Sloughi Dog Breed Information

The Sloughi is the Berber and Arab sighthound of North Africa, the desert coursing dog of what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, and one of the rarest breeds in New Zealand. NZKC registrations sit at zero or one per year, the entire NZ population is in the single digits, and almost every Sloughi in the country has been imported from Australian, European or US breeding programmes after a 24 to 48 month wait. Most NZ Sloughis live in households already running Salukis, Greyhounds or Whippets, with the multi-sighthound profile shared across the small NZ sighthound network.

Adults stand 61 to 72 cm at the shoulder and weigh 18 to 27 kg. The Sloughi is shorter-coated than the Saluki (no feathering at all), with a fine smooth coat in sand, fawn, red, brindle, or any of these with the classic black mask that gives the breed its distinctive desert-hound look. The build is lean and racy but slightly more robust than the Saluki, with the bone and muscle of a working coursing hound built for long pursuit on rough ground.

The trade-off worth naming up front is prey drive. The Sloughi was selected over a thousand years to course running animals across desert terrain at distance from the handler, and the wiring is unaltered. NZ rabbit, hare, possum, cat and free-roaming chicken populations all qualify as triggers. Recall is unreliable around prey for life. Off-lead work is realistic only inside fenced areas; ordinary urban parks without fencing rarely work, and a Sloughi at full sprint covers ground faster than any human can react.

Personality and behaviour

Sloughis are reserved. The breed is affectionate with its household, often deeply bonded to one or two people, and indifferent or actively wary of almost everyone else. The Berber tradition of treating the Sloughi as a member of the family, distinct from village dogs, is visible in the temperament: a Sloughi indoors lies on the couch with the household, pads quietly from room to room, accepts a quiet greeting but does not invite enthusiastic handling.

Strangers get neither friendliness nor aggression. A Sloughi watching a visitor walk into the lounge is the entire greeting, and a poorly socialised Sloughi can be visibly wary or back away. Puppy socialisation matters more for this breed than for almost any other in the Hounds group; an under-socialised Sloughi can be sharp at the front door for life. The breed is not a watchdog in the traditional sense; barking is rare enough that most NZ Sloughi owners say they hear their dog vocalise less than once a month.

Sloughis suit other sighthounds well. Multi-Sloughi, Sloughi-and-Saluki, Sloughi-and-Greyhound or Sloughi-and-Whippet households are common in NZ sighthound circles. The breed is less playful in the Labrador sense than most other dogs; the play drive is not absent, but it is reserved for specific moments and short bursts.

The trait that surprises new owners is sensitivity. Sloughis remember handling, harsh or kind, for years. Reinforcement-based training is the only realistic approach; the breed shuts down on harsh corrections in a way that is harder to undo than for most breeds. The trait that surprises new owners second is the silence. A household with a Sloughi is genuinely quiet in a way that a Beagle or Foxhound household is not.

Care and exercise

Plan on around 75 minutes of structured exercise a day, including at least one sprint or extended trot in a fenced area three or four times a week. Sloughis are endurance coursers more than pure sprinters; the breed can keep a fast trot going for an hour where a Whippet is done in three minutes and a Greyhound in five. Lead walking alone is not enough; the dog needs space to gallop regularly.

The exercise constraint is fencing. A Sloughi at full sprint covers ground faster than any human can react. Most NZ Sloughi households on lifestyle blocks have a paddock dedicated to the dogs; suburban Sloughi owners book Sniffspot or fenced sports fields for weekend running sessions, often combined with the local sighthound network’s organised lure-coursing days.

Grooming is minimal. The fine smooth coat needs only a weekly wipe with a hound glove. Sheds very lightly year-round with no major seasonal blow-out, which makes the breed easier to live with on furniture than its size suggests. The thin skin tears on barbed wire, gorse, blackberry and rough park fences; small cuts bleed dramatically and need quick first aid. A styptic pen and basic wound care are worth keeping in the door.

The dietary watch-out is leanness. A healthy Sloughi shows the last two ribs and a defined waist. Too much food during the first two years of pet life softens the breed silhouette, which looks fine but pushes the dog towards joint and cardiac issues later. Two measured meals a day, no free-feeding, treats counted into the daily total.

The cold sensitivity matters in NZ. The thin coat and lean build mean a Sloughi shivers at 12 degrees standing still. A fitted winter coat for autumn and winter walks, a raised padded bed off cold tile floors, and a fleece overall for cold mornings are practical year-round in Wellington, Canterbury and Otago. The breed was built for desert; the smooth single coat is genuinely under-equipped for a Wanaka July without kit.

The other watch-out is anaesthetic sensitivity. Sighthound metabolism handles certain anaesthetic drugs differently to other breeds; lean body composition with low body fat changes drug uptake. Use a vet familiar with sighthound protocols, particularly for routine procedures like desexing and dental cleans. As a deep-chested breed, the Sloughi carries some bloat risk; feed twice daily, avoid heavy exercise within an hour of eating, and learn the symptoms.

Where to find a Sloughi in New Zealand

The supply chain is genuinely thin.

1. Imports from Australia, Europe or North America. The realistic primary path. The NZ breeder base is essentially zero in any given year. Australian Sloughi breeders are the closest source; European (Netherlands, Germany, France) and US programmes also export to NZ households with the relevant biosecurity paperwork. Expect 24 to 48 months between expressing interest and taking delivery, NZ$3,000 to NZ$5,500 per puppy plus NZ$3,000 to NZ$6,000 in import costs depending on origin and biosecurity timeline.
2. Registered NZKC breeders. The Dogs NZ breeders directory lists any active NZ Sloughi breeders, although in most years the listing is empty. When NZ litters do happen they are tiny and the waitlist is long.
3. Sighthound rescues. Independent NZ sighthound rescue networks occasionally take Sloughi crosses or rare full-Sloughi surrenders, although true Sloughis in rescue are exceptionally rare in NZ. Adoption fees run NZ$400 to NZ$800 where available.

Avoid any breeder marketing the Sloughi as an apartment-friendly companion, downplaying the prey drive or the breed’s natural reserve, or breeding Sloughi crosses (Sloughi x Greyhound, Sloughi x Saluki) at premium prices. The breed is small enough in numbers that an honest assessment of fit matters more here than for any popular breed; the small number of NZ Sloughi owners and the international breeder networks they import from take that assessment seriously.