Type and Tolerance

Story and photos by Yossi Guy

This January was the third time that I, an Israeli citizen, was invited to the Al Dhafra Heritage Festival in Abu Dhabi, a heart-warming event, with significance for all dog people worldwide.

While touring the Great Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the word “tolerance” was written in several prominent places as a type of local slogan. When I looked it up in the dictionary, it made so much sense: “capacity to endure pain or hardship – endurance, fortitude, stamina; sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own.”

The Festival is definitely an expression of tolerance — in this case, for the different types of Salukis and their owners, who come from many places.

The United Arab Emirates government invests its large resources in many things, including their local heritage, that of the desert Bedouin nomads, who for centuries were dependent on four animals — camels, horses, falcons and Salukis. The Festival showcases these animals and their unique abilities that helped their owners survive the tough conditions: horses and camels as means of transportation, and falcons and dogs to help them obtain food from the barren desert. It includes both physical competitions — races — and conformation contests to determine their desired appearance has been on the decline.

The Salukis that took part in the race and beauty competition were owned by people living in the Emirates, although some of the dogs had been bred in other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. During the race, the owners ride along the track, encouraging their dogs to do their best by shouting and honking their horns.

In a unique twist that is not based on the official breed standard, the organizer, Hamad AlGhanem, divides the dogs into two basic groups – smooth and feathered. He then puts males and females in separate groups, so in general the judge has four groups. The winners end their participation at this stage, going home with very generous financial prizes (around $3,000 for first place in each group), but without competing for Best of Breed or Best in Show.

Many of the participants have no clue on how to handle a dog at a show, while others are more accomplished, among them a couple of local women.

Sara Abdul Aziz from Bahrain (above) had entered three dogs. “I got my first Salukis from Prince Abdullah of Bahrain,” she recalls. “I heard about Al Dhafra about nine years ago. It really concentrates on Salukis and shows the beauty of these dogs. I wanted to bring my dogs, but we had problems at the border then, so I came to watch the show. It made me more determined to come with my dogs the following year. I came with two dogs and we placed first in both feathered male and female. Since then, we’ve been coming every year.

“The number of participants and dogs has increased, as has the quality of the dogs. We have been successful every time we came, managed to place at least one dog. I sometimes bring imported dogs, but mainly locally bred by us, local type.”

Sara also goes overseas with her Salukis. “Our last show in Europe was the World Dog Show in Madrid, and we placed BOB at the RSCE Madrid. We later got BIG3.

“Today, my feathered female was placed second. She is 22 months old, and she has won a lot of classes in FCI shows. In my opinion, she’s simply beautiful, with nice movement, beautiful feathering and excellent, moderate angulation.

“We are planning to go to Turkey this year and of course will come to the Al Dhafra next year,” Sara promised.

Britta Tappendorf (above), a Saluki breeder from Germany who lives in the Emirates, actually runs a kennel owned by a local princess. “I came to Bahrain in 2008, met my first Saluki and fell in love with the breed,” she told us. “I wanted one, but it was very difficult because they were only owned by certain people. My first kennel in 2016 was called Tree of Life.

“This time I entered two feathered males and two feathered females. The males were short-listed but not placed, and both of the feathered females were placed, first and third. The first was not bred by us; we brought her to expand our breeding. The other is desert-bred.

“Our goal is to preserve the desert type, aiming for personality and beauty,” Britta noted. “I think this festival is preserving the desert type because it’s open for Salukis that are not pedigreed to get a judgment about their dogs, which they don’t usually get since they don’t know the FCI standard. So, it helps the locals get to know the breed better and subsequently improve their breeding.”

Hamad AlGhanem, the competition organizer, told us: “This year we had more entries for both Saluki events: 93 beauty and 98 races. Most of the people were local, but some came from other Gulf countries — Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia. Some entries are owned by various members of the local royal family, while others belong to simple people.

“The quality has improved compared to previous years, both in the condition of the Salukis and the way they treat them. They stopped pulling and dragging their dogs in the ring and have trained them to be clean inside. My goal is not to mix the Salukis with other breeds. The historical dogs were bred for a particular purpose. The locals sometimes cross-breed with other breeds; however, we sometimes see dogs that are crossed with types from other countries, resulting in Salukis that perform well and also look good.

“My ideal Saluki does not emphasize size and that sort of things,” AlGhanem continued. “It’s more about behavior. They should be hunters with a mind that goes for running and catching prey. They must perform well and behave well. During the beauty contest there were very few dogs that barked, and I’m happy with that.

“The owners care for the dogs financially, physically, emotionally. They invest half the year in preparing them and the other half in showing them. In Arabia, the situation between smooth and feathered is not the same. In some countries – more of one type or the other.”

AlGhanem explained his opinion on the difference between the two coat types. “The smooth, for hunting, are able to work better for long distance compared to the feathered. The feathered we have here are not those we see in Europe that tend to be fatter and less sporting. In this part of the world, we separate smooth from feathered, and this showcases the fact that there are many dogs of the different types.

“I began with the races to improve hunting capabilities. The show comes after the work. You must show the best working dogs. I want to do more classification by color. I added distance to the race. Began with 1,000 meters, then did 2,500, but now decided to do 2,000 only, which is enough.”