What do you notice about the following sentence: “Dogs should average in height from 23 to 28 inches and bitches may be considerably smaller, this being very typical of the breed.”

Some of you will have recognized the sentence as a line from the Saluki‘s AKC breed standard. What we wondered if you’d notice is the not-insignificant size variation: 23 to 28 inches. Five inches is a lot of “dog height” to add or subtract, but here’s why it exists: The Saluki existed in Egypt throughout the Middle East to the mountains of Iraq and Iran bordering on the Caspian Sea, and the Indian Ocean at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. Environmental extremes ranging from the hot, dry dessert to moderate temperatures with normal rainfall impacted all animals, including the ones hunted by the Saluki. The size of the game could be the 19″ of a small Gazelle at the shoulder, to a larger, and more average sized Gazelle found in the mountains. Every nomadic Beduin group used the type of Saluki that best suited their own area of the Middle East, and thus, Salukis exported to Europe and the US came from many different old original types. The breed standard is carefully worded to allow for this fact.

Image: “Salukis On The Beach” by Frank Vigneri is available as wall art as well as a greeting card here