Page 28 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE 7 B

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 2 8

The sport underwent radical developments. The artificial hare made its appearance. A
hare or rabbit skin was tied to a long line and laid out over the course, then pulled in by
hand on a reel or wheel. The dogs were now clearly guided in a certain direction and their
hunting instinct was triggered. When the idea of running the wire over pulley’s was
introduced, the straight track became a thing of the past and the running distance was
laid out in an oval shape so that spectators could see both the start and the finish. The

hand-held start was replaced by a starting bar and then by the starting boxes as we know
them today, albeit in a perfected form. Participants did not yet have cars and came to the
racecourse with their dogs alongside their bicycles or by bus or train.

In the early days, Greyhounds and Whippets were the main breeds used for racing in the
Netherlands, along with Borzois and Sloughis, which were also common in the
Netherlands at that time. The races were often linked to special events, such as dog

shows. In 1922, the first sighthound racing clubs were founded, in Rotterdam and The
Hague. After the Second World War, when conditions for people became more normal
and reasonable for keeping dogs, enthusiasm for sighthounds also increased.

Unlike in England, professional sighthound racing never took off in many Western

European countries (including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and
Switzerland) and the sport is only practised at an amateur level. These countries have a
number of very good, permanent racetracks with well organised sighthound racing clubs
that are maintained by volunteers. These clubs are affiliated with the national kennel
clubs, which in turn are members of the international organisation the Fédération
Cynologique Internationale (FCI).

However, this does not mean that the sport is unregulated, because it most certainly is.
Each country has its own rules for organising and participating in sighthound racing. The
FCI determines the rules for international competitions and major world championships,
both track racing and lure coursing. The dogs must have a pedigree and must have
demonstrated in advance, together with one or more of their breed mates, that they are
capable of running the race properly; they are then issued with a licence entitling them to

participate in competitions. The requirements for obtaining such a licence may vary from
country to country. There are also requirements regarding the minimum and maximum
age of participating dogs. In the Netherlands and Belgium, the minimum age for small
breeds (Whippet, Italian Greyhound) is 15 months, and for large breeds 18 months. The
year in which the dogs turn 8 is the last year in which they can actively participate in
competitions.