If they are harshly corrected or corrected incorrectly, they may become confused and simply refuse to follow any commands as if they were fearful of doing the wrong thing. The sight hounds also may be somewhat challenging to train as they are very attuned to owner's tone of voice and body language. This sometimes is misunderstood as these dogs being timid and non-affectionate, which really is completely opposite of their temperament. They also tend to much more excitable and also very affectionate, highly interested in their families but often very aloof and stand-offish with strangers. Ideally these dogs need to run for at least an hour or more per day in a large enough space that allows them to really get up to speed and keep going. There are some exceptions to the general temperament, however most of the sight hounds tend to be relatively more high strung than the scent hounds, but this is also part of not getting enough exercise. The Basenji also uses sight almost exclusively in hunting, although they are slightly different in overall appearance than the other sight hounds. The most common sight hounds include the Afghan Hound, Saluki, Whippet, Borzoi, Greyhound, Ibizan and Pharaoh Hounds, Scottish Deerhound and the Irish Wolfhound.

Often these dogs lived a very nomadic lifestyle within the tribe or group that owned the dogs, forming a larger pack of dogs that hunted with and guarded the humans.Įach dog and each breed is slightly different, however the following are general traits and temperament issues that are typical of the dogs in the sight hound category. These dogs needed to be very fast, strong, highly intelligent but also very loyal to their owners. Often the sight hounds originated in the Middle East area and were then brought with various groups and individuals to other parts of the world. In addition many countries have outlawed hunting with dogs, reducing the demand for this wonderful animals as hunting companions. Some of the most well known sight hound breeds are now used more frequently for lure coursing or racing, largely because the numbers of large game animals such as wild stags, deer, larger predators and even more exotic forms of small and large game animals have dramatically decreased.

Sight hounds are often pack dogs although they are not all as strongly aligned with the pack as the scent hounds. In addition many of the sight hounds are from areas where horses were used in the hunt, allowing even the respectively slow humans to keep up the pace with relative ease with both the prey animal as well as the dogs. In general the sight hounds have been bred specifically in areas where there is lots of open terrain where being fleet of foot and being able to stay in close contact with the game, not specifically to allow the human hunters to keep up, was of essence. The two different types of hounds are considered to be those that hunt primarily by sight and those that hunt primarily by scent. In general there are two distinctly different types of hounds, however there are also some hounds that overlap in their hunting styles and techniques. Although all dogs in the hound group are dogs that have been bred as prey dogs, the way in which they track or hunt is very different depending on the specific breed.

Sighthound vs securityspy