I have a friend in th UK who has a Saluki X Greyhound, Jonty, who is the prettiest "Saluki" I've ever seen.
Looking at modern sighthound breeds, one can pretty trace the eastward Islamic expansion by looking at the dogs, and how they got larger and hairier as they moved nothwards (Salukis -> Afghans -> Borzoi). It's harder going west, except for finding the Pharoah Hound on Malta and the Ibizan Hound in the Balearics. As far as breeding "outside the box", so to speak, it *could* be useful....if one were willing to ruthlessly cull probably 95% of the dogs produced--after they were grown enough to evaluate performance, at around a year. Which, let's face it, is what has made the racing Greyhound what it is today. Only the fastest racers were allowed to live and breed. It's one reason that there is far less incidence of hereditary health problems in NGA Greyhounds as compared to AKC dogs. And actually, this has been done in the UK for a very long time. Lurchers were bred originally to be poachers' dogs...ones that would have the Greyhound speed, and the intelligence of a herding breed. In the UK, "lurchers" are usually defined as a cross between a Greyhound or Whippet and a herding breed (usually a border collie). A cross between two sighthounds is called a "longdog". Of course, now lurchers have become the new "yuppie" dog in the UK. There are even lurcher shows and a lurcher registry. There goes the neighborhood! <G> Samira I love my salukis, but some of the prettiest I > have seen have been some half breeds. ~snip~. The question I have, is how > distant are Greyhounds and other breeds from 'lukis, and would it be more > helpful > for the breed to go outside *type* dogs and look to breed to, say, herders > or > other working group types? ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/PJ_qlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCA_Coursing/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
