Your Scottish Deerhound Primer

More than anything, we are proud of the sensitive companionship that our hounds have provided to many people. This is not a breed for everyone and we are always happy to explain to those that are interested in the Scottish Deerhound what to expect from owning this breed and what we expect from owners who may want a “Fernhill” Deerhound.

Raising a Deerhound properly can be a lot of work, but the rewards are great. We describe how to raise a Deerhound in Your Scottish Deerhound Primer (2023) which you can download below as a 4.9 MB PDF.

Raising Deerhounds successfully is different from raising other breeds and there are physiological differences between sighthounds (Deerhounds) and other breeds that you and your veterinarian should be aware of. For this reason we developed a Primer to help prospective or novice owners. The Primer contains 60+ pages of information on raising and caring for a Deerhound, and represents years of accumulated experience, our own and other breeders.

Table of Contents:

Section 1,”The Deerhound” by A.N.Hartley reprinted from Dog World 1952.
Section 2, Deerhound Husbandry – feeding & medical record, exercise, stress
Section 3, ABC’s of Deerhound Idiosyncrasies.
Section 4, You and Your Veterinarian – echocardiogram parameters for Scottish Deerhounds; physiological differences; veterinary first aid kit.
Section 5, Puppy or Adult?
Appendix A, Diet and DCM and References
Appendix B, Pain Management in Veteran and Double Digit Deerhounds
Appendix C, LONGEVITY in Deerhounds!

Download Your Scottish Deerhound Primer

Please enter your name and email address to download the Primer.

Printed and bound copies of this handbook are also available on request…email me at bh@fernhill.com

Your Scottish Deerhound Primer

A handbook to assist prospective and novice Deerhound owners.

Email me at bh@fernhill.com if you have trouble downloading the PDF.


To read more about Fernhill Scottish Deerhounds see: The Deerhound Annual 1982 pp 54 -71.

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