Page 90 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Issue 15

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 9 0

It must be recognised, as Prof. Dr. Quaritsch points out, that a breed bred to a standard is
an artificial product which does not reflect the situation of a landrace in its origins.
Therefore, a historical landrace cannot be found in a breed bred according to a standard.

The problem is that a breeder who breeds after a standard, will not have "automatically" dogs
which are the same as landrace dogs bred for practical items. Selection items of a landrace
and of a standard bred dog are different. Especially, if they are line bred dogs.

With traditional landraces, foreign influences can always be assumed. Such "cross-breeds"
may at least have had a positive effect on genetic health. We have found these influences, for
example, in the Taigan, which did not look like a Taigan, but as the hunters said, hunted like a
Taigan (Sloughi Review 13).

In this respect, the idea of using the Syrian Saluki Jenna to improve the characteristics of a
landrace was not absurd from this perspective. However, in a breed selectively bred
according to a standard, this violation of a standard must be profoundly rejected. However, it
can be considered establishing a new breed according to a standard.

And this is all the more the case as those breeders who have built their breeding programme
on these Sloughi mixes can no longer get away from the dogs that are predominantly
considered to be Middle Eastern Salukis. The following generations are not brought closer to
the original type of North African Sloughis, they remain the line bred dogs that are more than
50% descended from foreign origins and are therefore genetically not North African Sloughis.

It would therefore be desirable to consider the way in which selective line breeding is carried
out in and of itself. Line breeding is associated with inherited deficiencies in health and other
problems that have already been identified in the lines and which recur in subsequent
generations. This also includes the foreign origin of the ancestors and their possible
problematic side effects.

Przezdziecki's and Oechslin's attempted improvements identified shortcomings in the

Sloughis of the 1970s from their point of view, were unsuccessful in the North African Sloughi.
They are still isolated with their hopes, even if, due to "fortunate circumstances", it is more a
problem of labelling whether these dogs are North African Sloughis or Middle Eastern Salukis.

According to the 188d standard from 1981, Sloughis are exclusively of North African origin.
If the label says something other than the content, the content always remains vulnerable.
Further dubious endeavours to sell these false contents as true contents with proof of
origin must ultimately mean a loss of trust and uncertainty.