Page 65 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Issue 15

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 6 5

Thomas Liedtke: This is very complicated. With the word Sloughi / Saluki alone we only

have the description of a type of dog and if I know correctly, not even exactly that of a
type of sighthound. So, if we distance ourselves from the pure word and take the
geographical basis, Israel belongs neither to Africa nor to Asia, it is "a land bridge"
between the two continents. Geologically, Israel belongs to Africa. The ancient Egyptians
counted the Sinai as part of Africa, but I don't know for sure about the areas that affect
Israel today, but the Battle of Megiddo characterises Israel as an area of influence. But if
we look at the Bedouins, each tribe has a different type of sighthound, at least as far as

the period from around 1900 is concerned. The Arabian Peninsula, however, does not
belong to any of the above categories. What is your point?

Well, in my understanding, Israel belongs to the Arabian Peninsula. Egypt/Sudan are the

easternmost states of Africa. Apart from that, Saluki and Sloughis are spelt exactly the same
in Arabic. English and French transcription. What I'm getting at is that the uncertainty
about the Saluki/Sloughi question back then was still new everywhere. Nobody wanted
short-haired Salukis as Salukis, especially if they were also more long-legged than the usual
Salukis.

Thomas Liedtke: ... Burchard also reports one or more strains of smooth Salukis on the
Arabian Peninsula.
And in Egypt there were both ...

Thomas Liedtke: Now I come back to Mme Rey and Xavier Przezdziecki. Laba'an II was
mated with three daughters of Jenna in the kennel Montouchet de la Horde d'Or. Jenna
was feathered at the tail and therefore in no way recognisable as a Sloughi, nor was his
origin "from the African plateau", he clearly came from Syria. So what was the motive for
making him the father of a Sloughi litter?

I never saw Jenna feathered and at that time I visited Xavier Przezdziecki and Mme Rey
several times a year. When you have seen Jenna's offspring in the flesh, it is obvious what
the intention behind these litters was. Obviously, the offspring were better in terms of
movement. You obviously didn't know the Sloughis from that time, otherwise you wouldn't

ask. On the other hand, their hunting instincts were also much more pronounced.