The Estonian Hound () is a
scent hound
Canton_of_Bern.html" ;"title="Franz Rudolf Frisching in the uniform of an officer of the Canton of Bern">Bernese Huntsmen Corps with his Berner Laufhund, painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1785
Scent hounds (or scenthounds) are a Dog type, type of h ...
-like
breed
A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...
, with the distinction of being the only dog breed developed in
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
. It was bred in 1947 when the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
'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 Dog, canine that hunts with or for hunters. There are several different Dog type, types of hunting dog developed for various tasks and purposes. The major categories of hunting dog include hounds, terriers, cur type dogs, and ...
s. The Estonian Hound's development was announced by an ultimatum issued by the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
’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 domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...
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.
See also
*
List of dog breeds
This list of dog breeds includes both Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant and extinct dog breeds, Designer breed, varieties and dog type, types. A research article on dog genomics published in Science/AAAS defines modern dog breeds ...
References
External links
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Estonian Hound Web-Clab
{{hounds
FCI breeds
Hounds
Dog breeds originating in Estonia
Dog breeds originating in the Soviet Union
Mammals of Europe