run and be active outdoors but when you get into the house the just flow into the background and they stay calm indoors, they are friendly to people and dogs, they want to stay at your side, well and so on.
I think it must be a perfect dog for me. I don't like when the schipperkes are popping around and barking indoors (ok they can be bringing up better, but they still are very livefull indoors) and I don't like when they are running arond and barking on everything in the backyards either. I love my schipperkes very much but it is some sides of them I really dislike. I can have them with me when horsebackriding but I have to stay and wait some times I think a DH can be a better company going horsebackriding.

Well, well after that article I was looking around when I was at dogshows and meet people with DH and I asked many questions and I let my schipps looking at the DH and they also accept them. I looked at Lure coursing and find out what a beautiful hound it was in full action. Amazing. Such a power. And when you se some old lady walking with three, four DH's it is a fantastic sight. And I was fascinated of them being so self-possessed and dignified. I just love them and I was even more convinced that this was my dog it was made for me.

I waited for a few years and then at last I have a chance to buy a DH. I was looking for a breeder in my neighbourhood, but did not find any. I was calling one i south of Sweden and she telling me that one breeder in the middle will be having puppies soon.
I phoned her and I find out that we live near eachother just an half ours trip with car.
I meet her and her hounds and I just love them (the hounds) and then I have to wait for the puppies to be borned.

That was a long storie about Norberts way into my life. And now I have to see if he is living up to my expectation. He does so far. I love this hound very very much it is a special feeling that this is a hound that I chosen only by myself, to myself.

What did my family think?
My husband is a very patient man, he says in the first place that he think we have enough dogs. But when I explain my plan to him (it's another long story)he agreed.
My daughter who's living at home said that she not will like this dog they are ugly. And I try to take her with me to se Norbert when he was a little puppy, but she refuse.
And then when I bring him home my husband liked him directly and my daughter wouldn't look at him and she was very anti. But Norbert is a smart guy, he imediately know which one in the family he has to charm... And now she just love him and he loves her too.
But she still have to say some times that he is ugly but I knew the doesn't think that it is just her teenager way to holding on her priciple. But they booth saying every day -Mom, how big will he bee? I am a little bit floating and says something like this and take my hand up and down between my knees and hip.

I am so happy to have this hound at least, and he fill up my hole sense and I have a difficulties to think of something else. My husband say to me one day when I lay with Norbert on hes bed. -You are spoiled that dog. -You are just jealous, says my daugther.Because I am.
-Yes I am he said (with all right).

I hope that my schipperkes not feeling that Norbert really is number one. I try to think of that and give them as much love I can.

Excuse a long messy story, hope you can read it in my bad english.

You certainly became besotted. A lovely story. I hope he lives up to your expectations too. Bree is a real barker and they play and run round the house going silly at times but overall they fit the bill.

Ok maybee I have to read the ´magazine too Norbert also. If he not know what expected of a DH.

Who can think that this little fellow can do silly thinks? Oh no he will only do what mom says, don't you think?

Oh - he is so sweet - there is nothing ugly about deerhounds...

I love everything about Deerhounds. They look so regal and dignified.
Never wanted small dogs and fel in love with the quiet unspoken loyalty you see everytime they look in your eyes.
I have always wanted one for many years but only just been in the position to be able to either afford one or have the space.....now I have two and they have become my best pals .

I love how they are always there when I get up......always woken with a slobbery kiss!
They follow me around every step of the day and I never feel alone (even if I wanted to be ...lol).

When someone comes to the door, my lurchers go mad but my hounds just politely say "hello" then come to where I am and lay down.

I love that they just let my small foster children push them out of the way without so much of a murmer. I love that if one of the kids is upset....who is there first to check they are alright.....Twist or Odie.

I love how laid back they are when strangers approach and ask if they can fuss them

Most of all I love how they allow me and my family to love and be loved by them

very well said Chilliwoman.