THE SALUKI

Shannon News, 24 December 1926, Page 2

THE SALUKI

OLDEST BREED OF DOGS. MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE. NOW. AN, ENGLISH KENNEL NOVELTY. i ' ■' The latest dog star in the ascendant belongs to the saluki. Some landers say he is the "coming dog," and that ' Sealyhams, Belgian griffons, English ;■Danes, “chiens-loups"—all favourites ,'olj' recent years—seem likely to be replaced by salukis. The newest fashion in dogs is, as it happens, also the oldest, says the “New York Times.” The saluki is reputed to be the first dog known-to history. Whenever you see /the word “dog” in the Bible it means the saluki. Pictures and cuniform .writings in the Calcutta Museum prove them to'have been domestic pets fifty 'centuries ago. These are the dogs Which the Pharaohs hunted. If one has doubts, look at the hieroglyphs upon the most ancient Egyptian tombs. There is the saluki, just as he is tolday, readily identifiable. But the tombs, valuable as is their testimony, fail to, record two of tfi.e dog's most striking points: He tracks entirely by sight and he makes no sound of any kind. No danger that neighbours will complain about your dog barking if he is a saluki. At the gaslit! show held in London the other day—the third of its kind —not a bark, not a yap, was heard. ■ The saluki—sometimes called the ‘‘gazelle hound,” and, erroneously, „ thß “Persian greyhound”—originated among the nomad tribes of the Arabian deserts. All of the region stretching from the Caspian Sea 'to the is his habitate, including Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the steppes of Sberia. Besides gazelles, he hunts ikals, foxes, and hares. The Arabs say that these dogs are unable to kill ywithout the aid of hawks and falcons. .'That the Arab is wrong is proved by .the salukis now in England. Capital Hunters. ' The' dogs make capital hunters of game with no outside aid, and their admirers say they beat the average hunting dog many times over in rough The deepest sand, the biggest boulders are surmounted by the aaluki with ease and speed. The speed Of the saluki is tremendous. His feet are pronounced by experts "very wonderful.’ They are hard and firm kand the growth of hair between the Itoes is remarkable. In all its runIning and leaping, the dog in no way its pads and toes. i in appearance the saluki resembles the English greyhound; onA would know they were cousins, just as he knows that the saluki to be kin to the Jtalian greyhound and the Russian wolfhound. But the oldest of dogs is much more beautiful than these more ■ recent relatives of his. His beauty is, in fact, the obvious thing about him; his grace and symmetry of his form; his head with its expression of dignity, mixed with gentleness. The eyes Are -deep and far-seeing, as befits the jhunte? who tracks by eye alone. The

\ 4 "feather” upon the ears and tail and at the back of the thighs is a rare adornment. There are smooth-coated salukiß, but they enjoy neither, the prestige nor the of the "feathered” variety. At the London show there was not a single entry in the smooth-coated class. White, cream, fawn, golden, red, grizzle and tan, tri-colour (white, i bladk, and tan), and .black and tan — there are the salukis chosen colours. | His coat is of silky texture. Ears are 1 long and well covered with longer > hair. -large and oval, the i hazel eyes are never unduly promin- ' ent. The long tail set on low and carried naturally in a curve, the arches of the loin, the arched toes, ;the well-muscled shoulders that show ■ no sign of coarseness —all these things 3 proclaim the thoroughbred. It is 0 typical of the breed that the female is ,e much smaller than the male. i ,■