Page 15 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 1 5

There are no Azawakhs in the South of Tunisia, but Galgos Españoles and Salukis do occur.

To my question why many young people in the Maghreb have Galgos, young Hakim
Elaaloul answers: “In the cold months, the Galgos are much faster than the Sloughis.
Nevertheless, the Sloughis are the best sighthounds. The duration of being able to hunt with

the Sloughis goes on for years!” In his opinion, the Galgos have hereditary traits from the
Sloughi.

The film “The Prince of the Sloughis”, which tells a romantic story, also paints a vivid
picture of hunting with Sloughis today. Many elements of life and hunting around the

Sloughi are shown there, which definitely describe the actual conditions in North Africa.
Hunting with many Sloughis is shown, but also hunting with a single male Sloughi, the
“prince”. What is interesting about the hunt with the single male is that the hunter has a
throwing stick with which he throws at the hares [3]. We see this already with the
Egyptians, to whom we will return below, but also in the hunt with the Azawakhs further
south.

Before the hunt or the race, Sloughis bark with excitement, as Daumas also described.

Sloughis do not bark when hunting. Azawakhs do not bark when hunting either, but they
do bark when they are guard dogs!

-“Dressage” or “training” in North Africa

Raouf Ochi explains to me that it is not necessary to educate the Sloughis. The young
Sloughis learn from the experienced ones. A “chain” forms.

If, however, there is no “chain” and the young Sloughis behave in an undesirable way, they
must be trained in order to achieve a desirable, i.e. cooperative, behaviour from the
Sloughi. The training of the Sloughis is rather to be understood in the sense of the training
of falcons for hunting, not at all what we describe in western countries with the term

“education”. However, Sloughis are very sensitive creatures, so crude methods are not
appropriate and would do more harm than good. The bond between Sloughi and human is
trust. If the trust is not there, you will not get a good result. Raouf Ochi reports that he
makes the young Sloughis aware of the hare’s nest when they are trained and cannot learn
from an experienced Sloughi. Tracking the hare is instinctive and does not need to be
learned.