“The Pharaoh hound is the only breed of dog that blushes – or needs to. Pharaoh hounds have filthy minds.” – Howard Ogden

Among the many endearing traits of the Pharaoh Hound is the ability to blush, but not because their minds are in the gutter as Howard Ogden suggested. The Pharaoh Hound has no black pigment in their skin. Thus, when a Pharaoh Hound is excited, happy, or is throughly enjoying themselves, her flesh-colored nose and ears turn a deep rose color.  This was observed even in the 19th Egyptian dynasty when a letter from that time mentions a red long-tailed dog “whose face glows like a God,” undoubtedly a

Blushing Pharaoh Hound image found uncredited on Pinterest and happily credited upon receipt of information

reference to the breed’s ability to blush.

They do get noticed! A Pharaoh Hound jumps (and looks) like a dear, runs like the wind, and with those fabulous ears, Pharaoh hounds aren’t easily overlooked. Jo-Ann Zbytniewski, owner of a Pharaoh Hound and the wife of the publisher of Dog World once said, “It’s like having Elizabeth Taylor on a leash.”

Did you know that when the breed was introduced to the United Kingdom in the 1960s, it was renamed the “Pharaoh Hound,” its original name having been Kelb tal-Fenek?

If you have a photo of a blushing Pharaoh Hound and would be “ok” with our using it in place of the image at the right, let us know! Full credit, of course.

Thumbnail image: Pharaoh Hound/Deposit Photo