General Information!
Here you will find general information about the breed and our organization, as well as the challenges the dogs face in the Middle East.
We are ALWAYS looking for not only foster homes but flight buddies, volunteers to do airport pickups and people willing to drive a dog a few hours closer to it might need to be. We are also always looking for people in the Middle East who are willing to go to our partnering rescues and take updated photos and videos, or just spend time with the dogs!
If you can think of anyone who might be interested in doing any if these things for us please have them contact us at arabiansalukicentreofcanada@gmail.com or the Arabian Saluki Centre of Canada on Facebook.
LIFE OF A MIDDLE EASTERN SALUKI
Life in the Middle East is not always easy for Salukis. Once treasured and revered above all other dogs, the modern day Saluki is often delegated to vermin status by some.
Salukis are used to hunt rabbits and other small game or raced to win prize money. When their usefulness has reached an end, due to age, illness, injury or whim, they are sometimes discarded. Turned loose on the streets or dumped in the desert and left to die.
Expats also adopt or keep strays they find only to turn them loose or drop them off at shelters when it is time to return home to their country of origin.
Sometimes Salukis are found with broken legs, discarded when they are of no use to their former owners. At times with ears crudely cropped and sometimes even their canine teeth are filed down.
With so many Salukis and other dogs dumped it's only natural that some of them form packs and roam the streets together in search of food.
Passive and unobtrusive by nature these packs of Salukis are hardly menacing and prefer to hang back and skitter around until they can rummage for food undisturbed. They however attract the attention of many. People don't like the idea of sharing their apartment complexes with a pack of stray dogs and construction site owners usually feel the same. Police and security guards chase them away or in some cases shoot them or poison them.
SHELTERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
There are very few shelters in Dubai and Qatar and there are far more dogs than there are safe spaces for them.
Foster homes are always full. Often with many more dogs than they ever planned but it is very hard to say no, and to know that this dog faces a real chance of being returned to the streets because there is nowhere for them to go.
Every Saluki that can find a loving home in Canada, America and Europe, makes a huge difference. Not only for that one Saluki but for the countless others being found daily.
Every foster home in Canada also makes a huge difference and frees up desperately needed space.
It is also much easier to find a forever home for a dog if people can actually meet that dog and not just rely on some pictures and maybe if they are lucky a short video clip.
WHAT WE DO
We work with shelters through the Middle East, mostly in Dubai and Qatar. We raise awareness for them and try find homes for their dogs along with our own.
They help us find possible flight buddies with some of their supporters and we help arrange transport for their dogs to a new life abroad.
We also work with various international rescues that share the same goal such as 2nd chance rescue Qatar and Rescue Salukis Middle East.
WHAT PREPARATIONS DO THE DOGS HAVE
BEFORE THEY TRAVEL?
All Salukis are throughly vet checked, spay/neutered, vaccinated and treated for fleas and ticks before they arrive in Canada. In Qatar there is a mandatory health check done at the government vet 24 hours prior to the flight.
We try our best to fly adopted Salukis to the closest international airport possible, but because we rely on volunteers this is not always possible.
We will do everything possible to help arrange transport if needed however sometimes you might need to do a little driving to help us out!
Most of our dogs are currently arriving in Toronto and Montreal airports.
HOW WILL MY NEW SALUKI GET TO ME?
We rely on flight buddies. These are wonderful people who happen to be flying from Dubai, Qatar or some other place where we have dogs waiting, and are traveling to a destination where we have families waiting.
They volunteer to bring the dogs along and attach them to their ticket.
We pay all the fees associated with this and we meet them at the airport with the dogs who are all safely tucked into their crates. We help them check the dogs in and someone always meets them on the other side, be it one of our representatives, volunteers or a very excited new adopter/foster parent.
Because we rely on these volunteers we are able to keep the cost much lower, hundreds of dollars vs thousands if we were to fly the dog it's self.
This does mean however there can be a few months waiting period between you choosing a dog and it arriving in Canada. It also means we may not be able to choose the airport it arrives in.
Obviously if a dog were going to Calgary we would not fly it in to Toronto..... Not unless we had an amazing person willing to make a road trip!
We have a great network of people all around the world all working together so you shouldn't have to wait too long for a dog!