Page 7 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 0 7

Chapter 6 – page 76
Hunting with sighthounds among the Greeks and the Romans. Xenophon's description of
hunting, he hunted with nets. The Galatians, Celts, who brought the Vertragus to Asia
Minor. Description of hunting by Arrian and the Pseudo-Oppian, they hunted with
sighthounds. Hunting among the Romans in North Africa
We will see that the early types or breeds of dogs are described according to the regions
where they were found. Laconians were from Laconia, Lycians from Lycia in ancient Greece

and Asia Minor; Rottweilers from Rottweil in southern Germany. However, these
designations of origin are also connected with the certain characteristics that developed
preferentially in these regions.
Pseudo-Oppian uses two terms from ancient Greek to classify the dog breeds of that time,
namely “belonging to an ethnic group” and the term “tribe”. This applies to both sedentary

and nomadic peoples. But there are also dog types that were designated on the basis of
their characteristics, as was the case, for example, with the Vertragus, which was probably
very “light-footed”, as the Celts thought.
Thus Arrian reports: “... The swift bitches are called in the Celtic language "Vertragoi", not
after a tribe, like the Cretan, Carian or Laconian, but, as with the Cretan, the persevering
ones after their desire to work, the daredevils after their sharpness, and those mixed from

both, just as also these, after their swiftness” [1].*

Chapter 7 – page 85
Hunting with Sloughis and Azawakhs in the 19th and early 20th centuries. With General
Eugène Daumas for his description of the Sloughi and Henri Lhote, who describes hunting

in general and the use of dogs among the Tuareg in great detail and vividly, we still have
authentic testimonies of hunting with sighthounds practised over centuries, before the
modern age, armed with rifle and jeep, set completely different priorities, breaking the
bond between man and animal.
In this chapter 7 there are first echoes of the idea that good mating could mean selective
mating according to Gregor Mendel. But one must not confuse the two! A targeted mating
or selection according to today's understanding always means the preference of individual

aspects over an overall picture.

Chapter 8 – page 119
Nomadism, transhumance, genetic ancestry of the proto-dog in and outside Africa, herd
protection. Sloughi and Azawakh as protectors of the herds and the tents and huts; the

Patou, the “wild sheep”: it becomes apparent that the protection of herds is ultimately a
family affair. Genetically, the wolf descends from the dog. Territorial behaviour mutates
into “home range”. Is the desirable behaviour of a hunting dog or guard dog a question of
selection according to the dog's appearance?

* Editor’s note: numbers refer to literature at the end of the article.