Page 30 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 3 0

“... Man's first art, therefore, was the training of the dog; but the happy consequence of this

art was the conquest and quiet possession of the whole face of the earth.” Buffon suspects
that the ancestor of the dog is an extinct primitive breed of dog, and even rules out the
wolf as a possible progenitor! (from: Zimen)

This is interesting insofar as Bergström's genetic research, and meanwhile also
Skoglund's, see a common ancestor of the dog and the wolf, whereby the wolf has split

off from the dog rather than the other way round the dog would have descended from
the wolf! [17].

Buffon thus already uses the image of a family tree of dog species, which would all have a
common ancestor. But he also describes the phenomenon of intraspecific variability, i.e.
the different types of dogs. This made him a pioneer of modern biology, which was to

change the static view of the world with Darwin.

Johann Anton von Güldenstedt (1745 to 1781) and Peter Simon Pallas (1741 to 1811)
developed different approaches to the dog's ancestors and the discussion about the
various facets of these theses continues to this day. The dog is not only widespread
worldwide, it also shows great regional differences. “Thus the pariah dogs of southern

Asia, the dingoes of Australia, the Hallstrom dogs of New Guinea and the Basenjis of Africa
form a characteristic circle of forms distinct from the dogs of the north or those of South
America” (from Zimen).

The Azawakh and the Sloughi belong to the Basenji‘s morphology type. However, with the
restriction that we mean different definitions of “breeds” for these races. Sloughi and
Azawakh are naturally evolved races, landraces, which have been bred as a standard
breed in a separate form.

Mpoa or Congo Terrier. This dog was called Boso and belonged
to the Zoological Garden in Paris. In H.A. van Bylandt 1904, p.242