ear set of the Sloughi

PRESERVING--

BREEDING-

GENETICS-

HISTORY-

STANDARD/MORPHOLOGY-

NORTH AFRICAN EFFORTS

ARTS/CULTURE

Standard

The Sloughi's ear set
by Dr. Dominique de Caprona
© de Caprona 2009

The copyrights of these photos and this text belong to the author. Please do not use them for any purpose without asking.

Since 1852, at a time when the North African Sloughi was beginning to become better known in the Western world, the different standards that had followed previous descriptions were modified. The description of the Sloughi's ear carriage is what has seen the most changes in the breed standard.

From 1852-1937:
The Sloughi's ears should be wider than those of the Greyhound and carried folded back—they are also sometimes semi-erect. The most famous sculpture of the breed, titled "Tom, Algerian Greyhound," by the 19th-century animal sculptor Antoine Louis Barye, shows a Sloughi with this type of ear carriage.

1896, Sloughi "Debba" from the kennel of the journal Chasseur Francais
© de Caprona 2007

1897, ideal eat set of the Sloughi, left, and of the persian sighthound, right, by Swiss artist J.Petersen
(engraving from the book Windhunde) in “The breeds of dogs” by Count Henri de Bylandt, Belgium.
© de Caprona 2007

Circa 1904, the ideal ear set of the Sloughi, left, compared to to that of the Greyhound, right, by the Dutch artist August Le Gras,
in the journal De Nederlandsche Sport. © de Caprona 2007

1937–today
Before 1973, with the Sloughi being the French sighthound, the standard for the Sloughi was in the hands of the French. It was in the 1937 standard that the description of the Sloughi's ear carriage was radically changed from an ear wider than the Greyhound's and folded back, to that of a drooping ear. At the time, the Dutch—since the Netherlands was also an important country for this breed—opposed it.
One wonders what led to this change, as it coincides with the discovery of drooping-eared Salukis from the Middle East by French military officers. The well-known French cynologist and judge P. Mégnin had criticized, at dog shows, the “Sloughis” of one of the people involved in the modification of the standard, MrsTurcat, having some 'Persian blood'... (for more details, please see “The Sloughi 1852-1952”).

In any case, today the sloughi is supposed to have drooping ears. However, many sloughis still have folded ears, for example when they trot or if they are worried. As in the past, many Sloughis in North Africa still have folded ears. Such an ear carriage does not imply, as is often mistakenly said, a cross with the Spanish Galgo. Folded ears are simply part of the sloughi's genome, even though drooping ears have been imposed on the breed by the standards since 1937. Hunters in North Africa don't always care how a sloughi carries its ears, as the dog's hunting talent is much more important, and in some countries the ears are cropped.

| Copyright:

2008-2012, all rights of all pages under this chapter reserved to Dominique de Caprona. |