The Estonian Hound ( et, eesti hagijas) is a

scent hound Franz Rudolf Frisching in the uniform of an officer of the Bernese Huntsmen Corps with his Berner Laufhund, painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1785 Scent hounds (or scenthounds) are a Dog type, type of hound that primarily hunts by scent rather than ...

-like breed, with the distinction of being the only dog breed developed in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It was bred in 1947 when the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

's national economy ministry decided that every country in the Union must have its own breed. In September 2019, the FCI officially recognized the breed.

History

The Estonian Hound resulted from the crossbreeding of several foreign dog breeds with local

hunting dog A hunting dog is a canine that hunts with or for hunters. There are several different types of hunting dog developed for various tasks and purposes. The major categories of hunting dog include hounds, terriers, dachshunds, cur type dogs, and g ...

s. The Estonian Hound's development was announced by an ultimatum issued by the

’s Ministry of Agriculture and Economy in 1947, which ordered every Soviet Republic to establish a local breed of hunting dogs to replace the large breeds of hunting dogs bred at that moment. These large dogs were blamed for the rapid decline of Estonia's

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

population; it was established that only dogs with a maximum height of 17 inches were allowed to hunt. The result was a very agile and hard-driven breed that has enjoyed tremendous popularity since then: the modern Estonian Hound. After Estonia regained its independence, the Estonian Hound was proclaimed the country's national dog.

Description

The Estonian Hound is a dog of medium size and a strong muscular body, bone structure, and well-developed muscles. It has no folds in its skin, and drop ears. The coat is short and rough and should be shiny. The undercoat is weakly developed. This breed's eyes are dark brown colored. The Estonian Hound usually has black patches and a dark pigmented skin. The size of the patches is unlimited. Blackish-brown color, red patches and a saddle like patches on the back are also allowed, but the tip of the tail has to be white. The Estonian Hound's height is and it weighs .

Temperament

The Estonian Hound is happy and pleasant dog with a balanced, calm and active temperament and a high intelligence. It is friendly and should never be aggressive, so it needs to be socialized and exposed to new situations and environments in order to prevent it from being a bit timid. It is good with other dogs and usually also with cats if used to them as a puppy. They love human attention and can get upset when left alone. Proper human to canine communication is really important to its training. They are affectionate and easy to teach; this is important since they have to learn that they cannot hunt hoofed animals in Estonia, where only hare and foxes are allowed to be hunted. The Estonian Hound has a pleasant voice that doesn't annoy when it hunts.

References

External links

Estonian Hound Web-Clab
{{hounds FCI breeds Hounds Dog breeds originating in Estonia Dog breeds originating in the Soviet Union Mammals of Europe

History

Description

Temperament

See also

References

External links