AKC Gazette Articles

February 2006

Teeth – On the Level

What do out of print dictionaries and museum catacombs have to do with the Saluki bite? Stick around for the next five paragraphs and find out…

In our standard, Saluki teeth are described with two adjectives: “Strong and level”. Clearly, strength is necessary in a breed whose standard calls for the ability “to kill gazelle or other quarry.” Pretty straight forward, but what about “level”? Many people hold that “level” refers to a bite where the upper and lower incisor tips meet precisely together in a pincer or vice-like fashion. But most Salukis have upper incisors that slightly overlap the lowers in the efficient scissor arrangement that carnivores need for cutting meat. So if that is the case, do we have a conflict between the standard and reality?

Florence Amherst wrote the prototype Saluki standard in 1907. It was flowery, detailed, and described the mouth as “Jaws – Long, fine, and well made, with teeth strong, white and level. Smellers long, 5 warts defined.” Notice that “bite” is not mentioned. This text was eliminated for the official standard* with only “strong and level” remaining. The concept of “level” was clearly still important – but what did it mean to people who wrote breed standards?

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier standard describes teeth as “…level in front, the upper ones very slightly overlapping the under ones”, the Smooth Fox Terrier should have teeth “…as nearly level as possible, i.e., the upper teeth on the outside of the lower teeth.” Whippet teeth were “Level, white” while Afghan and Deerhound teeth were simply “Level”. Borzoi teeth were to be “Even” – and theirs was only the sighthound standard of the day which also said something about acceptable bite. In fact, the word “level” was used in connection with any kind of bite – including scissor bite, pincer bite, and even that of the undershot Bull Mastiff...

So if “level” could not have referred exclusively to bite mechanics, what did it mean? A contemporary dictionary helps answer this riddle. Level = adjective – horizontal: even, smooth; even with anything else: in the same line or plane: equal in position or dignity (Chambers Etymological Dictionary, London, 1915). Keeping in mind how the word is used in other standards and the dictionary definition, we can now understand that “level” described the position of the individual teeth to each other.

Fair enough, but that still does not tell us what their bite was like. If we had a period photograph of a Saluki bite, we might be able to answer that question. I know of no such image, but do know of something better – a set of teeth.

Deep in the bowels of the Natural History Museum in London is the disarticulated skeleton of Luman – Florence Amherst’s very first Saluki. He was imported to England in 1895 from Lower Egypt and died at eleven and a half years in 1907. Recognizing his significance, Florence donated Luman's body to the museum. I was privileged to examine his bones and can tell you without a doubt, that Luman had “level” teeth and a scissors bite.

* The 1923 British standard was copied by the Saluki Club of America in 1927. The latter has remained unchanged since its adoption.

Brian Patrick Duggan
P.O. Box 998
Delhi, CA 95315
kyzylkum@jps.net