Page 151 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

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Rapprochements between humans and animals can be found right up to the recent past.
The native North American with his “pet”, a wolf, lives in a domestic community with the
animal. Likewise the Sami and the Dukha, who as nomads followed the reindeer herds and
at certain times herded these animals together in corrals. The Azawakh, who walks freely
around his family on seasonal migrations, just as the Patou in southern France does with
the flocks of sheep.

What these communities have in common is that they move together in large spaces. At
all times there have been and still are such migratory movements to the green pastures
when the climate changes and the animals and people no longer find enough to eat.

Zimen defines the status of an animal as a domestic animal when the purposeful mating of

two individuals results in a breed. The choice of the parent animals, which we call
“selection”, is intended to isolate certain characteristics of the animals and to reproduce
according to these selected characteristics. This theory, based on principles of eugenics,
has only been around since the beginning of the 20th century and the great driving force
behind these ideas is the economic exploitation of “animal means of production”.

With the objectification of our animals, who until then lived in a community of fate with

us, the ethically no longer justifiable phenomena of an industrial production society
appear. Where once humans and animals had to share a sometimes harsh fate, it is now
left to the animal to endure poor living conditions alone.

Scientifically, the transitions of these original dogs to the modern breeds of the Kennel
Clubs have not been sufficiently described so far. There is usually a reference to the

modern dog breeds of the Kennel Clubs in the current literature, for example in Kurt
Kotrschal or Heidi Parker. These are described in detail scientifically, these are
considered in detail in their relation to the modern grey wolf.

Original dog types such as Spitz, Malamute or Sloughis and Azawakhs are not considered
in the studies, which does not scientifically describe this important step from the natural
breed or landrace towards the modern dog breed. But this would be necessary to better

understand this evolutionary step of convergence between humans and dogs. But it
would also be important to work out the difference between an original breed and a
standard-bred race.