Breeds / Large
Sloughi puppies
Reserved, dignified and gentle with their own household, the Sloughi is a Moroccan sighthound with a strong prey drive and little natural interest in strangers.
The facts
- Size class Large
- Country of origin Morocco
- Adult weight 18.1 to 29.5 kg
- Adult weight in pounds 40 to 65 lb
- Adult height 61 to 74 cm
- Energy level High
- Grooming Low
- Coat type Short smooth
- Shedding Moderate
- Typical lifespan 10 to 15 years
- Good with children Fine with supervision
- Good with other dogs Fine with supervision
About the Sloughi
The Sloughi is a North African sighthound, kept for centuries across Morocco and the surrounding region to course hare, gazelle and jackal over open ground. They are lean and flat muscled, 61 to 74 cm tall and 18.1 to 29.5 kg, with a short sandy coat, a long tapering head and a famously melancholy expression. At home they are quiet and undemanding, and their manner is best described as aloof: warm with their own family, reserved and watchful with everyone else.
A Sloughi needs a chance to gallop at full stretch, and that has to happen inside a securely fenced space. Prey drive is high, and a running cat or rabbit will beat any recall you have built. Grooming is a weekly rub over with a hound glove. The coat is thin, so the dog feels the cold and wants a soft bed off the floor. Training works through quiet repetition and food, never through force. Newcomers often expect gundog biddability and read this breed's independence as stubbornness.
What to expect at eight weeks
At eight weeks a Sloughi puppy is sleeping around 18 to 20 hours a day, is not house trained, and cannot hold on for more than an hour or two at a stretch. A large breed puppy at eight weeks looks deceptively normal sized and will roughly double every few weeks for a while. Keep exercise short and low impact, the growth plates are wide open. This is a high energy breed. At eight weeks that shows up as intensity rather than stamina, and they will need a job to do long before they need long walks. Grooming is straightforward, but start handling the coat, feet and ears in week one anyway so it is never a fight later. The socialisation window is open and closing: everything they meet calmly now, from vacuum cleaners to men in hats, is easier for the rest of their life.
Health worth knowing about
Conditions this breed is reported to be predisposed to. Predisposed does not mean inevitable, it means ask about it.
- Progressive retinal atrophy, detectable by DNA test on both parents
- Sensitivity to anaesthetics and some drugs, common in lean sighthounds and worth flagging to a vet before any surgery
- Dental disease, kept down by regular tooth brushing and veterinary checks
Your Sloughi puppy's first six months
- Vaccination schedule, dated for your country.
- Worming and parasite schedule.
- Feeding calculator. Set expected adult size to Large for a Sloughi.
- Adult size predictor, to check growth against the 18.1 to 29.5 kg adult range.
- Puppy names and the first week checklist.
Kit sizes: crate 36 inch (36 x 24 x 26 in, 91 x 61 x 66 cm) for an adult of up to 29.5 kg; chew toys made for large breeds. Worked out the same way as the crate size calculator. PetMD bases a crate on the dog's own measurements, not weight or breed alone, so measure once the puppy is home.
Buying guides for this
Other large breeds
More on the Sloughi
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Not veterinary advice. Breed information is general. Your own dog, and your own vet, always win.
Sources
- akc.org for adult weight and height, life expectancy, energy, grooming, shedding and the temperament ratings, coat type and health notes
- fci.be for country of origin
- Health notes from Sloughi breed information at https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/sloughi/. Discuss any of these with your own vet.
Photo: Dr. Sabine Schlenkrich, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped. All photographers are listed on the photo credits page.