Between Delhi and Bareilly in North India is Rampur, home to distinctive architecture, poets and the famous Rampuri Chaaku knife.  It is also the origin of the Rampur Greyhound which was created by His Royal Highness Ahmad Ali Khan of Rampur, the Nawab (ruler) of Rampur who ruled for 46 years.

Using the bloodlines of Tazi brought in by the Afghans, and English Greyhounds probably brought by British soldiers and their families,  Ahmad Ali Khan’s expectations were exceeded. The dog he named after the region was stalwart, obedient, so fast as to be able to keep up with anything on four legs, and quite brave when hunting wild boar, a routine past time for the royal gentry. Because of its prey hunting ability, it was also used by Maharajas to hunt jackals, lions, panthers, tigers, and leopards.

The popularity of the breed declined when Maharajahs fell from power in 1947 and hunting decreased. It wasn’t fashionable for the rich to keep the dogs, and the poor couldn’t afford it. With the arrival of more British, more Greyhound was bred into some of the lines making it challenging to find a purebred Rampur.

Happily, the breed’s popularity has begun to rise of late, despite only handful of dogs known to be in the country. One source indicates that all current known Rampurs outside India are in New Jersey, but we’re working on verifying this.

Image by W. E. Mason – Dogs of all Nations, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6801002