This two breeds were initially bred in 20. century on the territory of former Yugoslavia, especially Slovenia, and became Croatian indigenuous breeds by final conclusion of the FCI General Committee in November, 2003.

(FCI-Standards No. 151b, 152b) The biggest contribution to the development of the breed and to its international recognition was made by Dr Ivan Lovrenčič, who created the modern Istrian Rough-coated Hound by crossing the Istrian Smooth-coated Hound with the French Griffon Vendeen.

The Istrian Hound was described in a professional text for the first time in 1894 in Die Hunderassen by H:V. Bylandt, which contained a picture of four Istrian Hounds. In the Oesterreichisches kynologisches Jabrbuch 1897, an Austro-Hungarian colonel called F.B. Laska supplied a wonderful description of the Istrian Hound known for its boundless tenacity and great passion for hunting; for being highly obedient and devoted and more popular than the Austrian hounds. In 1933, H. Zimmermann in Das Lexikon der Hunde freunde describes the Istrian Hound, calling it the Krainer Braken and praises Dr Lovrenčič as the protector of the breed: The first Istrian Smooth-coated Hound entered in the register of breeds (which was Yugoslav at the time) was Vit, JRB 18, bred by Dako Makar of Metlika and owned by Matevž Hoegler of Struga.

The first Istrian Rough-coated Hound to be entered in the register of breeds was Burin, JRB 3, bred and owned by Dr Lovrenčič. The breed characteristics of the Istrian Rough-coated Hound were first published in the JKLB brochure, published in 1939.

The Istrian Hounds were first exhibited in Vienna in 1866, listed in the catalogue under this name. They were exhibited by a Slovene dog-breeder, hunter and the owner of Bistra Castle, Karl Galle. The first Yugoslav register of breeds, published in 1938 in Ljubljana, shows that of the 118 registered Istrian Smooth-coated Hounds only 5 lived outside Slovenia (two in Karlovac, two in Zagreb, one in Korčula) and even of these one came from Slovenia (the Podgora kennels); the origins of the other four were unknown.

The biggest and the most important kennels at the time were:

• the Podgora (Dr Ivan Lovrenčič, Vrhnika),
• Sodraška (Adolf Ivanc, Sodražica),
• Struška (Dr Janko Lavrič, Ribnica) and
• Grosupeljska (Pavel Fabiani, Ljubljana).

There were 75 registered Istrian Rough-coated Hounds, all of them originating from the Podgora kennels. The two largest kennels for the Istrian Rough-coated Hounds were the Podgora (Dr Lovrenčič, Vrhnika) and Smlednik (Baron Henrik Lazzarini, Smlednik). While the number of Istrian Hounds in the register of breeds (JRB) in 1928 was 142, it had already swelled to 183 by 1939. In 1938, the breed characteristics of the Istrian Smoothcoated and Rough-coated Hounds were described and submitted to the Yugoslav Canine Federation. Today there are 5503 Istrian Smooth-coated and 1793 Istrian Rough-coated Hounds registered.

General appearance and characteristics
The defining characteristic of Istrian hounds is the head-shape which decides how typical the animal is. The head has to be pear-shaped, neither too rounded nor too flat in the forehead, the jowls must not be prominent while the parietal protuberance must be pronounced. The head should not be too deep nor too flat from the sides and may not resemble that of a pointer or even less so of a setter. In essence the two varieties of Istrian Hound are identical (with the exception of the coat) only that the rough-coated variety is slightly taller (by 2 cm) and more strongly built (including the head) than the smooth-coated variety.

Brief description
The Istrian Smooth-coated Hound
(FCIStandard No. 151b):
a slender dog, of snowy-white base colour with yellowish-orange markings, short, firm coat, fairly narrow head, slightly wider in the forehead, with serene expression and moderate stop.

• The nose is black or at least dark-brown.
• The ears are set wide, slightly above eye level and hang flat against the jowls.
• The head is 20 to 25 cm long.
• Teeth: scissor-bite, dentition perfect. An excellent hound, especially for fox and rabbit hunting.
• Height at the withers: 44 to 56 cm; the ideal being 50 cm for males, 48 cm for females.
• Weight: 14 to 20 kg.
• Length: height plus 10 per cent.

The Istrian Rough-coated Hound
(FCI-Standard No. 152 b):
a medium-sized hound, of snowy white base colour with yellowish-orange markings, medium length, wiry, hard topcoat; bushy eyebrows give the eyes a serious, at times even melancholy, expression, the head is relatively strong, wider in the forehead and narrowing towards the eye, with moderate stop.

• The nose is black or at least dark-brown.
• The ears are set wide, slightly above the eyeline and hang flat against the jowl:
• The head is 20 to 24 cm long.
• Teeth: scissor-bite, dentition perfect. An excellent hound, especially for fox and rabbit hunting, it also makes a good blood-trail follower.
• Height at the withers: 46 to 53 cm, the ideal being 52 cm for males and 50 cm for females.
• Weight: 16 to 24 kg.
• Length: height plus 10 percent.