The following will need little comment, but it is unusually illustrative. The little red tazi with the gray face is Larissa, an Almaty dog in origin, Ataika’s daughter and we hope the next mother- to- be. The cream male is Tavi, the intended father, a mix of Kazakh genes and Russian.
What to notice is how the greyhound types dominate at first– I used to say that if a hare was caught at or before a quarter mile it was my late Plummer lurcher– but gradually the salukiformes’ endurance wins out– a catch after a mile needs tazi genes I think.
Please double or right click– these are worth enlarging!
Of course, dominating the hare doesn’t mean you are a social lion– it was his big old housemate Gaddi the Afghan who brought the hare to hand!
UPDATE: a friend thought I meant tazlukis are superior coursers, or that longdogs have no stamina. Not at all– I think that a mixed pack is the way to go., and ran one in my and my hounds’ time. Good grey crosses regularly take jacks closer than most “oriental sighthounds”; if a course goes to four miles, which happens in this country, they will still be in the race, but their Asian relatives may well be ahead. I have never owned a dog of either type to quit, though for all I know some may. These longdogs catch plenty of hares and one has tazi genes; they have speed and stamina.
(Track greys are still another story– very fast and very quick to burn, run like hell in a straight line, and break easily. Many don’t have the wits to come back. Great crosses, sweet pets, dumb as a bag of rocks…)
