Page 32 - The Sloughi Review - Issue 6

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W
Confusion over the breed names “Sloughi”
and “Saluki” is frequent and strikingly
visible here. On the one hand, Sloughis are
presumed to come from Iraq and Syria, and
then Salukis return from Egypt to become
the ancestors of the North African Sloughis.
The Egyptian ‘Salukis’ (meaning Sloughis)
are of course the precursors of Sloughis.
Przezdziecki creates a parallel image of
Saluki and Sloughi from the outset,
describing the Saluki as smooth-haired and
non-feathered. In Chapter I of “Les
Lévriers”, Przezdziecki (11) writes that
although there are different names of
Sloughi and Saluki the Arabic word “Sluqi”
means ‘”Sighthound”, they are zoologically
the same.
However, the smooth-haired character of
Saluki hair is different from that of the
Sloughi, which is not exactly soft and
rather bristly.
The hair of the Saluki is softer, it is also
described as ‘silky’ and it tends to be wavy.
An exception is the smooth-haired Saluki
“Nejdi” from the Najd region of the Central
Arabian Peninsula (12). However, Daub
(4, p101) considers the smooth variant of
Saluki to be very easy to distinguish from
the Sloughi.
Przezdziecki makes a reference to the
depiction of a smooth-haired Sighthound
from Hierakonpolis*.
3 2
In the Saluki’s presumptions of origin a
mummified smooth haired dog at the
Egyptian Museum in Cairo is described as a
possible ancestor. This is unlikely, however,
for a Sloughi is always smooth and can
therefore not have any feathered parts or
other Saluki properties.
Even the assumption that Sloughi and
Saluki are ‘cousins’ seems unlikely given the
different breed characteristics of
Sighthound types.
Looking at the photograph of the head,
with its shorter ears and its sand-coloured
coat, it has entirely the expression of a
Sloughi (Fig. 4).
Experts on both breeds, such as Lady
Florence Amherst, who was President of
the English “Saluki or Gazelle Hound Club”
in 1923, have remarked that both breeds
should be kept distinct.
Figure 4: Dog Mummy, head © Anna-Marie Kellen