The Transylvanian Hound, an extremely rare Transylvanian Hungarian hunter newly imported to the United States. Until recently these dogs were unknown outside Hungary/Transylvania. This scent hound was bred in Transylvania and used by royalty and nobility to hunt bear, stag, boar, wolf, and lynx.
Sadly, after WW I (Treaty of Trianon, 1920) , the Romanian government, perceiving these dogs to be a Transylvanian Hungarian symbol, sought to exterminate the breed through official orders.
A few survived, and breeders have been carefully working to build up the breed while maintaining its high standards.
When the Magyars settled in the Carpathian Basin in the ninth century, they brought hounds with them. A Magyar (Hungarian) dog Cross-bred with an indigenous dog, further crossed with the Polish hound , resulted in this breed, created for the unique climate and terrain of the Carpathians. They are willing to hunt in forests, mountains, rivers, and in all weathers. The Carpathians are heavily forested, 'so thick that by the time a young hunter on foot walked through the woods, he would be an old man'. Therefore, the dogs of the area were strong, bred to go after game following mounted riders. Heavy winter snows and sultry summers required hounds that were particularly adapted to extremes of climate. In the past, they were used extensively by Hungarian kings and princes for hunting wolf and bear in the mountains. The Transylvanian Hound is known for its keen sense of direction and orientation to the environment,vital in mountainous and forested cover. This is a dog without exaggeration, moderate in bone and head with tight skin and medium flat ear. Prized as an obedient, trainable, good-natured hound who is an easy keeper, he was never known outside Hungary/Transylvania.
Recent reports indicate that the Transylvanian dogs face extinction with their numbers dangerously low.
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