Had a phone call from a friend last night. They've been looking at getting an additional dog to join their WS/Collie type, and have been looking at various breeds. Having met one owned by a friend, they have now decided they want an Afghan. :rolleyes: They live in the country, surrounded by farmland, and just want a pet.

The coat care looks as if it would be an issue to me, but they think they'll cope and will clip if they don't. Any thoughts on whether this is a sensible option?

Also, as a sighthound, are Afghans a complete no no off lead?

M.

Speaking as a partial country dweller with horses :D I personally would not have a long coated breed - I like to take the dogs in the fields with me and the mud by the gates in winter is really bad. You'd spend more time washing the dog down than actually walking it! :D

My first dog was an afghan!  Before I brought him home, I rang the secretary of an obedience class at Winkfield and was told that they normally accept pups to start training at 6 months old (it WAS 35 years ago! :)) but as it was an afghan, bring him as soon as he's had his vaccinations! ;)

It took me 6 months to achieve what another dog could do in 6 weeks, but we were included in their demonstration team touring local fetes etc to encourage dog training, to prove that all dogs could be trained to varying degrees!!  Marcus was great at heal work on and off the lead, recalls etc, if he was performing within a straw bale ring, but I spent many hours in Saville Gardens looking for him when he had lulled me into a false sense of security to let him off his lead, only to be tempted by a bird a mile away that I had not seen!  They are a very independant breed, and when he couldn't see me, he'd just lie down and have a sleep!  Not easy to find a sleeping afghan in long grass!  But I loved him dearly, including his fun character and sense of humour - they are clowns.

I kept mine in virtually full coat and in good condition with 15 minutes grooming each day with a pin brush.  That doesn't give you a show condition coat but a dog with a full life that still looked like an afghan! :)

What qualities are they looking for in a companion?  To me an afghan is the coat and without it, then it could be anything.  Maybe a deerhound or saluki might be more practical if they want a hound with less coat?

But they think the Afghans look pretty and the Deerhounds look scruffy. Suppose Salukis are quite cute and they might look at that.

Their friends reckon that the Afghan lives a fairly full life and the coat is OK, but I can't believe that they don't have to be fairly restricted.

M.

I think "cute" and "living in the country" can be mutually exclusive terms unless you are prepared to put the work in! And for sure, I cannot imagine what a clipped Afghan would look like. However, I did have a friend with the most beautiful Afghan bitch and she didn't restrict her lifestyle. She did, however, spend a fair amount of time grooming her as a result although she'd willingly taken this on board from the outset. I also wouldn't describe her dog as "cute" since she had a very nice but certainly an aloof nature which I've heard can be typical of the breed. 

I know someone who's gone the other way round.  Had an Afghan first and now a WS (Border Collie).  Sorry, but the Afghan was a nightmare before and the Border Collie is even worse.

OK I know that the owners maybe the the ones to blame, which I think they are, but I couldn't cope with two dogs that have the characters that these two have.

Have to say though.  I have a hairy breed who adore mud :d  Not so sure that my kitchen does my dogs do.  And I have to say that it is hard work and the smell of mud in hairdy dogs isn't much fun :d  But hey, they are dogs and need to have lots of fun, even if I don't find it to be much fun when my clothes and face are splattered.

On that note, one of my new puppy owners took his dog out for a walk on a wet muddy day.  Went home, then popped to a few shops and wondered why everyone was staring at him strangely!  When his wife got home he found out as she told him to look in the mirror.  His face was covered in mud :d :d  Bless and he'd been walking round like that nearly all day and hadn't looked in a mirror.

I have to say I'd never reccommend ANY primitive sighthound to someone who hasn't spent time with these dogs on walks with and in the homes of experienced owners.  They are NOT like any other group of dogs.  Even scent hounds are easier to train.  Having had sighthounds for 28 years I can't ever see myself not having one but Hubby had to have Collies in the house to be able to enjoy a walk where normal people go!! LOL.  With the sighthounds we've clubbed together with other owners and bought land which is deer fenced to run them in safely.  I CAN let mine off in the local woods/on beaches, etc or where I can see there's no-one around... but never in a park where little doggies running about may look like very tasty prey   I don't think any of mine would bite another dog - or cat (they live with cats... and ferrets!) but they WOULD stamp on them which could inflict some serious injuries.

All depends on how much effort your friend is willing to put in and whether they ever want to be the same again!! LOL

Debs

(PS..  Salukis are even more primitive than afghans!!)

i cant see why anyone would ever consider buying a long coated breed and discuss shearing them even before they got the pup I'm sure the breeder would be delighted!!
Why bother when there are so many beautiful short coated breeds to choose from who would be much more manageable and suited to thier life style.

My two  bearded collies love mud and running through the trees where everything clings to the coat at least it slows them down  !!!! they usually bring half the park or beach home with them ...LOL
I would never cut thier coat its part of them and know at some point in the day I have to put aside some time to groom their beautiful coats .

I have a coated breed and whilst they do get muddy, it does usually comb out once it has dried - it is far more difficult keeping the floors and walls clean! Certainly I hate to see puppies I have sold clippered off, and if anyone said that was their intention they would not get one, 'though admittedly in my breed there are acceptable levels of "pet" trim.

There's two sides to everything though. 
I have a friend who has very arthritic hands.  She has had OESs for over 40 years now and would never be without one.  She cannot manage heavy grooming now so she gets another friend to clip them off for her.  She says (and I agree totally) that every breed has it's own temperament and characteristics and it's these that make her want to live with a certain breed.  So why should she be without a breed she loves and adores just because some people don't like them clipped off?  They're very special to her and live a full and very happy life.  I would be so pleased if all people looked after and loved their dogs the way she does.  The coat is (in this day and age when OESs are rarely - if ever - used for herding/guarding flocks) unimportant as to how the dogs behave and it in no way effects their breed characteristics.

I think far too many people get hung up on the way a dog looks.

Debs

I can see where you are coming from here, debs because there are two sides to everything. My cocker spaniel who was previously owned by a very elderly chap came to me looking like a little shorn lamb. Or, to be absolutely truthful, like a lamb wearing a barrel given how overweight he was. He'd been clipped precisely because his owner could now longer manage the daily grooming but this was a recent development. But that's not the same thing at all as going to buy a breed on the basis that you think they are "cute" (?) yet intending to completely transform the accepted appearance of the poor pup because you don't want to put the work in.

I loved looking after Bob but after he died I knew that my next dog would be a short-coated breed and, to be honest, I really don't miss the hours previously spent getting mud, teasels, burrs and any other foliage out of my dog's coat!

But they think the Afghans look pretty

Afghans don't look pretty clipped off, so if they aren't prepared for a lot of grooming, then maybe a different breed??  Is there anyone out there that keeps an afghan in full coat and good condition in the country??

I agree in the circumstance where it's a breed that they have had for many years and are unable to deal with the coats after a certain time, but from what I've seen of people it is the look of the dog that draws them to them first and then they find out the true character etc. afterwards.  Why then do they insist on changing it's look totally and in most breeds that shouldn't be clipped but are theylook nothing like the original version, ie Yorkies and Shihtzus (oh my dear, my brains gone totally dead and I can't spell now!)

a neighbour of mine did she had two she lost them last year at a very good age they had beautiful coats right to the end ...

(reply to val)

I have had Afghans for years and all but two of mine I have kept in full coat and they have lived full lives with walks in the country come rain or shine.  My first four Afghans were to be seen running around the local park altogether and swimming in the muddy pond It is hard work but you should know this when you take on a dog like and Afghan.  I have also been able to run most of mine off lead.  They have also been known to do well in obedience, it is possible but more work than say a Border Collie!

Sue

I agree although I have  a different breed they do have very long coats usually the first comment I get is "I bet they take loads of brushing" the second is usually are they OES but thats another thread..LOL

I just love to see them running towards me with thier coats blowing in the wind ....

~Roni

I grew up with Afghans, they were all obdedient until let off the lead, but then because it was "known" that afghans were "untrainable" I dont think my parents bothered with any formal obedience training, the people up the road from us had three who all attended obedience classes and were very good off the lead.  Ours were still let off lead though, just had to make sure it was a fenced in area.  All of ours were kept in full show coat and had daily country walks, we had one clipped when he was about 13 because he had a real strange cotton wool coat and the amount of grooming wasnt fair on him and to be fair he looked awful after he had been clipped, he looked like a rescue case, but it was a new lease of life for him and he lived until he was 15 :)

I personally dont see the point of getting a long haired dog if you are going to clip it off, my parents didnt want the hassle of the grooming after the last Afghan went so they now have a smooth haired lurcher :)

Pah, I'm wasted here, I'm not playing any more. :rolleyes:

M.

:D :D :D :D :D oh M!!! ROFL.

LOL, well I entertain myself. ROFL

I concede defeat.

M.

Didn't you get the reply you were looking for Marina?? LOL

No I didn't. :D

Will keep the change of career on hold, I think.

M.

Well I agree with you on the coat at least from my own personal point of view.  I've always loved heavy coated dogs but we have a Lab and I did not appreciate how little work her coat was till Sis visited with her fresh from the groomers heavy coated red and white BC.  The OHs took both dogs for a walk we often do and both pooches enjoyed a dip in a little spring hole that Jet always goes in.  Laddie came out black.  And he stayed sort of black even after being hosed off.  We never knew there was black goo in that hole, it just doesn't stick to the Lab's short, slightly oily coat.  So, no long coats for me.