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Arabian Saluki to feature in British festival

Al Ghanem, director of the Arabian Saluki Centre in Abu Dhabi, who is taking along one of his dogs to the UK event, will attend a symposium in Cambridge on September 1. “I shall be the only participant in the show from the Middle East,” he told Khaleej Times.

Al Ghanem claimed his was the only Saluki-breeder family in the Middle East despite the Saluki being an Arabian hunting dog. “My family has been breeding Aseel Salukis, the purest breed of Arabian Saluki, for over seven decades. It’s a tradition that has been passed on to us from our forefathers,” said Al Ghanem.

Aseel in Arabic language means ‘pure’ or ‘original’, and one whose lineage can be traced to the desert.

Records of the Saluki or Arabian hunting dogs can be traced to many centuries ago in the Arabian Peninsula as well as Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Saluki can be found in the paintings of both Muslim and Christian artists. One of the oldest representations of the hunting dog can be seen as rock engravings in southern Jordan, dating back to 100BC–200AD. The engraving shows a hunting dog attacking an ostrich.

Bedouin Arabs, who relied upon their dogs to hunt for food, treated these animals as family members and often dedicated odes and poems to them. Like falcons, salukis are part of the cultural heritage of the Arab world.

“The purpose of the Arabian Saluki Centre in Abu Dhabi is to preserve not just the pure breeds, but also the traditional way of Arab hunting,” noted Al Ghanem.

“I am pleased that the organisers of the festival are giving me an opportunity to talk about the Saluki and our traditional way of hunting,” added Al Ghanem. “For, just like the Arabs, the British too have for long been fascinated by hunting with dogs.”

• UAE