Page 9 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 0 9

CHAPTER 1 - THE HUNTING DOG SLOUGHI IN NORTH AFRICA

AND IN EUROPE

Is there hunting with the Sloughi today in western countries and in Africa?

Sloughis in Bensekrane, Algeria, with
Joseph B. Mangelsdorf and A. Fidjel
© Mangelsdorf

In addition to its tasks in its countries of origin as guardian of herds and house, the
Sloughi is also a hunting dog and thus rather a generalist. More precisely: a hunting dog
with herd protection qualities. He therefore corresponds to an original type, as we will
also find in the Africanis below. However, it must not be overlooked that hunting is not
always in the foreground. So when we ask ourselves why the Sloughi is the way he is, why

he shows behaviour which we cannot always understand or comprehend, we have to
observe the aspects of the manifold tasks for the Sloughi in the countries of origin. Here
now, first of all, is the hunt today.

But what does this term imply in relation to the Sloughi: hunting? The ideas of hunting
are as varied as there are people who talk about it.
In my early days as a proud person who was allowed to have a Sloughi as a companion, a

lady who was also accompanied by Sloughis in her life told me when I asked her: “What
happens when I let the Sloughi off the leash in the field?” she answered: “The Sloughi runs
kilometers away, doesn't come back for days and kills everything it encounters.”

Apparently these Sloughis were never let off the leash, one has to assume. But also in
North Africa, a Sloughi owner, who sat and worked a lot in the office, found his Sloughis,

which came from a hunting breeding, to be very wild! He then acquired easier to keep
show Sloughis, which came from European breeders, bred according to FCI standards.
After all, he did not want to go hunting with his Sloughis, he wanted to be successful in
show events!