Page 126 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Issue 15

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 1 2 6

My previous commitment in this matter is based on the fact that I have learnt to know and
appreciate the special characteristics of the Saluqi from my own experience.
This breed is something very special, and not just another dog breed. I see the most valuable
and special characteristics in western offspring slowly deteriorating due to sometimes
incorrect breeding practices, and I also see an increasing threat to quality in the countries of
origin - in some of these countries there may no longer even be a fully-fledged
representative, and a significant mass is probably limited to the Arabian Peninsula plus Iraq
today. If we don't figure out what it is all about reasonably soon, it may already be too late to
stop the decline. That is why I am (among other things) in favour of the classification
of selected imported animals. I do this regardless of whether the animals bred are called
"Saluki" or "Sloughi", as both FCI breeds are carriers of the characteristics I value. I
am interested in preserving these characteristics and not in any supposed advantage of one
breed or the other. Nor am I interested in emphasising the advantages of the breeds I have
bred and which have come to Europe almost unintentionally. If you look at objectively, and
especially if you get to know them closely, the quality of these animals becomes clear without
having to talk much about it. However, I maintain that they are nothing extraordinary for
genuine Bedouin breeding from Saudi Arabia; I have clearly seen even better dogs there. I am

actually interested in transferring the valuable genetic material of good Bedouin dogs to
western breeding, and whether my own animals play a greater or lesser role as hereditary
carriers is less important.

However, I vigorously defend myself against the insinuation that I have consciously or
unconsciously fabricated ‘cross-breeds’. As I have already said, apart from a few modern
imports, there is only one type of sighthound in Saudi Arabia, the "Saluqi", and I have
ultimately bred from purebred representatives of this type. The difficulties that have arisen
with the integration of some of these animals into an occidental sighthound breed clearly
show how little difference there really is between the "Saluki" and the "Sloughi". The claim
that the "Labaan" has been incorrectly classified is the same as stating that several well-
known sighthound judges do not know what a "Sloughi" is. The confusion of the judges is
perhaps more understandable when one considers that Saudi Arabia is located in the
phenotypic transition area and has supplied pedigree animals of both the "Saluki" and the

"Sloughi". As already emphasised, this does not mean that these two breeds occur there side
by side and could therefore be crossed. On the contrary, it means that the genetic material of
the Saudi Saluqi is present in both FC1 breeds, which in reality are so little different.
Confusion only arises when people try to project the FCI split back into the country of origin,
where it has no validity.