Page 64 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Issue 15

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 6 4

Sharaf d'Ain Ghzel, Sloughi, with Oechslin's first Saluki
Burydown's Fatima © Oechslin

... We lived together for several years before Dubai.
I had my first Saluki in 1974, Burydown's Fatima, a
kind of rescue. Susi approached me because she
didn't know what kind of dog it was. That's how I
got to know her.

Thomas Liedtke: That's a nice story! So you travelled to Dubai together. And found the
ideal conditions for breeding there. As you said, you both had the same ideas about

breeding. But then you broke up and returned to Switzerland separately. John Burchard
also came to Switzerland with some of his dogs, for which he was looking for a new home
because he could no longer keep them on the previous premises in Dubai. So he asked
you if you wanted to take on one or more of his Salukis and Laba'an II came to you. Is that
correct?

Almost, but the order is wrong. John never lived in the Emirates, he lived in Saudi. We took
over La'aban and Loofah in Switzerland. Around 1980. We moved to Dubai in 1988.
Including 12 Saluqis /Sloughis. La'aban was already over 10 years old at the time. He and
Loofah both died in Dubai.

We were asked in Switzerland whether we were interested in desert bred Salukis. We didn't
know John Burchard at the time.

Thomas Liedtke: In the evaluation of Laba'an II by Schneebeli and Rey it is written that

the evaluation was done because he was intended for breeding as a Sloughi. Can you say
that?
Yes, that was the case. He would not have been accepted as a Saluki at that time.

Thomas Liedtke: That's interesting! The standard says that Sloughis come from Morocco,
i.e. North Africa. And not from the Middle East, as it says in the Saluki Standard.

Do you think Israel belongs to Africa? In the 60/70s it was common there to call everything
that was short-haired a Sloughi.