Transylvanian Hound

The breed's ancestry is usually traced to the hounds the Magyars brought with them when they crossed the Carpathians in the ninth century, crossed over time with local Transylvanian dogs and with hounds arriving from the west. By the Middle Ages the type was established as the hunting hound of the Hungarian aristocracy, worked over the mountains, forests and river valleys of Transylvania on the largest game the region offered.

Two sizes developed for two jobs. The tall variety hunted big game, including European bison, bear and boar, in forest and mountain country. The short-legged variety worked closer and slower on fox, hare and chamois in rocky, broken ground where a bigger hound could not follow. Both worked in packs and both were prized for the endurance and the ability to hold a line in deep snow.

The nineteenth century was hard on the breed as large-game hunting declined and imported foreign hounds became fashionable, and the two World Wars brought it close to extinction; by the mid-twentieth century the short variety had all but disappeared. A recovery programme begun in the 1960s rebuilt the population from the few surviving working dogs, and the Fédération Cynologique Internationale recognised the breed in 1963, placing it in Group 6 among the scenthounds. Today the tall variety is the one most people encounter, and Hungarian breeders have been working to re-establish the short one.

The tall variety stands roughly 22 to 26 inches at the withers and weighs about 66 to 77 pounds, giving a lean, athletic hound of medium-large size with a deep chest and plenty of leg. The short variety is markedly smaller at about 18 to 20 inches and 49 to 55 pounds. In both, the build should look capable of a long day in difficult country rather than heavy or exaggerated.

The coat is short, dense and close-lying, with a good undercoat that thickens for winter, and it needs to be genuinely weatherproof: this is a dog that was expected to work in Carpathian cold. The tall variety is black and tan, with tan markings above the eyes that give the breed its characteristic four-eyed look, along with tan on the muzzle, legs and chest, and often a small white mark on the chest or toes. The short variety is red and tan. The ears are of moderate length and hang flat, and the voice is high, bell-like and carries a long way, which is exactly what a hunter following on foot needed.

Erdelyi kopok have a reputation for being unusually easy-tempered for a working hound. They are described in the Hungarian standard and by owners as courageous and determined in the field but even-natured, tolerant and undemanding at home. Tolerance of children is a genuine breed characteristic, a product of generations spent living around villages and hunting parties rather than in kennels alone.

Because they were bred to hunt in packs, they generally get on well with other dogs and dislike being isolated. They are friendly rather than suspicious with strangers, so while a Transylvanian Hound will certainly announce a visitor, it is not a guarding breed and should not be acquired as one. Small pets are a different matter: the prey drive is real and cats or rabbits are not a natural fit unless the dog is raised with them.

The trade-off for that pleasant temperament is a strong independent streak once the nose engages. A hound working a scent stops listening, and it can cover ground alarmingly quickly. Owners should expect a dog that is affectionate and biddable in the house and effectively self-employed in an unfenced field, and plan walks and fencing accordingly.

In Hungary and Romania the breed is still hunted, most often on wild boar and fox, and it is valued for its ability to hold a cold line, to work in deep snow, and to keep going for hours in terrain where a handler cannot follow closely. The carrying, high-pitched bay is a working tool: it tells the hunter where the pack is and what it has found, sometimes over a considerable distance.

Outside hunting, the breed does well in scent work, tracking trials and long-distance canicross or hiking with an active owner. It fits a household with a garden, secure fencing and someone who is out in the countryside most days; it fits poorly into an apartment or a life of short pavement walks, where the voice and the energy quickly become a problem for everyone concerned.