Particularly leggy and elegant, the Azawakh sighthound gives a general impression of great fineness. His bone structure and musculature is transparent beneath fine and lean tissues (skin).
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Photographer: Shot On Site

The Azawakh is an African sighthound. The breed originated in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Raised in the Sahel region of the Sahara desert, they are named for the Azawakh valley. Azawakh means "land of the north". They are the guardians, hunters and companions of the Tuareg and other ethnic tribes of the southern Sahel.



Photographer: Shot On Site

The breed was first imported to Yugoslavia in the early 1970's by Dr Picar, a Yugoslavian diplomat stationed in Burkina Faso. The dogs could not be bought; however, Dr Picar received his male as a gift from the nomads. He later bartered his services as a hunter, by killing a bull elephant that had been terrorizing the tribe, in exchange for a female Azawakh.


Photographer: Shot On Site

Photographer: Shot On Site

It is an African sighthound of Afro-Asiatic type which appeared in Europe towards 1970 and comes from the Nigerian middle basin, among others from the valley of the Azawakh. For hundreds of years he has been the companion of the nomads of the South Sahara.

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