Page 135 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

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CHAPTER 11 - ALTERNATIVES TO THE IDEA OF BREEDING TO
STANDARD

In order to present a counter-model to this idée fixe of the selection of dogs by humans,
we turn to the Africanis, which was researched and described by Johan Gallant and
Joseph Sithole at the end of the 20th century. This is how they describe the Africanis,
which has a verified genetic lineage of 7,000 years. Although it varies greatly in
appearance, it can be described and classified as a natural race. The Africanis is the

result of natural selection and physical and mental adaptation to environmental
conditions. Over centuries, the fittest and smartest dogs survived in their respective
environments, so that today we have one of the few remaining natural dog breeds in the
world.

This photo of a mouse-grey 'isiqha', as he is called by his Zulu owners,
corresponds perfectly to Theal and Kolben's descriptions of a 16th or
17th century Khoisan Africanis, J. Gallant, in The African Dog, p.8.

As Johan Gallant shows us, the idea of a constant mixing of different types of dogs and
natural breeds is not historically proven. For the Africanis, dogs of the Portuguese are
illuminated since the late 15th century, of the Dutch since the middle of the 17th century

and finally of the English since the end of the 18th century. Thus, he admits occasional
matings of dogs of the settlers and the African dogs, which, however, were accidental and
due to the wide migratory movements of the Khoikhoi, had no profound influence on the
African dogs.