Page 31 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Issue 15

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 3 1

We have seen from Rüdiger Daub above that at that time there were uncertainties in the
classification of Sloughi and Saluki. England in particular should be emphasised in this

point with its colonial attitude that the Sloughi and the short-haired Saluki were the same
breed.

In Brian Duggan's work, however, we find that the English travellers at the beginning of
the 20th century brought original, short-haired dogs from the Middle East, which were
already present at the founding of the "Saluki or Gazelle Hound Club" at Crufts in 1923
and were included in the standard of the time.

Sloughis from North Africa were not present at this event, they were already considered
by Hon. Florence Amherst to be a separate breed with a separate origin.

However, as the English were also in Egypt at the beginning of the century, they included

the sighthounds they found there in their understanding of Saluki affiliation. Hon.
Florence Amherst, however, insisted on an affiliation to the origin at Crufts 1923, but
could not prevail against the faction of Brigade General Lance, short-haired Salukis were
also included. The classification of the "Shami", "Nejdi", "Omani" and "Yamani" was

ignored. However, the Amherstia Salukis were still counted among the Syrian type
("Shami") for some time.

However, Frank R. Zwahlen (text) and Werner
Maerki (pictures) tell us in their 1978 book
about the sighthound sport that the
misconception that Sloughis were the same as

Salukis continued to be promoted: "France,
together with Great Britain, had taken on the
task of founding new states in the Levant,
which had been separated from Turkey, after
the First World War. There were Sloughis (!) in

what is now Iraq and Syria, and Przezdziecki
reports that for fifteen years ships brought
such dogs from Beirut to Marseille to replace

the increasingly scarce imports of Sloughis
from North Africa. The ban on hunting with
sighthounds in North Africa had led to a
decline in the Sloughi population in the
Maghreb states.

Right: Cover of the book “A Line In The Sand“ by James Barr, who tells us about politics between the French and
the English in the Middle East from the 1930ies to the 1940ies, until the State of Israel was founded.