le galgo espagnol est-il en péril? Is the Spanish Galgo endangered?

je suis en train de finir le livre de claudia, j'ai appris beaucoup de choses, et un certain nombre d'éléments sont vraiment inquiétants.
déjà j'ai été effarée du nombre de vols de chien (tous les éleveurs en sont victimes), ainsi que du faible nombre d'éleveurs espagnols travaillant avec des chiens à pedigree (une douzaine), et du nombre de chiens inscrits au livre des origines espagnols (2000 depuis la création du livre, c'est seulement 3 fois plus qu'en france!!). je ne pensais pas que le galgo était si mal en point dans son berceau de race.
je me disais que les très nombreux galgos sans pedigree (entre 500 000 et 1 million) constituaient un réservoir infini pour la race, mais ce que j'ai lu sur la pratique du sport de la chasse au lièvre en Espagne n'incite pas non plus à l'optimisme.
car en l'absence d'obligation d'inscription à un livre d'origine, les passionnés d'un sport ne s'attachent pas à conserver une race mais à créer le chien qui va bien pour assouvir leur passion.
ainsi les passionnés de canicross utilisent des greysters, croisement de braque et de greyhound qui allient puissance et vitesse, les mushers utilisent des croisements de malamute ou huskies avec des chiens de chasse ou même des lévriers pour augmenter leur rapidité, à tel point que dans les courses de traineaux ils créent désormais un classement spécial pour les attelages de chiens de race pure qui se retrouvent dans les choux par rapport aux attelages de croisés plus rapides.
or, le sport avec les galgos en Espagne tel que décrit dans le livre de claudia n'avantage absolument pas le galgo de race pure mais bien le croisement de grey et de galgo : il faut des chiens puissants et spectaculaires, suivant bêtement et frénétiquement le lièvre dans toutes les configurations au lieu d'anticiper sa trajectoire, dans des épreuves pas très longues. un vrai et pur galgo sec, endurant et intelligent sera immédiatement écarté car inapte pour ce qui est attendu. pourquoi un galguero s'entêterait-il à travailler en race pure et perdre toutes ses courses alors qu'il pourrait gagner avec un croisement de grey?
on ne peut même pas se fier à l'apparence physique puisqu'un parfait galgo peut tout à fait porter de nombreux gène de grey ou d'autres races qui ressortiront dans la progénitures et seront délétères pour la race.
finalement le seul réservoir fiable de chiens de type pur resterait les galgos des braconniers qui chassent comme jadis dans le seul but d'attraper la proie (ça doit être très facile et pratique de les trouver et de leur acheter un chien!!!).
et quand on voit que les éleveurs des quelques portées à pedigree en Europe ont beaucoup de mal à vendre leurs chiots, je trouve tout cela bien inquiétant pour l'avenir de la race.

I am just finishing the book of claudia, I learned a lot, and a number of things are really disturbing. I was already scared of the number of dog thefts (all breeders are victims), and the small number of Spanish breeders working with pedigree dogs (a dozen), and the number of dogs registered in the Spanish book of origins (2000 since the book is, only 3 times more than France!). I did not think that the galgo was so badly in his birthplace of race.
I thought that the many galgos without pedigree (between 500,000 and 1 million) were an infinite reservoir for the race, but what I read about the sport of hunting the hare in Spain does not encourage to be optimistic.
because in the absence of requirement ofregistration to an origin book, fans of a sport are not interest in keeping a race, but to create a dog that goes to feed their passion.
so fans of canicross use greysters, a crossing of greyhound and hunting hound that combine power and speed ; mushers use malamute or husky crossed with hunting dogs and even greyhounds to increase their speed, so much so that in sleds racing they have created a special classification for teams of purebred dogs that are found in sprouts compared to teams of crossed dogs faster.
and the sport with galgos in Spain as described in the book of claudia absolutely do not advantage purebred galgo but the crossing of Grey and galgo: dogs must be powerful and dramatic, silly and wildly following the hare in all configurations rather than anticipate its trajectory, in tests not very long. a true and pure galgo dry, tough and intelligent will be immediately dismissed as unfit for what is expected. why a galguero would persist in working with purebred and lose all his races when he could win with a crossing of grey?
we can not even rely on physical appearance since a perfect galgo may have many grey or other races genes that will appear in the offspring and will be deleterious to the breed.
ultimately the only reliable reservoir of dogs remain the pure type galgos of poachers who hunt as before for the sole purpose of catching prey (it must be very easy and convenient to find them and buy them a dog !!!).
and when we see that the breeders of pedigree galgos in Europe are struggling to sell their puppies, I find all this very worrying for the
future of the breed.

Maud, je crois que les choses évoluent lentement mais plutôt dans le bon sens même si c'est vrai ce n'est pas gagné d'avance.
Il y a 15-20 ans, pour les espagnols, le galgo c'était un grey. Les premières expo que j'ai faites en Espagne, j'avais une grey et une galga poil dure : tout le monde (y compris certains juges) s'extasiait sur ma grey en la prenant pour un galgo et se demandait quelle était la race bizarre de la chienne poil dur.
Je trouve que ces dernières années les espagnols ont vraiment pris conscience de leur galgo "historique", il y a de très bons éleveurs et dixit un ami à moi qui chasse en Espagne, quand on fréquente les chasses et les morfologica (où sont admis les galgos sans papier) il y a encore de très beaux sujets en Espagne.
Ensuite savoir si sur plusieurs générations il n'y a pas eu de retrempage grey (ou autres), c'est difficile mais ces apports de races étrangères existent dans toutes les races (greys avec dogue allemand, whippet avec greys pour celles que je connais).
Quant aux chasseurs qui continuent les retrempages avec les greys, comme tu dis, c'est comme les nordiques mais c'est aussi l'utilisation qui fait les races. Je crois d'ailleurs qu'on donne un nom particulier à ces galgos croisés greys.
Mais c'est vrai que pour élever il faut avoir la foi !!

traduction par l'administration
Maud, I think things are moving slowly but in the right direction even if it's true it's not a foregone conclusion.
15-20 years ago, for the Spanish, the galgo was a grey. The first exhibition I did in Spain, I had a grey and a wire-haired galga: everyone (including some judges) raved about my grey that they took for a galgo and wondered what was the race of the wire-haired bitch.
I find that in recent years the Spanish have really become aware of their "historic" galgo , there are very good breeders, and dixit a friend of mine who hunts in Spain, when one frequent the hunts and morfologica (which are admitted galgos without paper) there are still some beautiful galgo in Spain.
Then knowing whether on several generations there was no rewetting with grey (or other) is difficult, but these contributions of alien races exist in all races (grey with German dogue, Whippet with Grey for those I know ).
As for hunters who continue the rewetting with greys, as you say, it's like the northern but it is also the use that makes the races. I also think we give a special name for these galgos crossed with greys.
But it's true that for breeding you must have faith!

Très intéressante réflexion

j'ai également l'impression que les galgos proposés à l'adoption par les associations sont de moins en moins typés, les très beaux galgos comme le pedro de nouchka sur le forum des lévriers sont devenus exceptionnels.

I also feel that the galgos available for adoption by the associations are less typed, the beautiful galgos like pedro of Nouchka on the sighthound Forum have become exceptional.

O Pedro mon beau Pedro

quel gâchis que ce chien soit castré ....

je te comprends Sandrine et il est vrai que pour élever des galgos aujourd'hui il faut être un vrai passionné

mais justement pour nous qui suivons votre travail, c'est passionnant et quand on voit l'évolution de la race, je trouve que cela va dans le bon sens, le galgo a retrouvé son identité à part entière.

Pour la plupart les galgos produits sont très bien typés, les éleveurs font une sélection intelligente et chacun selon ses goûts, les lignées sont intéressantes et elles progressent.

Je suis sûre Sandrine que tu as encore plein de projets et d'idées de mariages pour améliorer ta lignée, grâce à l'ouverture de la communication, on peut découvrir d'autres chiens et envisager d'autres mariages internationaux.

Et puis surtout heureusement qu'il y a cet engouement pour le galgo en Europe du Nord, la bas le galgo est véritablement admiré, les éleveurs font des milliers de kilomètres pour suivre la race.

Sincèrement je ne pense pas que l'avenir du galgo soit noir, mais il est certain qu'il repose sur une poignée de passionnés

le galgo reste une race confidentielle mais peut être que cela est mieux ainsi.

traduction de l'administration
Sandrine I understand you and it is true that for breeding galgos now you must be a passionate

but for us who follow your work it is exciting and when you see the evolution of the race, I think it's going in the right direction, the galgo found its identity in its own right.

For most the producted galgos are well typed, breederss make an intelligent selection and each according to his tastes, the lines are interesting and they are progressing.

Sandrine I'm sure you still have lots of projects and ideas to improve your marriage line, with the opening of communication, we can discover other dogs and consider other international marriages.

And most fortunately there is this craze for galgo in Northern Europe, there the galgo is truly admired, breeders make thousands of miles to follow the race.

Honestly I do not think the future of galgo is black, but it is certain that it rests on a handful of enthusiasts

galgo remains a secret race, but maybe this is better.

je suis toujours très chagrinée de voir de magnifiques chiots rester sur les bras de leurs éleveurs, les magnifiques rabilargos norvégiens qui m'ont fait baver, les suédois issus d'un très beau mariage 100% espagnol.
la propriétaire d'agatha a gardé 2 chiots, je doute que ce soit un choix. il reste un mâle à placer chez hervé de la sublime portée de dama et je doute également que le fait d'avoir gardé D'Osuna ait été un choix.
certes, il y a aussi des invendus dans des races à la mode, mais chaque fois qu'un éleveur découragé abandonne l'élevage du galgo c'est un morceau du patrimoine du galgo qui se perd.


I am always chagrined to see beautiful puppies staying on the arms of their breeders, the beautiful Norwegian rabilargos that made me drool, the Swedish from a beautiful marriage 100% Spanish.
the owner of agatha has kept two puppies, I doubt that it is a choice. there is a male still to place in the sublime hervé litter of Dama and I doubt that the fact of having kept D'Osuna was a choice.
Certainly, there are also unsold in races in fashion, but each time a bredder abandons the breeding of galgos by discouragement, it is a piece of galgo heritage that is lost.

For me a big problem for galgo breeding are rescue people.
In Italy there are hundreds of advertisement in a lot of website and people think that rescue are pure breed or that you take a puppy from breeder only for show, not for pet.
Before 2000, people don't love sighthound, now that they are "free" and you can save them, people love sighthound! but only from rescue! So we have more of 300 sighthounds imported in Italy every year and sighthound from breeders don't find a home. If a breeder don't sell, he will not do other litters!

For me, I see the problem in the reduced gene-pool. Very seldom we have the luck, that an absolutely fresh galgo like Socrates in coming into the gene-pool of the FCI-galgos.
The galgos in the concursos are getting better, but... when I really liked a galgo without papers and talked to the owner/breeder, in the most cases there was a pedigree galgo the father or mother.

in one way I think like you Elisa about rescued galgos, but there is also a lot of people who discovered like me galgos trough the rescues and came to very true breed by that.

and you know, when I look on people who are adopting rescues galgos, I see two different kinds of people: the first kind is sadly more represented, they are people who see the galgo only like a "martyr" they have to save, not like a sighthound, and these people don't even particularly love sighthounds and their specificities, they just want to save a animal which has suffered but all the time they gonna live with their galgos, they never gonna "get" or "feel" the breed, their needs, their reactions... they're gonna treat them and take care of them like a dog which is "traumatised" and they never gonna "risk" to take them off the leash, and they're gonna feed them until they're become fat... owners will be happy of it (poor little think who suffered from starvation! now he is allowed to eat all he wants!) but the galgo will suffer of overweight and owners won't get it, even when they tell us and explain why...

and so on....

and they're is a second kind: passioned people, who gonna fall in love of the breed, who want to know more about the breed, who want to make the things right for their sighthound, and gonna develop an interest into the breed... and this kind of people will probably one day buy a puppy from a breeder

and maybe they gonna continue to adopt, but also have the desire to have a galgo with a pedigree...

the first kind don't even deserve to have a galgo for some of them, so don't bother about us, and these people are used to never buy a dog, always rescue one... from a shelter and now with a rescue organisation,

but without rescued galgos, they would never be attracted by the sighthound and won't get a puppy from a breeder anyway, so it changes nothing.

In Italy who take a rescue galgo don't take a dog with pedigree, because for them pedigree is only for show. So they are very happy because they have a "pure dog" and they have done a good thing. If they want a whippet, they search a dog in adoption, not a pet from a breeder. 300 sighthound in a country like Italy is big number! We have, every year, about 700/800 new-borned from breeders.

About reduced gene-pool, it is true, I think that CNGE'd invent some rules for boost litters with pedigree. This in Spain, but breeders out of Spain could to use more different dogs and take some new-blood from Spain.
But new-blood must not to use much! Nobody must to use much!
Decim's father was a new-blood and now he is present in too much pedigree.

It is not easy to find a new galgo with pedigree or register papers. Huracan was fresh, I took Uschi (Rayma Corbella) and I didn't know that Huracan is now in nearly every FCI-litter that is born in Spain as a father or Grandfather. Casillas is a fresh male, Attila and Neron. Are there more others? I had very bad experiences with using fresh males: one was stolen and the other, whom I wanted to see first, was already dead, but teh owner didn't want to say this. 4500 km without seeing the dog, I heard later, that the dog was not living anymore when I was there.

But you can take dog without pedigree and to do it later. In Italy is very simple. You must to do an expo and judge can give him a certificate of type. For me Socrates's pedigree was not so important...

I think in Germany it is more complicated, if I correctly remember what Claudia explained in another subjet...

now, It's maybe not that clever to say it in a forum, but in Belgium, it is very easy too, and maybe it could exist some solution to allow you, Claudia to "have" a new galgo with a "new pedigree"...

It is not so difficult to register a galgo in Germany. A lot of rescues got the registration papers, in the past it was easier, but it is still not impossible to get these papaers for a rescue galg for example. But with these papers, you can do shows and some coursing and racings, but not breeding. For this, you need a special OK and I don't any 0-register galgo (without known), who got the Ok for breeding in Germany during the last years. So I can't take a dog with me. And I'm still not sure, what the club would say, if soemone uses a Reg-0 male from another country, where he is confirmed. In this case, the rules of the club are not clear defined.

Here there isn't confirmed for breeding, everydog can do it.
With azawakh Alberto gave imported stud to german breeder, I don't remember what they asked... You must to ask to Gabi Meissen.
I know some azawakh that in France or Germany can not breed, that they will change pedigree and they did some nice litters!

Azawakh and Sloughi have different papers. They have Imp-0 Papers (import). With these imp-papers they are allowed to do amny more things than a dog with Reg-papers. It is not fair!! I think that for the Imp-paper-dogs, they have or had (maybe they changed it now), that it is not allowed to cross Imp0 x Imp0, that means two dogs with unknown origin. For the Reg-dogs, tehre is of course not such a rule, because it is normally not allowed to breed with Reg 0-papers.
So, we poor Germany have to wait for other breeders that they use a Reg-0 dog, so that we can use a child from this dog.

je ne pense pas que les associations fassent du tord à la race dans le sens où elles permettent de faire connaître le nom du galgo dont personne n'aurait jamais entendu parler sans les associations, et qu'un adoptant peut par la suite être tenté par un galgo avec un pedigree.

et je trouve que les associations sont moins virulentes que par le passé vis à vis des éleveurs "aux mains tachées du sang des galgos" et des propriétaires de galgos à pedigree "qui se pavanent en exposition alors qu'il y a tant de malheureux à adopter en espagne". trop occupées à se bouffer entre elles probablement.

mais les chiens proposés à l'adoption sont de plus en plus souvent des ersatz de galgos croisés berger ou labrador (les associations le prennent très mal quand on leur fait remarquer, disant que tous les chiens même croisés méritent d'être sauvés). il y a moins de probabilité que ces croisés galgos entraînent un coup de coeur pour la race de leurs adoptants, parce qu'ils ne reconnaitront pas leur chien dans la race pure, qui n'est pas forcément "jolie" pour le commun des mortels. beaucoup de gens trouvent ma galga très moche même s'ils n'osent pas me le dire.

autour de moi je n'ai réussi à convaincre personne de prendre un galgo (c'est pas faute d'en faire l'apologie), ils prennent un labrador, un caniche, un berger australien, un berger allemand, mais certainement pas un galgo et ne me demandent même pas de renseignement sur la race ou chez qui je l'ai achetée et combien je l'ai payée.
les dernières portées en france ont souvent été placées chez des gens qui avait déjà un galgo LOF, et les ventes chez des gens dont c'était le premier galgo ne ce sont pas toujours bien passées par la suite.
il est vraiment difficile de convaincre de nouveaux adeptes.

or si les éleveurs ne vendent pas les chiots, ils arrêteront d'élever. de nombreux anciens éleveurs de galgos ont changé de race ou ont arrêté de produire.
quant aux quelques particuliers qui se sont avisés de faire une portée à leur galga, on ne les reprendra pas de si tôt!

en tant que simple particulier la seule chose que je peux faire pour soutenir la race c'est d'acheter un chiot aux éleveurs, mais je peux en prendre un, deux, allez peut-être trois, mais pas 25!
je compte un peu sur ce forum pour permettre aux gens qui cherchent des informations sur la race d'en trouver plus facilement et d'avoir une liste des portées disponibles ou mariages envisagés, mais y a-t-il vraiment des "profanes" qui cherchent des informations sur la race?

il n'est pas bon pour une race d'être à la mode, mais pour le galgo non rescue on en est quand même très loin.



I do not think that associations harm the race in the sense that they allow to know the name of galgo which no one ever heard of without associations, and an adopter may be tempted by galgo with a pedigree.

and I find that the associations are less virulent than in the past with breeders "who's hands are stained with the blood of galgos and
owners of pedigree galgos "who strut on exhibitions while there are so many unfortunates to adopt in Spain. " too busy to eat themselves probably.

but the dogs available for adoption are more often ersatz of galgos crossed with shepherd or labrador (associations take it very badly when you note it, saying that all dogs even crossed worth to be saved). there is less likelihood that such crossed galgos cause a favorite for the race by their adoptive parents because they will not recognize their dog in the pure race, which is not necessarily "pretty" for the common man. many people find my galga very ugly even if they do not dare telling me.

around me I did not managed to convince anybody to take galgo (it's not for lack of apologist!), they take a labrador, a poodle, an Australian shepherd, a German shepherd, but certainly not a galgo and do not even ask me for information on race or where I bought it and how much I paid.
the last litters in France were often placed in people who already had a LOF galgo, and sales among people for who it was the first galgo have not always gone well in the future.
It's really hard to attract new lovers.

but if breeders do not sell the puppies, they will stop breeding. many former galgo breeders have changed of race or have stopped breeding.
The few individuals who made a litter with their galga, won't do it any time soon!

as a private individual the only thing I can do to support the race is to buy a puppy to breeders, but I can take one, two, maybe three, but not 25!
I expect a little about this forum to allow people seeking information about the race to find and to get easier a list of marriages made available or planned, but are there really 'outsiders' seeking information about the race?

It is not good for a race to be fashionable, but for the non rescue galgo it is still far away.

In winter, a friend and I, we had too much time and searched through all pedigrees of galgos in the whole world and made a list of all ancestors, that are in these pedigrees. We counted the ancestors that would be able to use if all these dogs were used for breeding and had a number of only approx. 42 galgos.

Maybe we forgot very few galgos in Spain, but that was not important, because if we don't know them, they are also not used for later breeding.
Of these possible 42 different ancestors, a lot will never be used in the future for breeding(too old, owner not intersted in breeding etc) and will get lost forever. Some very new galgos come now to that list, like Socrates. But I think that it is a dangerous situation, because the number is not increasing, but getting smaller.

In breeding I always look "foundations", it is very important. If you see c.i. in 4 generations, maybe it is low, but if you see in more generations and dog's foundations, you see that there are dogs with a lot of generations but it has done with very few foundations dogs!