Afghan hounds are so sooo friggin cool x,,x If I ever thought I had what it takes to take care of one, I'd do it :p

Yeah, they are a big pain in the butt when it comes to grooming. I think if you lived in a deserty place it would be much, much easier. Otherwise it's a lot like dragging an angora sweater through the mud on a daily basis. :>

i love him he,s beautifull

Wait, don't you live in Rochester? For some reason I remember reading somewhere that you lived in Rochester. Or at least worked there. And I know Rochester has a dog park, I used to take my dog there all the time :)

Afghan hounds are some cool lookin' dogs.

One of these days I am going to save up the wad of cash to get someone do to an oil painting of an Afghan Hound as Christopher Lee's Sauruman:

<img src="http://www.gadgetfox.com/lj/0104/sauruman_afghan.jpg">

I love watching Afghans run agility... Not sure I could ever own one for a whole lot of reasons, but love their look and oh-so-haughty demeanor. :)

Buh, okay then:

http://www.gadgetfox.com/lj/0104/sa.....man_afghan.jpg

Manual time...

Heheee, that's an awesome idea. The character would be fantastic. ^,^

He's beautiful! So what's his personality like?

He's an incredibly sweet dog! He doesn't have the skittish nature a lot of afghans/some sighthounds are known for - he's very friendly but not in-your-face-jumping type friendly. He will walk up to strangers and wag his tail to be pet, but he's not pushy.
He's very clownish - I think he just likes attention and for people to laugh at him. He's affectionate, lazy, and graceful. He kind of floats/bounces when he walks and though we have a relatively big dog and a small house, he never knocks anything over.

Oh, how wonderful! I'm quite jealous. Have you owned other sighthounds?

When I was young, my mother had an afghan. I've had friends with greyhounds, whippets, italian greyhounds, borzoi, and deerhounds before, though. :) So I've had some exposure to the mix. I love their personalities, they are really wonderful dogs.

Too cool for words. I really like what little I know about borzoi and kinda would like to own one (or a "silken windhound" maybe) eventually, but I just don't have personal perspective on living with a dog like that; the neighbor dogs I grew up around were all German shepards, or huskies.

Borzoi are one of my favorite dogs of all time (and those little hybrid windhounds are really cute!). I think most dogs are pretty much dogs - the breeds just sort of give them 'flavor'. Sighthounds tend to be a bit more aloof and independent than shepherds/retrievers/etc. They are very friendly/loyal to family but not necessarily with strangers, so they need a lot of good socialization, especially when young. They also are big runners, so training is a must - a shepherd might hang around happily offleash but a sighthound will see something interesting in the distance and be off.
If you're ever considering one, just contact a few breeders (preferably local) - you should be able to visit them and meet the dogs. They are a great wealth of advice when it comes to breed knowledge/training/etc. and can help you decide if the dog is right for you. :)

Thanks!

He is REALLY exquisite. My dogs are aging, and I am thinking that my next will be a sighthound of some kind. I'm contemplating saluki the most seriously, but I do love the Afghans. How much time do you spend grooming him, and do you do it yourself or have it done professionally?

With afghans, the biggest issue has to do with the type of the coat - some dogs are silky and humanlike with their fur, some are more wooly like a sheep. (The wooly hair is much harder to keep untangled). Also, different colors have different textures, so a brindle afghan would be the worst - where you are mixing the hair types you get horrible mats. The worst time for all this is the puppy coat transition into adult coat - it's seriously constant matting. During this time we'd easily spend 20-30 hours a week grooming him, I'm not kidding. This includes 2 people, bath and brush time, blow drying, and lots of hours sitting on the bed with him laying down and watching tv/movies while brushing. Now that he's an adult, we're about 3-5 hours a week. If its rainy/muddy time goes up, if it's very dry and cold, time goes down. 90% of the time my husband and I do it ourselves but we've conceded to take him to a local pro once every other month for the full bath/dry because we don't have such a nice setup for it (just a tub, killer on the back). There's a big reason why afghans are so uncommon - and they look awful shaved down. The other sighthounds are waaay easier to care for - I kind of think most affie owners are sort of sadomasochistic on some level. :)
It also depends on how you keep the dog - we want the coat, but we also want him to play, hike, be outdoors and chew on bones. I'm sure the way we keep his coat would make many show dog owners cringe. When he's outside in the summer, it's like dragging an angora sweater along the ground with you - sticks, mud, stones, burrs all get lodged and take hours to get out.
If you do decide you want an afghan, any good breeder will be able to counsel you on grooming techniques and materials if you aren't really comfortable with them. Or if you're well off and can take them for pro grooming every week, that's a way a lot of owners do it, too.

Excellent shot of your boy! You can see a happy playful personality in that smile. Looks like you were really letting him tear around good =)

Wow he's incredibly beautiful! I don't see many people own Afghans around my area and its great to see photos or to be near these guys.

God but i love Afghans.

When my life calms down a bit and i get a home again, i want to get a dog - I've just always lived with them. An Afghan hound is definitely on my list - but only if i can find running space for him nearby...

these dogs always remind me of rock stars <3