After a couple of rainy and stormy days together with the salukis in the archipelago - far away from Internet... - I have been thinking and thinking and thinking again a lot of Saluki Preservation as a forum for saluki enthusiasts.

Why do not more people write to this forum?
Are there many other similar kinds of saluki forums on the web?

In my country we have at least 2 sighthound forums (The first one under "Pets forum" and the second is the private "Audax et Celer"--> EVERYTHING about sighthounds) and one saluki forum (directed by The Finnish Saluki Club -->http://www.saluki.fi/index_e.html). The forums are only in Finnish... :( (which is not my mother language).

Saluki Forum started in November 2005, has 241 reg. users and totally 3269 mails. This is a very proper forum, with a lot of facts, but also with strict censorship - you may not write in business purpose, and it´s impossible to write (too) funny stories <_<

Audax et Celer -->http://z15.invisionfree.com/audax_et_celer/index.php? HAS A LOT OF WRITER´S DOG PHOTOS :) - it started in February 2006, has 217 reg. users and totally 15.019 posts... :lol:
In Audax you have very fun, and you meet ALL your sighthoundfriends, that you have seen in LC-training and at dog shows. People write EVERYTHING about their sighthounds, about themselves and about the weather a.s.o... There are often violent debates, too :ph43r: - for instance some of us will have the wolf in our country - others do not think so :angry:

If you have many writers in your forum, you also can meet very different opinions - interesting!
In our forums major part is women - and they do not write about bloody hunting - but a lot of Lure Coursing with articificial hare. And we all love our hounds very much :wub: - we admire all kinds of sighthounds, but most of all our own breed, of course!

You have to get more female writers in your forum Saluki preservation :D !

Hi Al Sarab,

I had hoped more would of made posts after a fair amount of people joined from The Saluki List. But Faridaat, Amira and yourself are the only ones to actually contribute to any topics. Unless folk post it doesn't work.

Those are busy forums, I don't even think Babel fish translator does Finnish which would of been handy.
There are many sighthound forums but most are totally anti-hunting with regarding to topics and posts. Here I want to concentrate on the hunting side of things as it their hunting ability that first attracted me to Saluki's.

Also I am unsure of have to my Forum available through a search using google or other search engines, which would bring in more members.

One thing I don't want on here is people who keep Salukis purely as showdogs, keeping them like some sort of ornament. I personally dislike the show scene as I think it as destroyed more hunting/working breeds than anything else.

One incident I remember was down at Crufts I was asked to help on the Discover Dogs Stand, where people can see an example of various breed and find out more about them to see if that particular breed is suitable for them. Anyway this well known show person kept telling people I was speaking to that Salukis must be kept on a lead at all times unless in a secure compound or they will run away! I remember these show people being terrified that my Saluki (Fudge) would escape from the stand out through a fire escape that was open.

The reason a lot of show Salukis run away is because they never get off the lead and absolutely crave freedom and aren't about to come back in a hurry only to get placed back on a lead.
These dogs need free running and love hunting (whether purposeful or simply allowing them to hunt and chase on walks) or an equivalent like lure coursing.

The problem with the lack of women on here is mainly going to be that most female Saluki owners aren't even even remotely interested in Salukis hunting even disliking it which is a shame as this what created the Saluki in the first place and what make them stand apart from other dogs.

I would be quite happy to put a Lure coursing section up if you like?

One forum in the uk you might like is Salukis and Co, but it has a no hunting talk censorship, it is mostly women.

I wonder why it seems to be more women than men that keep Salukis?

The best thing for a saluki is running free & hunting (and "hunting", too) - you can see it every day!
A saluki without these possibilties has no real saluki life - and it´s a shame as you say :angry: In every country you have both kind of saluki people.

In the "sewing-circle" ;) Audax-forum I think that we are saluki people with free running hounds, which in freedom are the most aesthetic creatures in the world.
A great deal of our salukis are both show- and LC-hounds. I can however fully understand your negative aspect on the show world.

Because of the beauty and elegance of the saluki, many people (women) choose this breed - but there are of course many other reasons, too. I´ve noticed that saluki people are sporty and love nature and live in a way that is good just for the saluki.

A saluki forum without hunting perspective is no real saluki forum. I think that a LC-section would be very interesting.

How do people find this forum? I got the address fortunately from a friend, the breeder of my Lottie.

I've put a lure coursing section up, hopefully that might make the forum a bit more attrative to others with Saluki's outside from all out hunting.

More or less word of mouth to be honest, I have post links on some my favourite Saluki site Guestbooks, also the link is in my profile on some hunting forums and I put the link on the Saluki list, where most of the member on here came from.

I had hoped that most with Salukis would give the link to a friend or 2 who in turn would do the same and gradually people would find their way here.

^ Good! I´m seeing forward to, that somebody will write about LC.

I do not have much experience of LC activity - two of our salukis are since 2005 regularly training - more or less - in a place about 100 km from our home. We have also been in some LC competitions with Nasima, even in deep snow last winter :rolleyes: - fun!

LC is quite a young sport among saluki people - but in my country LC is now becoming very popular, I think. LC started in USA in late 1960:s and in Scandinavia ten years later. Here we have about 15-30 salukis in each competition (in track racing about 5 salukis).

Al Sarab,

What are the laws on hunting with hounds in Scandinavia?

Is there much open space in the landscape?

regards,
L.

Lennard,

This is a very interesting question, and the fact that hunting living animals with hounds is totally forbidden in Scandinavia, explains why hunting people choose other admitted breeds which are intended for their special forms of hunting.

I do´nt have the law text of hunting in my hand right now, and I do´nt know the law of for instance Denmark, but in Finland, Sweden and Norway we might have rather similar hunting laws, I think... - and also laws related to the protection of animals and wild nature.

Here in North we are used to have the privilege and possibility of walking in woodlands, forests and fields without seeing anybody else but the wilderness.
Although, the laws of animal and nature protection determine which time of the year you can have your hounds running free.... :rolleyes:

Suitable places for hounds running free in my country are also kilometers of sea, lake and river shores with sand and only sand.
The Paradise on Earth is Lapland, where I periodically have lived with my earlier salukis - but I had also to learn, that a saluki too easily is hunting reindeers <_< - especially on the woodless areas (tundras)... After some bad incidents I had to keep my hounds in lead, but I were skiing myself (in winter) - it was however a rather good compromise B) ... ´

In winter time with snow and ice also in the Southern parts of the country all the world is open for your hounds!

But because of the flying speed of the hounds, traffic accidents with tragic consesequenses for the animals, where ever they run, have increased - also train accidents :( .

I think the reason more women own salukis has to do with a man's (not all) idea of what constitutes a 'macho' dog. Most men I meet tend to think my dogs are woosies because they are slender and streamlined instead of bulky and meaty with jaws the size of a heifer's head - like a rottweiler. Our silly societal pressures ingrain it in the brain from such an early age that it is hard for men to get past this stereotype. I will say though, that once these 'men' see what my dogs can do they often change their mind on whether they like them ... but they'd never admit it. LOL That's just my take on the situation anyhow.

Hunting hare with hounds is not legal in my neck of the woods either. Hunting of any sort is highly regulated in this area because many people come to hunt moose, deer, bear and grouse among others. We are not allowed such privileges as open field coursing and any such activities are pursued behind the scenes. The environment here (sub-boreal forest) is not even remotely similar to that of their country of origin so the hunting is quite dissimilar most of the time. There are quite a few meadows and fields in the area since it is a ranching community but as I stated, it is difficult to hunt in these areas because they are open and one could be seen doing something that is not allowed.

Unfortunately, in most 'civilized' areas of Canada lure coursing is our only option to attempt to mimic the true function of the Saluki and related hounds. Consequently, I think it is a good idea to include Lure Coursing in your forum. The more people you can include and influence to encourage functional hounds the better IMO.

I think that is very true, here in the uk alot of hunter use hugely muscled bull terrier X Greyhounds for hunting mainly foxes. Some have such huge heads and stocky bodies that it must effect their running ability, yet these are the ones that they prefer above all. All that power is way over the top to kill a fox that might make 25lbs at the most extreme of cases, it has to be a macho thing. :lol: