Page 57 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Issue 15

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 5 7

For comparison, today's North African Sloughi from
north-west Algeria, small hanging, fine leather ears
© Mangelsdorf

... Admittedly, they are different in this respect, but there are many similarities in the way
they select dogs for breeding. The most important rule is that the dog must be able to do its
job! That applies to all of them. That's why I understand that there is a tendency in the

countries of origin to breed dogs by crossing Galgos (Morocco and Algeria), with greyhounds
in Turkey (breeding for the Emirates and their dog races).

Unfortunately, the same thing is happening in India with the Caravani. A little faster for the
rabbits, but the original type is lost!

Thomas Liedtke: This idea of cross-breeding exists historically with the Greyhound in
England in the 18th century, in order to turn a Galgo type into a Greyhound that is
stronger for sprinting over shorter distances. This is a purely functional, abstract idea. In
traditional, tribal, family-orientated societies, an abstract, functional idea is unlikely.
There was certainly the comparison of successful dogs on a regional scale, but not over

wide geographical areas. So even the idea of the English having to breed Greyhounds
everywhere they went, for example the Blunts in Egypt in the 19th century, ultimately
means no lasting change in the sighthounds locally, unless they were bred according to
the rules of eugenics as in modern line breeding.