Not much at all. Our record scores the Azawakh at 2 out of 5 for barking, and owners consistently describe the same dog: quiet in the house, quiet on the walk, saving its voice for the moments that matter. Quiet should never be mistaken for checked out: the Azawakh notices everything. It simply files most of it silently.
Owners describe a dog of unusual dignity and intensity. Puppies are leggy, bright charmers; adults are striking, devoted companions that gallop like weather and rest like sculpture. The Azawakh suits experienced, calm households with secure running space and warm interiors. Its standard colors in our records are fawn. Gentle, quiet and undemanding indoors, explosive outdoors.
Our record gives the Azawakh a profile that all points the same way. A Hound heritage from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso; a lifespan of 12 to 15 years; senior status from around age 8 years; a coat described as A short, close coat that is simple to keep. The breed needs 45 to 90 minutes of exercise a day, stands 23 to 29 inches and belongs to the Hound group, with roots in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso. Its social ratings read Reserved with strangers for strangers and Usually good with dogs for other dogs, and both audiences feature in the barking story below.
The situations that draw a bark from this breed are the ones where barking is arguably the correct tool. Unfamiliar people on the property after dark. A sudden crash or breakage sound. The difference is the trajectory: where a vocal breed's owner is negotiating volume for a decade, the Azawakh's owner watches the barking settle, month by month, into the rare and deliberate pattern the record's 2 out of 5 describes, provided the household does not accidentally train the puppy that barking is how attention is summoned.
Gentle, quiet and undemanding indoors, explosive outdoors, per the overview. Owners describe one of the most beautiful and intense dogs alive: a piece of the Sahara that chose your sofa. Socialization matters more than obedience here.
No score lives alone on the record. Alongside barking at 2 of 5, the Azawakh carries energy at 4 of 5 and a trainability score of 2 out of 5, and apartment life rated With enough exercise. Food for a typical 44 lb adult runs about $30 a month on this site's cost record, and insurance is recorded at $36 to $65 a month, a reminder that the voice comes attached to a whole dog with a decade of budget in it. None of that alters the headline rating, 2 out of 5; it simply keeps the decision about this breed's noise in proportion with the decision about the breed.
Look sideways for a moment at the breeds this record finds most similar: the Saluki, the Galgo Español and the Magyar Agár. Their bark ratings are not identical to the Azawakh's 2 out of 5, which is worth remembering in both directions: do not borrow a similar breed's quiet reputation, and do not lend this one's volume out. Cross shoppers get more from comparing the full records side by side than from any single number, which is why each name on the shortlist carries its own page on this site.
The one management note that matters with this breed runs the other way: tell your household what a bark means here. In an Azawakh home, barking is rare enough to be an alarm with a clean signal, and everyone, sitters and guests included, should know that if this dog is barking, someone should go and look. Guard the dog's rest from households that find its silence a toy to be wound up, children teasing a reaction out of it are teaching it something nobody wants learned. The Azawakh's 2 out of 5 is partly temperament and partly the absence of bad lessons, and it stays that way in homes that treat quiet as the default rather than a trick.
Keep weight at desert lean, warmth guaranteed and the runs glorious. Old Azawakhs stay dignified, devoted and elegant.
Keep the record's figures in view while you decide. Height 23 to 29 inches, weight 33 to 55 lb, lifespan 12 to 15 years, exercise 45 to 90 minutes a day. Barking 2 of 5, energy 4 of 5, trainability 2 out of 5. A small dog's 2 out of 5 and a giant dog's 2 out of 5 are different acoustic events, which is why the size lines belong on a page about noise: pitch, volume and the neighbor's tolerance all scale with the dog producing them.
Start with the cause, not the noise. In the Azawakh's case the setting matters as much as the rule: this is a breed with high energy and a bark level of 2 out of 5, so its voice is heard against a fairly specific home backdrop. Meet the exercise need first, 45 to 90 minutes daily, then teach a settle cue in calm moments so it exists in loud ones, and reward the pauses after barking rather than shouting through them. Manage the stages the dog performs on, windows, fences, the front door routine. At 2 out of 5, this breed's trainability of 2 out of 5 makes the program very workable, but it is a program of weeks. Anyone selling you a silent Azawakh by Friday is selling you fear, not training. Expect a striking, gazelle like presence, total devotion to its own people and an athlete's gallop on secure ground.
Sometimes, and sometimes it gives you stereo. With the Azawakh, whose typical weight runs 33 to 55 pounds and whose lifespan reaches 12 to 15 years, the honest answer also changes a little across the dog's life, from puppyhood to senior status at about 8 years. A companion can drain the boredom and loneliness out of an Azawakh's day, and boredom is a common fuel for barking in a breed needing 45 to 90 minutes of exercise and company to match. But dogs also learn each other's songs: pair a vocal dog with another vocal breed and the duet is a real risk. Choose the second dog for its own record, its bark score included, and introduce it as company, not as a noise treatment with a heartbeat. Azawakhs are deeply devoted to their families, proudly aloof with strangers and more territorial than most sighthounds, with a primitive self reliance the record's gentle framing understates.
That is the core of the breed's vocal life, and its strangers rating reads Reserved with strangers. The Azawakh's own numbers frame it: shedding at 3 out of 5, grooming at 2 out of 5, and a height of 23 to 29 inches, which is the household this voice has to fit into. An Azawakh with a bark score of 2 out of 5 announces unfamiliar people as a matter of course; whether the announcement is a single bark or a full report depends on the score, the dog and how the visitor behaves. Friends who visit often graduate quickly to the greeted list. Strangers who behave strangely, lingering at the fence, staring in at the window, get the extended edition whatever the score says. Sweet and devoted with family, aloof with strangers in the record's sighthound wording, good with children, usually good with other dogs and reserved with strangers, it rates flats as possible with the program delivered.
Last updated: November 11, 2026