The Kangaroo Dog is also known as Australian Greyhound and Australian Kangaroo Dog originating in Australia. It is considered more a type of dog rather than breed. Its main purpose is to hunt by sight.
Historically, these dogs evolved from Greyhounds and Scottish Staghound which were brought to Australia by early settlers. The two hunting breeds were used for their speed, endurance, ability to catch small and medium prey and adapt to difficult terrain. The Greyhounds and Scottish Deerhounds provided much needed food to early settlers by hunting game like Emos, Kangaroos and wallabies. They were also used to guard sheep flocks from Dingoes. These two breeds spread across Australia and the best dogs of the two breeds were crossed together to obtain best qualities in a single dog. The resulting dogs have speed and fantastic eyesight of a Greyhound while the Scottish deerhound added thicker coat, tougher feet, more powerful body and excellent stamina. Later bloodlines from other working dogs were also added like Borzoi, Whippet, Saluky and Irish Wolfhound. From these, two separate yet similar dog types emerged; the smooth-coated Kangaroo dog and the rough-coated Staghound. The Kangaroo dog comes with a long and strong head. Moderate eyes are dark in colour. Small ears are folded back. Long and strong neck is mascular. The body is similar in appearance to a Greyhound, only larger and well boned. This breed has three coat varieties, the rough coat, the smooth coat and the broken coat. Any colour is acceptable for this dog.
It is a large dog with a height between 26-32 inches and weighs between 65-100 lbs.
This breed is NOT recognized by AKC or any other major kennel club.
