you know what really weirds me out sometimes
certain sight hounds
because some of them just look like skin and bones and that’s the breed standard (they aren’t malnourished or anything, that’s just what they look like)
like this guy or this guy and sometimes when i see ribs on a saluki
and it’s like… my first initial reaction is that i just wanna fatten them up more. >_>
You have to look at them and consider what they are bred for and see them as extreme athletes, because that’s what they are. Salukis and Azawakhs are other lean, lean sighthound breeds are bred for endurance. The greyhound and whippet type sighthounds are less “skinny” and have more bulging muscles because they are short distance sprinters. Consider how we humans look who have trained for those sort of sports as well.
For EX: Azawakh and Saluki (long distance runners, bred more for stamina - marathoners with long, lean, flat muscles) They hunt in very open terrain where there is little to no cover at all, so they rely on tiring their prey out over a chase that could last for MILES.
And greyhound and whippet type sighthounds who are bred for quick short bursts of intense speed, hence their massive, bulging muscles which make them appear less “ribby” then the leaner sighthounds. EX:
These dogs were bred for killing fast prey such as rabbit or hare and then perfected as a breed for hunting prey mainly for sport as well as racing. They have to grab and kill the prey as fast as possible. Also, sighthound metabolism is very very high. It’s very hard to put any weight on them. They are still very primitive dogs and are some of the world’s oldest breed so, they still have a lot of their natural ways (genetic wise as well-they have very little breed health concerns and are actually some of the healthiest breeds) and many of them are still used today in their homelands as they have been for hundreds of years.
And now have a look at marathoners and sprinters in the human variety:
Marathoner (L) Sprinter (R)
It would be impossible for the marathoner to carry all that muscle over a long distance. Muscle is heavy. All sighthounds were bred for one thing: running. It’s just different sighthound breeds are bred for different types of running. They’re not bred for massive strength or ability to swim. You wouldn’t ask an olympic weightlifter to run and endurance race of 10 miles across a desert. That’s like having a mastiff (who was bred to be big and strong) do the same thing.
Pretty cool! I love these dogs!
(via canisalbus)
Not much for drawing cute things…but, I was itchin’ to draw this today.
Saluki drawing I did in ball point pen.
~Dezzoi C.
