Head:
Long and narrow, skull moderately wide between the ears, not domed, stop not pronounced, the whole showing great quality. Nose- black or liver. Ears- long and covered with long silky hair hanging close to the skull and mobile. Eyes- dark to hazel and bright: large and oval, but not prominent. Teeth- strong and level.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
From the top, start with two lines which are long and close together, the long and narrow part, but then the lines move apart so that they are wide, wide between the ears, but use a little caution. The head from the top is a "V", not the narrow head of today, skull flatter than domed. From the side, it must have a stop,(I wonder why they did not use moderately here also?) as well as strength. Pigment liver or black, both beautiful, but not pink. There is no excuse for poor pigment; poor pigment is a breeder's fault. Ears long, hanging close to head and mobile. The mobile part is the high ear set part. Low-set long ears just hang! Long hair on the ears. Luckily the standard does not include a minimum number of hairs or minimum length- longer than the body hair. Eyes- pleasing and on the soft side, large and oval. Prominence has more to do with shape, but eye colors cover the range. Strong teeth mean an underjaw and strength to crush bones. Bite- scissors- the only part of the standard I do not understand and have my own words for.

Neck:
Long, supple and well muscled.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
The curve as the neck comes out of the back of the skull is the beginning of all the muscles to the tail, therefore this must be correct. Smooth throughout; supple throughout. Watch for curved underside of neck.

Chest:
Deep and moderately narrow.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
Deep comes first, and then narrow, moderately narrow. If the chest is deep and hints of narrow, then there is lung room and all the other requirements for running. Err in neither direction, barrel or more commonly in the 90's narrow, through the eye of a needle.

Forequarters:
Shoulders sloping and set well back, well muscled without being coarse. Forelegs- Straight and long from the elbow to knee.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
Shoulders sloping, 45 degree angle, the closer the better. Do no settle for the 60 degree angle. Now put the shoulder well back on the animal, and have the shoulder well muscled. If all of this is correct, the shoulder will not interrupt a sweep of the front from down the neck onto the back, or along the shoulder blade. A correct front will never be coarse, even if the dog is carrying less than ideal weight. Some unmentioned but understood concepts: shoulder blades come together near the withers, but not too close. As the head goes down for the "kill" the shoulder blades come together, but if the shoulders are on the side, the neck loses suppleness. Upper arm returns to under the point of shoulder. Therefore angle between the shoulder and upper arm is 90 degrees. A properly set on front will not give keel, nor cover the point of breast bone.

Hindquarters:
Strong, hipbones set well apart and stifle moderately bent, hocks low to the ground, showing galloping and jumping power.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
Well written and easy to breed, more difficult for which to select. Remember, second thigh and thigh of same length. Also galloping and jumping power call for a 45+ degree from level pelvic angle. Better to have the rear under the dog than behind the dog.

Loin and Back:
Back fairly broad, muscles slightly arched over loin.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
The back is level, including the vertebra in the loin region. The loin is stated in the standard as a muscle which is arched, slightly. No curve in the backbone, but notice there are some different lengths in vertebra, but proper muscling will have the topline appear level, poor muscle will give you digs and raises.

Feet:
Of moderate length, toes long and well arched, not splayed out, but at the same time not cat footed; the whole being strong and supple and well feathered between the toes.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
No comment

Tail:
Long, set on low and carried naturally in a curve, well feathered on the underside with long silky hair, not bushy.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
Long is important, set on low is more important. CORRECT tail set gives a roundness to the rump as well as cover over the hipbones in mature adults.

Coat:
Smooth and of a soft silky texture, slight feathering on the legs, feather at the back of the thighs and sometimes a slight wooly feather on the thigh and shoulder.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
I am surprised that the Saluki has become a coated breed. I do fault feathering that demands trimming. A properly coated Saluki only needs a bath (and maybe nails) in order to come into the show ring. I still find it difficult to understand where all the hair has come from.

Colors:
White, cream, fawn, golden, red, grizzle and tan, tricolor (white, black and tan) and black and tan.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
Any colors, except brindle. That's all, no brindles.

General Appearance:
The whole appearance of this breed should give an impression of grace and symmetry and of great speed and endurance coupled with strength and activity to enable it to kill gazelle or other quarry over deep sand or rocky mountains. The expression should be dignified and gentle with deep faithful, far seeing eyes. Dogs should average in height from 23 to 28 inches and bitches may be considerably smaller, this being very typical of the breed.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
The part of the standard we understand, however we forget to look at the original pictures of the Saluki when the standard was written. Impressions have changed, but we are lucky to have the references to know what grace is as well as symmetry, impression of great speed and endurance as well as strength and activity. Forget my ideas, look at the breed we inherited, not the breed that exists today, either in the West or in the Land of Origin. The writers of the standard could not predict what the West would do, nor the breeders in the Land of Origin. They described the Saluki that they knew, hence the American Kennel Club breed called the Saluki.

The Smooth Variety
In this variety the points should be the same with the exception of the coat, which has no feathering.

BREEDER COMMENTS:
No comments