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Journey to the dogs of Morocco - Part 2

Text and photos: Barbara Blesch Deutsche Version

Near Ben Yacoub
Near Ben Yacoub
A promising hunting talent not quite two years old.
A promising hunting talent not quite two years old.
Young male dogs looking for some more feed - competitive, but peacefully
Young male dogs looking for some more feed - competitive, but peacefully
A young Sloughi first-rate
A young Sloughi first-rate
A playful feed-quarrel among young male-dogs of different quality
A playful feed-quarrel among young male-dogs of different quality
The mystic beach where the whale spat out Jonah - and the author met the first Sloughi
The mystic beach where the whale spat out Jonah - and the author met the first Sloughi
Hunting-break near Ben Yacoub
Hunting-break near Ben Yacoub
A Sloughi as a farmdog in the South-West of Morocco
A Sloughi as a farmdog in the South-West of Morocco
Remorseful stray-bitch in the sloughi district.

Remorseful stray-bitch in the sloughi district.
Remarkable the white colour but thoroughly standard - just conformation

Raw-feed with butchers-waste products
Raw-feed with butchers-waste products
3-year old Sloughi bitch
3-year old Sloughi bitch
A young breeder with his favourite "couple"
A young breeder with his favourite "couple"
A young breeder with his favourite "couple"
A young breeder with his favourite "couple"
A five-years-old wild boar-hunter - and the "entire pride" of the owner
A five-years-old wild boar-hunter - and the "entire pride" of the owner

Here you can read the first part again.

Contrary of the Aidi, that in Islam belongs to the foul dogs, the noble Sighthound is respected. It is reported, the Prophet himself had owned a Sloughi or Saluki. The breed, except for the Aidi, is well known in Europe, so a description is not necessary. The term is also used with animals in Morocco, that would not fulfil the expectations of European breeders. "You recognize a Sloughi by its eyes", a Moroccan told me once. He thought that the nature of the Sloughi mirrors in its eyes, whereby the outward appearance sometimes doesn't do justice to the FCI rules.

They are kept in the whole country, watched over behind protecting walls, so a traveller scarcely has opportunity to meet them. Unowned Sloughis are really rare, in over 20 years I met only one. In Nomad-Regions you car can meet some free running animals occasionally, but because of their state of care they clearly have an Owner.

In the south-west of Morocco the Sous-Region and the bordering coaststrips there live many Sloughis. Here you can also meet the "Sloughiblooded" crossbreeds. A further Sloughi-Centre is the Chaouia-Plain between Marrakech and the Atlantic. Famous is also the region about Sidi Harazem in the North of the country, where there are particularly standard-accurate hounds bred.

Even if the Europeans don't think so, it is true that the Sloughis are indeed used when hunting wildboar. A Moroccan university man told me about his black male-dog that died 40 years ago. A wildboar had torn his belly and the animal couldn't be saved. The proud "Berber" had moist eyes when he was telling me that in his first pain he even didn't want to live any longer without his hound.

Also in the region of Massa, south of Agadir, Sloughis are used for boar-hunting. There is a very big, bully type to be found, too, that is especially used for it. Overthere I also saw my first Sloughi consciously: in the morning the whole small camping-site got in motion, admiring shouts rang out from the wall with the view onto the shore, where a young man was walking with 2 nice, muscular hounds.

The animals jumped about elegantly, though they were big and of heavy weight, really an aesthetic view, a ballet. Strong athlete , clearly bigger than the standard, with an incredibly deep reaching chest and impressing muscular in light-sand with a black coat and mask so I think to describe them glancing backward.

The Northafrican Expert and Sloughi-Breeder Xavier Przezdziecki, generally known as XP, would have marked these animals as "near-the-blood-standing-Sloughis". He thinks the Sloughi to be a hybridized Saluki, that had come with the Arabian Conquest into the Maghreb and there hybridized with watchdogs to find use for the herd-protection. It fits in as quoted in the BLV-encyclopaedia by ALDERTON with the use as a Herd-protection-hound, for which no other Sighthound-breed was used, as the above mentioned book says. So I wonder: Is the Sloughi the most able-bodied Sighthound? The answer is still open.

The thousands of years old rock-cave-paintings that prove the existence of sighthound-looking hounds in the Central-Sahara contradict to the adoption of XP. He also speaks about a more intensive purity of the animals in the Sahara. In the "empty" quarter between Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria is the hunting-area of the Nomadis, the SaharaHunters with hounds. Their animals are described by the British explorers of the 19 century to be "very tough Sloughis", they also seem to be stronger and less "noble" than the Moroccan animals of that time. In spite of studying several books by GABUS and MONOD, who are supposed to be known as Nomadi-experts, I have not yet found a photo of these hounds.

That is why I questioned travellers to Mauritania during my latest Morocco tour and I was lucky that some Italian travellers had met a group of Nemadihunters with hounds. Unfortunately, there were no photographs taken, as the Mauritanians are very aloof from strangers. The animals were described to be a kind of big Cirneco del Etna, thus clearly like Sighthounds, with erected ears. Shoulder hight about 65-70, estimated.

Erected ears have also some four legged creatures which are together with ostriches cut into a rock face south of Smara. Gandini presumes hounds. Interesting in this connection, as this place lies a little north of the border of the Nomadi hunting territory of the recent centuries but the engraving is at least several thousand years old.

There is very reason to believe that we would find Sighthounds in the Maghreb today also without the import of Salukis. The XP's aim, to rebreed the Sloughi in a "pure" Saluki similar standard, doesn't correspond with my own priorities as an admirer of the breed, like I got to know them in Morocco. It is the diversity, the visible toughness and strength of the Sloughi that I estimate face to face the very neat Salukis. As the origin I think an indigenous breed with a Saluki-blood-donation possible. Exactly like with the Aidis different breeds are called Sloughis in Morocco - and treated as such. The local rating breaks up every FCI-Standard.

On the same beach in South-Morocco, where I saw my first Sloughis and where, by the way, the Whale spat out Jonah, Oqbar Ibn Nafi, the Arabian leader of the Arabian Conquerors rode into the sea to prove that farther west no country was to be conquered for Allah and then on the end of all days Messiah will appear - and on that significant beach I also found the only stray Sloughi. The young male-dog, yellow slime running from his nose and being so weak, that he permanently collapsed, had chosen our tent to be his home. His body was so weak, but his eyes implored with such a zest for life, so the following day we drove to Agadir to buy medicine and food for him. I couldn't be on vacation restfully and watching inactively how this wonderful animal dies close to me.

After 3 days he began to clean his skin like the cats do, after 5 days he followed the fair sex with his eyes and after 10 days he accompanied me to the beach. When I had left him after 3 weeks he was in a good state, and the tourists didn't turn away disgustingly from the sick animal, that had begged for food. He had a prospect again. Later I learnt he was poisoned by the veterinary-police a week after my departure. All free running Sloughis share the same fate even if the owners are known, thus a friend of mine in the Antiatlas lost his bitch.

Unfortunately the camping site at this wonderful place was abandoned for the benefit of a deluxe hotel. But also there the dog friendly tradition seems to live on: At a visit in 2003 two whelps of a village bitch were walking about in the restaurant. Their mother obviously Sloughi blooded, fed herself in the garbage of the hotel.

Also in 2004 my black Sloughi brought good luck: When I was photographing a similar animal I was approached whether I would not like to see good hounds instead of these street crossbreeds. And so I had the pleasure to watch a Sloughi breeder at the morning feed. Raw fish heads, chicken legs and junk from the butcher's were distributed among the big, strong and well fed animals.

The hounds are kept in different houses in small groups, sorted out according to age and harmony. The Sloughias themselves are allowed to choose their partners when mating. Possible mistakes are tolerated, after birth the whelps will be offered at a certain level of prices as Sloughis of different quality or purity.

A small group was shown to us. The pride of the two gentlemen was a 5 years old sand coloured male dog, a successful wild boar hunter. A 3 years old bitch was obviously very much attached to the younger breeder. An one and a half year old black male dog had proved to be a hopeful talent. And a brownish young hound with totally strange ears gave reason for further hope. At the end the kindergarten came: a small brindled pure bred and a brown Sloughi crossbreed, both about 4 5 months old.

After the Sloughia, again on a non authorized cats hunt, was fetched by a joyful help of the teen agers of the ward the feed gegan. Contrary to many keepers here you could feed from the hand. The 6 animals were obviously used to be fed in group, of course, just only the whelps had to have a playful food quarrel.

By a talk with the gentlemen a further riddle was cleared up. On our latest journey early in 2003 we were looking for a sleeping spot in this region in the twilight. Not an easy job in this thicket of cactus and treelike spurge growths. A ruinous track led us to a seeming abandoned village, where we wanted to camp in the leeside of the houses. Then at the end of the village the meeting in the latest light: 3 grown up, noble Sloughis stood there not impressed at all. A light sand coloured with a black mask, a "Fox" red sand light sand and a brindled one.

Unfortunately we saw only a woman and a little girl, so we drove on. The region is well known for preservation of their traditions. This could have become an embarrassing or at least an unpleasant situation for the woman. Beyond that we know the Moroccan hospitality well enough to know what circumstances our stop would have meant for the woman.

As our way led us across country to the coast that day, we didn't want to return the following morning, to look for the place on our next journey from the same direction once again. We wanted to do this just on that day. When we asked the breeders whether there were some more breeders in the vicinity, and when we talked about the deserted village, we learned that the hounds are only partly kept in the main village, and because of the better running conditions, they live distributed with the people who take care of them, in the hamlets of the region. And exactly these hounds, we had seen the year before, belonged to our conversation partners.

Travelling with hounds unfortunately also means some restrictions. And after not quite an hour we departed in spite of the friendly invitation to tea. As the breeders perhaps didn't trust the hounds they asked us to keep our bitch in the car.

The continuation of the journey made up amply. In the next hamlet a black Sloughi male dog lay sleeping on the edge of the road, a child drove on his bike almost over his ears, he dozed on relaxed in the early noon sun of January. A great number of Sloughis and crossbreeds made the edge of the road busy, we had to brake repeatedly. The nicest meeting was with a joyful and young hound, light beige that jumped from behind a wall in front of the car. About 7 months old, ears much too big, legs too long and full of high spirits he ran over the track into the next garden. A picture of pure joy of living. The incredible density of Sloughis in this region will animate us to continue driving this stretch of road though the landscape is boring.

A special feature in the literature known to me is not recorded: the scent of the Sloughi. I have known the typical smell of hounds, and so I was sniffing constantly distrustfully at the beginning of living together with my Moroccan foundling. The more surprised I was to find a sesame nut, and reminding of Basmati rice scent. Also my present bitch has this scent that I had not noticed yet with European hounds. I talked with the Sloughi breeder, Patricia Lauer, Sheik el Arab, about it. She was delighted of the scent of her pure breed animals the same way I was. "If there were a perfume...." was our common motto.

This lady, by the way, owns also my German favourite Sloughia, Rais Siyanda Rainine. It is not only my special liking for the brindled Sloughis, to make this choice. As the character is more important to me than the outward appearance. And Rainine shows a wonderful balanced, instinctive secure attitude and a friendly sovereignty. She has the qualities clearly marked, by which the Sloughis and their offspring with their Sloughi souls conquered my heart.

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