Eurohound
Eurohound
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| Other names | Scandinavian hound |
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| Origin | Scandinavia |
| Alaskan husky, pointing breeds | |
| Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | |
A Eurohound (also known as a Eurodog or Scandinavian hound) is a type of dog bred for sled dog racing. The Eurohound is typically crossbred from the Alaskan husky group and any of a number of pointing breeds ("pointers").
According to Egil Ellis, a top sled dog racer, various types of pointers have been popular with Swedish sled dog racers for at least the last 50 years, and Alaskan huskies were imported to Sweden in the 1980s; crossbreeding pointers and huskies began "to come up with something new, something that the mushers did not have in Alaska". "A Eurohound is a cross between an Alaskan husky and German Shorthaired Pointer... This cross first successfully entered the competitive sled dog racing world in Scandinavia." The Eurohound is not purebred, and is not a breed of dog, but a mongrel that instead is continually crossbred from purebreds and mixes in order to produce dogs for specific running conditions.
Rather than inbreeding similar-looking dogs in order to create a new breed with a consistent appearance, Eurohound racers crossbreed for specific working traits and health. Crossbreeding includes breeding between two established breeds, with two tightly bred but unrelated gene pools, and breeding the first generation cross back to one of the purebred breeds. Crossbreeding is also done for the purpose of heterosis (hybrid vigor). The dogs most often used for Eurodog crosses are purebred German Shorthaired Pointers and English Pointers), other pointers, and Alaskan huskies (Gareth Wright lines primarily) from tightly bred sprint dog lines used for racing.
A first-generation Eurohound cross (fifty percent pointing breed, fifty percent husky) have short coats, suitable for sprint races, which don't involve resting or sleeping on the trail. When the first-generation cross is crossed again with the Alaskan husky, the resulting generation can have thicker coats, suitable for longer-distance teams. Most distance mushers prefer the pointer genetics to only be 1/8 in a dog for maximum performance. This then reduces the Eurohound influence, and dogs should be termed Alaskan Husky crosses or mixed hounds.
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