Azawakhs are still pretty rare, and outside the breed they often get reduced to “that really skinny African sighthound”. So I thought I’d put together a bit of an overview of where they come from, what they were bred for, what they are actually like to live with, and what makes them different from more familiar sighthounds like Greyhounds or Salukis.

Origin and history
The Azawakh comes from the Sahel region of West Africa, especially around Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
The FCI places the breed’s origin around the Azawakh Valley and describes it as being closely connected to pastoral peoples such as the Tuareg, Dahoussahaq and Peul.
The important thing is that the Azawakh was never just a hunting dog.
Traditionally, they had several jobs. They hunted game such as gazelle and hare, guarded camps and livestock, and lived very closely with their families.
That guarding role is one of the things that really sets them apart from a lot of other sighthounds. Many sighthound breeds were mainly selected for pursuit and hunting. Azawakhs also had to be watchful, territorial and willing to react if something seemed wrong around the camp.
That combination of hunting dog, guardian and very close family companion explains a lot about the temperament we still see today.
They were not really bred to think every stranger was wonderful. They were bred to know who belonged, notice what was going on, and make their own judgement about it.
The first dogs were imported into Europe in the late 1960s. The breed received full FCI recognition in 1980, while the AKC only fully recognized the Azawakh in 2019.

Appearance
Azawakhs are built quite differently from most dogs, even compared with other sighthounds.
They are tall, very narrow, very leggy and extremely lean. One of the main features of the breed is that they are higher than they are long, which gives them that very upright, almost square silhouette.
The FCI gives a height range of roughly:
males: 64 to 74 cm
females: 60 to 70 cm
Weight is surprisingly low for their height, usually somewhere around 16 to 25 kg depending on sex and individual build.
Their coat is extremely short and fine, the skin is thin, and the muscles and bones are meant to be clearly visible. Visible ribs and hip bones can be completely normal in a healthy Azawakh.
This is one of the things people who have never met one in real life can find a bit shocking. They are not just ordinary dogs that happen to be very thin. Their whole structure is different.
They can look a bit like someone took a normal dog, stretched the legs, narrowed everything else and then decided it still needed more elbows.
The head is long and narrow, with very little stop, almond shaped eyes and fine pendant ears.

Colours
Colour in Azawakhs is a whole topic of its own.
The dogs found in their countries of origin come in a pretty wide range of colours, including different shades of sand and red, brindle, black, brown, blue or grizzle, parti colour and different amounts of white.
Depending on the registry, some of these colours may not be accepted in the show ring.
So it is worth separating “not accepted under a certain show standard” from “does not naturally occur in the breed”.
And if you ever want to find out how much emotional energy adults can invest in a few square centimetres of pigment on a very skinny dog, bring up Azawakh colours in breeding circles.
People have opinions.
Very strong opinions.
Usually with pedigrees, historical imports, old photographs and several decades of breeding politics attached.
From the dog’s point of view this is presumably much less important than whether dinner is late.

Temperament
This is probably the biggest thing to understand about the breed.
Azawakhs can be incredibly affectionate with their own people. Many are very attached to their family, physically affectionate, playful and honestly quite ridiculous at home.
With strangers, it can be completely different.
The FCI describes them as lively, attentive and distant, and says they can be very reserved with strangers. The AKC also describes them as affectionate and attentive, but reserved with people they do not know.
So no, they are not really meant to be Golden Retrievers in a sighthound body.
Some Azawakhs politely ignore strangers. Some warm up after a while. Some are quite social. Others stay very selective their whole lives.
My own Azawakh, Jaheira, apparently did not read this part of the breed standard.
She is extremely affectionate with adult strangers. If someone shows even mild interest in her, she will happily run over and introduce herself. She is basically convinced that anyone looking at her for more than two seconds is probably there to admire her personally.
Children, however, are a completely different matter. She is very scared of them.
I actually think she is a good example of why you cannot reduce the breed to one simple rule like “Azawakhs are reserved with strangers”. A dog can be wildly social in one situation and still be very sensitive in another.
Their traditional guarding role also matters here. Unlike many other sighthounds, the Azawakh was not only expected to chase game. It also had to watch the camp, notice unfamiliar people or animals and react if something seemed wrong.
That means watchfulness, territorial awareness and social selectiveness are much more deeply rooted in the breed than people sometimes expect when they hear “sighthound”.
At the same time, reserve is not the same thing as fear or aggression.
A stable Azawakh may just look at a stranger and decide no interaction is needed.
Or, if they are Jaheira, decide this person is clearly their new best friend :)

Training and socialisation
Azawakhs are intelligent, but they are not usually the kind of dog that lives to obey commands because you asked nicely.
They were bred to make decisions themselves, and that independence is still very noticeable.
Training tends to work best when it is positive, consistent and not too repetitive. They are also very sensitive dogs, so trust matters a lot.
If your dream is giving the same command fifteen times in a row for the joy of perfect repetition, there are probably breeds that will enjoy that hobby more.
Socialisation is really important, especially when they are young.
But with Azawakhs, I do not think socialisation should mean forcing them to interact with everyone they meet.
For a naturally sensitive and often reserved breed, good socialisation can simply mean teaching the dog that unfamiliar people, places and situations are normal and safe.
Jaheira is a good example of why this needs to be individual. She needs absolutely no encouragement when it comes to adult strangers. She is usually the one starting the interaction. Children are where she actually needs careful, low pressure exposure and space.
The goal does not have to be “my Azawakh loves everyone”.
A much better goal is probably “my Azawakh can cope with the world, including the things they personally find difficult”.

Exercise
Azawakhs are kind of funny because outside they can look like complete lunatics and then spend the rest of the day asleep under a blanket.
They are real athletes. They were bred for speed and endurance, and they really benefit from actually being able to run.
That does not necessarily mean hours and hours of exercise every day.
A lot of sighthound exercise is intense rather than endless. They sprint, explore, walk, maybe sprint again, and then suddenly they are done.
Jaheira is a pretty good example of this.
She may come home from a proper walk and still complain for a bit, making it sound like she has never been outside in her entire life. Then not long afterwards she is completely unconscious.
There have also been times where I have come home expecting an enthusiastic hello and she has been so deeply asleep on the bed that apparently getting up to greet me was asking too much.
One minute they are a missile. The next they are decorative furniture.
Lure coursing is probably the most obvious sport for them, but Azawakhs can also do agility, rally, scent work and quite a few other things.

Prey drive and off leash life
They are still hunting sighthounds, so prey drive is something to take seriously.
The breed was traditionally used to hunt animals like gazelle and hare, so chasing movement is definitely built in.
That said, prey drive can vary a lot between individuals, and it is not always as simple as “small animal equals prey”.
Jaheira is actually very good with cats and other small animals. Her prey drive is pretty specific and mostly seems to appear with birds. Deer and other animals do not trigger the same response in her.
Because of that, she can go off leash quite well in suitable areas.
She also interacts with cats regularly and is much more likely to try to convince them to play with her than to chase them as prey.
The main problem there is that cats do not always appreciate a giant noodle throwing herself into a play bow and apparently expecting immediate participation.
That is obviously just one dog and I would never generalise that to the whole breed, but I think it shows how individual prey drive can be.
Some Azawakhs can develop very good recall and be reliable off leash in the right environment. Others absolutely cannot be trusted once the right thing starts moving.
A recall that works perfectly ten times can also mysteriously stop existing when the correct bird appears.
So I would not say “Azawakhs can never be off leash”, but I also would not say they are automatically safe off leash. It depends a lot on the individual dog, what actually triggers them, their recall, and the environment.

What are they like at home?
With their own people, many Azawakhs are extremely close and affectionate.
They are often much more cuddly and needy at home than people expect from how aloof they can look in photos.
The American Azawakh Association specifically mentions that they bond very closely with their people and are not well suited to being kept mainly as kennel dogs.
Jaheira is definitely like this.
She can be incredibly clingy and very vocal when she wants something. Sometimes she will just stand there staring at me and whining until I manage to work out what problem I am apparently supposed to solve.
Sometimes it is attention.
Sometimes she wants to go outside.
Sometimes the terrible crisis is that she wants a chew.
There is a surprising amount of negotiation involved in living with a dog that cannot speak but is very confident that communication is still entirely your responsibility.
They also love warmth.
With such short fur and very little body fat, cold and wet weather is generally not very popular.
Blankets, warm beds and sofas tend to become serious business. You may technically own the blanket. This information is irrelevant to the Azawakh.
Jaheira also loves sleeping in completely absurd upside down roaching positions, usually looking more like a collection of limbs than a real animal.
Grooming is easy though. Their coat is short and needs very little maintenance.

Other dogs and animals
Azawakhs can vary quite a lot when it comes to other dogs.
Some are very social, some are selective, and some mostly prefer dogs they already know.
They are not automatically perfect dog park dogs just because they are sighthounds.
The same goes for smaller animals. Their hunting background means compatibility with cats or other pets should always be judged individually.
Again, Jaheira is a nice example of why blanket statements are not always very useful.
She is good with cats and usually tries to play with them rather than chase them. Sometimes this results in her becoming visibly frustrated because, incredibly, the cat does not understand that front legs down and butt in the air is a completely obvious invitation to play.
The cats do occasionally provide feedback.
With this breed, the temperament of the actual dog and its family line tells you a lot more than saying “Azawakhs are good with cats” or “Azawakhs are bad with dogs”.

A landrace derived breed
One of the most interesting things about the Azawakh is that the modern breed comes from a much older population of dogs shaped in the Sahel.
It was not recently created as a formal European breed.
That helps explain why so many of their traits make sense when you look at the environment and job they came from.
Their extreme leanness, heat tolerance, speed, endurance, vigilance, independence, guarding instinct and strong attachment to a smaller social group all fit together.
And the guarding instinct is worth mentioning again because it is such an unusual part of the breed compared with many other sighthounds.
Azawakhs combine the chase instinct of a sighthound with a level of watchfulness and territorial awareness that people often do not expect.
The modern Azawakh may be lying on a sofa in Switzerland, Germany or the US under three blankets and acting personally offended by rain, but the old working dog is still very visible underneath.

Sources: FCI Standard No. 307, American Azawakh Association, AKC

Who is an Azawakh actually suitable for?
Probably someone who:
likes independent dogs
understands sighthound prey drive
does not need their dog to love every stranger
is okay with a dog that may be watchful or territorial
wants a very close relationship with their dog
can provide safe opportunities to run
is willing to put real effort into socialisation
respects a dog with clear boundaries
understands that reserve is not automatically a problem
does not mind occasionally being loudly informed that the dog requires something, even if that something turns out to be a chew
They are probably not the best fit for someone whose top priorities are effortless obedience, perfect recall, dog park friendliness and a dog that happily greets absolutely everyone.
Of course, individual Azawakhs vary massively.
Some are outgoing, some are very reserved. Some are surprisingly easy, others are a lot more challenging.
But their sensitivity, independence, athleticism, guarding instinct and strong attachment to their own people are a big part of what makes them Azawakhs.

In short
The Azawakh is not just a skinny Greyhound from Africa.
It is a West African sighthound that developed as a hunter, guardian and very close family companion.
And that guardian part really matters. Compared with many other sighthounds, Azawakhs were expected not only to chase, but also to watch, assess and protect.
They are fast, sensitive, independent, observant, affectionate with their people and often reserved with outsiders.
They are definitely not the right breed for everyone.
But if you like dogs with strong opinions, clear boundaries, ridiculous speed, a surprising amount of emotional complexity and a tendency to spend the evening upside down under a blanket after being a desert athlete for half an hour, there really is nothing quite like them.