[KUTYAFAJTÁK] Agár fajták

In recent years the Tamps have noticed a decline in the number of Salukis in their area, though they are still to be found, albeit mainly among the Kurds and gypsies, as in northern Iraq and Syria and south-eastern Turkey. Until a few years ago there was a Turkic tribe living in a rather rundown quarter of Ghasvin about 150 kms west of Tehran and nearly every house had a couple of Salukis for hunting foxes and other small animals for their fur, which was traded commercially. (This mirrors the practice in Kazakhstan where in the 1930s Tazys were being bred in their thousands for commercial hunting for furs.) However development of Ghasvin seems to have overtaken this tribe and they no longer go hunting. As elsewhere in the region, the Kurds tend to crop their hounds' ears in the belief that wolves cannot hurt them so easily; whereas they do not remove dew claws as they are regarded as useful for running. The Kurds breed on the basis of best to best available in their village but will go further afield if necessary. They judge a Saluki's quality mainly on its performance.

The Kurds cover a huge area of Western Asia and despite political boundaries they have always exercised their independence by migrating this way and that according to the economic and political pressures of the time. Wherever there are Kurds there are Salukis: certainly in Iran, Iraq and Syria but also in Turkey.