Page 91 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Issue 15

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 9 1

Against such a background, the question of improving characteristics is always associated
with the loss of substance of an originally robust type. This applies equally to line breeding
and to the crossbreeding of foreign origins.

Thirdly. The common path and how to get there. Different ideas of breeders and fanciers.

Different camps have formed among breeders of Sloughis: on the one hand, those who
endeavour to continue the North African Sloughi as it has evolved from its requirements in
their habitat in terms of game to be hunted, but also for herding flocks and protecting the
home.

The second group favours what they see as an "improved" version of this idea of Sloughis,
which are short-haired but Salukis in origin. The gait is better, the dogs are faster, the
hunting success is higher, the individuals are more elegant. Beyond the demands of the
Moroccan standard, they see improved performance in their "Sloughis".

If you look at North Africa, you can also see a certain willingness to experiment there. Galgo

españoles are often used or crossbred. Young people like them because they are faster than
Sloughis in summer. However, their performance soon diminishes compared to the Sloughi.

So here, too, you can see some short-term success. In the long term, however, they cannot
hold their own against the original Sloughis.

As the Sloughi is a landrace, it can happen that over the centuries other landraces have been
bred in that bring about improvements. Even if it was to avoid inbreeding.

It is also said that Sloughis have been bred into Galgos again and again, and individual genetic
analyses of individual Galgos españoles seem to confirm this. For example Chanel, the Galgo
español bitch of a friend of mine, who felt very attracted to Sloughia Amaya. Perhaps "the
blood" really did speak for her: she actually had Sloughi genetic elements (think occupation of
Spain by the Moors, that were mainly Berbers)

Nevertheless, a type has developed over time, which is ultimately also found as a standard in
a stable phenotype and genotype.