Magyar Agar

The Magyar Agar said to have come into the Great Alfold a little over a thousand years ago. He was used extensively in the counties of Somogy, Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg, and Hajdu-Bihar. The Magyar Agar’s history dates back much farther than that, though. It is believed that his history goes back at least eleven hundred years but there is no written record until the 1800's. Historians think that the Magyar Agar traveled with Magyars, a nomadic tribe in Hungary, when they lived in the Ural Mountain Range of Eurasia. With no written records, this is simply a theory. Archaeologists did find evidence of the Magyar Agar in the Carpathian Mountain Range. These mountains are located along the eastern and northern border of Hungary. The Magyar Agar had to be adaptable to his surroundings when he was accompanying the Magyars. The big question that remains unanswered is did the Magyar Agars accompany the Magyars to the Carpathian Mountains, or did they arrive after the Magyars were already there. The Magyar Agar today very much resembles the English Greyhound with the exception of being slightly taller and heavier. Hungarians are very fond of the breed but he is virtually unknown outside of his native land. Many Hungarians do take exception to the name Magyar Agar; they feel that it does not accurately represent the breed. In Hungarian, the word agar means wind hound or gaze hound. Magyar is the Hungarian word for Hungary. Therefore, his name means Hungarian wind hound or gaze hound, not Hungarian Greyhound.