Motion Studies during free-running

Watching a sighthound during free-running is great and you will be happy with this elegance of the movements over and over again. Coursen in the fields and running on the track, although outstanding options, the dog is obtaining the required movement, but this can never replace in my opinion, the daily free running.

An artificial or real bunny does not exist in the meadows and pastures to make a sighthound run. My hounds were all running for their own sake! The motivation for this is sometimes simply the view of the open field, for hounds are running of passion, to have no prey in their sights. This should be necessarily told all hunters that sighthounds are running of passion and joy, not only when they pursue game. If this happen because of the carelessness of the owner (he or she should always see more than her/his dog), then a hare or a deer got a real chance to escape. All hounds are sight hunters namely (hence the name in English is "Sight Hound"). What does this mean? The sighthound does not chase with the nose, but with the eyes. But when he had jumped up an animal in the wilderness, he will naturally follow his instinct and hunt behind, but as soon as the fleeing animal is escaped in the woods or it is hidden in the forest and could not be seen anymore by the hunter, the sighthound will give up the pursuit soon. At this moment, it is quite possible that the owner of a hound recalls his dog or whistles it. After the 2nd or 3rd command my hounds usually return immediately, one faster than the other. Once a rabbit collapsed dead at the paws of my Whippet. It suffered from the terrible eye disease "Myxomatosis" and his death was really a relief. In forty years, no hare has died by one of my free-running hounds, but I do not want to know how many hares have been run over by cars at this time. As I always keep one hound, I can rightly claim that a free-running hound is not a major threat to wildlife. And every hunter should beware to shoot down a hound, because by this he is showing his ignorance of the fact that hounds are not on the track. However, hunting dogs should only get in hunters' hands, otherwise they could be a danger to wildlife, when they have the opportunity for poaching, because these dogs pursue their prey with the nose and will always flush it up.

If I leave my Saluki off the leash and he jumps at full speed into the grass of the large meadow, he first runs a few circles, then my heart is "laughing". If he runs straight to me, I can look at his face and can see how he raises the lips to show me that he enjoys running and is in his element. It is an aesthetic aspect, how muscles and tendons are stretching. A Saluki is not only able to run with full muscle power, so you can hear the thundering ground, he can also float easily around bushes and trees like a feather. This looks very delicate and you wonder again how quickly he is carrying out the obstacles to react immediately and adjust speed in time. At this rate, the Saluki operates with his tail for steering like a squirrell.

Extension and flexion, so that the legs do not touch the ground sometimes are the characteristics of a running hound. These individual phases a photographer is trying to catch again and again to enjoy it. I have been lucky to have taken some pictures at high speed. It is also interesting to photograph a Saluki from behind, but only when he is stable on its hind legs. Namely, he should run in a so-called "single tracking", this means to run on a line. The fox's mode of movement is called "lacing up”. I could watch it with my Saluki, but he is not running too close behind. Since the gait in a saluki should be much more interdisciplinary and floating, but without throwing away the front or rear legs. The movement of Afghans is indeed very attractive, but it is not that one the Saluki should have, but you can watch this kind of movement in so-called "Show Dogs" at shows now and then.

In general the breeding of salukis should be balanced well on both parts of beauty and performance. The realization of this breeding goal is very meaningful for breeders and for holders because of time and costs. For this reason, this breeding goal is very important to favour with honors and awards by the Sighthound Association!