Whenever we come across a new breed (new to us), there are times when the name seems “made up.”  The Hangin’ Tree Cowdog, was such a breed. So was the Idaho Shag, and there are those who would challenge that either is a bona fide breed, but that’s a different conversation.

The Styrian Rough Haired Mountain Hound might sound like a fabricated name (in our head, we kept mispronouncing it the Hysteria Rough Hair Mountain Hound), but when you learn that Styria is a province in Austria, it compels you to take another look.

The Styrian Rough Haired Mountain Hound has been around for over 100 years. Karl Peintinger, an industrialist from Styria, wanted a scenthound that could hunt wild boar in rough terrain, and wild country it was.  The area’s lake, Grüner See, is surrounded by forests and the Hochschwab Mountains, part of the Northern Limestone Alps of Austria.

In the 1870s, Peintinger crossed a Hanoverian Scent hound bitch named “Hela 1” with a coarse haired Istrian Hound. The best puppies from their litter were reared, and Peintinger continued to selectively breed from the best trackers with rough coats. He wasn’t breeding for a companion dog, he was breeding for a hunter that track a boar. This was no sissy breed.

Once Peintinger’s breeding program set type and consistency, he found that hunters in both Slovenia and Austria were eager to have their own Styrian Rough Haired Mountain Hound (sometimes called the Peintinger Bracke after its creator). The Austrian Kennel Club quickly recognized the race (as a breed is known in Europe) in 1889, and the Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) followed in the early 1900s.  ​The Styrian Coarse-haired Hound joins the Austrian Black and Tan Hound and Tyrolean Hound as one of three scenthounds from Austria, all known as the Grand Brackes or “large hounds,” and this one is a specialist in hunting and blood searches in brutal terrain.

Inside of Austria, the Osterreichischer Verein Brack, or Austrian Hunt Club, oversees all breedings of the breed. Every Styrian Coarse-Haired Hound is subjected to hunt testing prior to being approved for breeding, and any dog that struggles to pass its hunt test is not allowed to be bred.

It took a few decades before the came to the United States and Canada, and in 2006, United Kennel Club accepted the breed.

Image of Styrian Rough Haired Mountain Hound found on Pinterest and happily credited upon receipt of information