Rosa                                                                                                                      Becca

About our salukis

We just love salukis - the most elegant, charming and affectionate companions imaginable.
We started with Rosa, a 10 year old rescue bitch, who took over our hearts as well as every soft furnishing in the house. We were told she was a daughter of Seafleet Tosca.
She was a long haired black fringed red who had been misused for 'lamping' and then lurcher breeding for many years. She came to us after she'd killed a wallaby at another rescue home! A more gentle girl we could not have hoped for. Rosa was patience itself with us as she taught us it was pointless to shut doors she wanted to get through- she could even turn round knobs albeit with a little paint flaking in the process. Her delight, expressed in running in joyful loops around me, when I finally learned that she preferred her treats tossed so she could jump and catch them rather than sedately being given to her, was huge. She introduced us through our long walks to many unexplored pleasures in our locality. Rosa taught us so much about love and we remain heart-broken that she could not live forever.

The pleasure Rosa gave us was so great we were greedy for more and asked for another rescue. Along came Becca, a very different and younger grizzle bitch, who was very insecure and frightened, especially of other dogs and men. John won her over completely, but Rosa and Becca barely tolerated each other, especially as Becca was determined to dominate the easy going Rosa.

We had joined the Northern Saluki Club (www.northernsalukiclub.co.uk) and the Saluki or Gazelle Hound Club (www.salukiclub.co.uk) when we first had Rosa through the rescue site (www.gazellehound.com) and went annually to the NSC shows to take our lovely girls in the rescue parades. We avidly read The Saluki magazine (www.salukimagazine.co.uk) and Saluki Snippets, (email: daphneparnham@btinternet.com)  and loved looking at all the gorgeous and glamourous show dogs, but for years thought these fabulous dogs were out of our league. Eventually Becca's naughtiness persuaded us that what we really needed was a saluki puppy we could socialise and train from the start to avoid Becca's problems. We searched the magazines for the salukis we particularly liked and for any prospective litters.

Although we would have liked another bitch it was not sensible with Becca to chance it so we were absolutely over the moon when Elaine and Neil Stanmore (www.altaya.org.uk) responded positively to our email about their recent litter, and the gorgeous Altaya Sandpiper, our creamy golden boy, Pip, came into our lives. We had hoped that having a puppy in the house would rejuvenate Rosa whose heart condition at over 14 years was severe. We anticipated it would be a treat for her after having all her puppies taken away from her during the long years she spent being a brood mare, but she was too tired and ill to be interested in Pip and we finally had to let her go not long after Pip came home.

Becca on the other hand was ecstatic about having a young male puppy to chase and dominate. Puppy class training, the Bronze, Silver and Gold Good Citizen training, and the excellent socialisation Elaine and Neil had provided in those first crucial months ensured Becca was unsuccessful, despite her best efforts in teaching Pip her bad habits. He is a delight to live with, easy going, eager to learn, gentle and affectionate. He reminds us of Rosa, especially in his love of water, both can find and lie down in the only muddy puddle in acres of dry land.

Pip introduced us to actually entering rather than just attending dog shows. It began very casually with an entry at the NSC Open show that we were used to going to with Rosa and Becca for their rescue sausages. Pip came first (out of 2 dogs) in Minor Puppy Dog at 6 months and a few days old. He came away with a trophy! We had also entered him at the Birmingham National Champ show so he could meet up with two of his brothers and his sister owned by Elaine and Neil. He came 2nd to his brother in MPD (again only 2 entries), had a whale of a time playing with his siblings, and then we were told he'd qualified for Crufts!. We couldn't believe it. We'd never have guessed this dog-showing business was so easy, so much fun seeing the other dogs and meeting other exhibitors, and doing well. We were hooked.

At no point has it actually made any sense to me that this obsession has now taken over our lives - a week without a show is a dull week, a show without a place is a real downer, a show with a win means another rosette we don't know what to do with, a lengthy wait for an often never appearing critique, and a hefty dollop of cash owed on our credit card. All this and early rising, travelling the country from North to South, East to West and I hate car journeys. We subscribe to both weekly dog papers in the hope that those elusive critiques might appear in one or the other, we scour schedules from far off places for saluki classes and even contemplated changing careers from education in the hope of being available for midweek shows during term time. Somehow we have acquired a second saluki puppy, Caryna Curetes - Coco to his friends - to join in the folly and double the expense. Happy madness.

I don't understand the judging at all. I've never met a saluki I didn't like or want to take home with me, and I've never at a show seen any saluki doing what it does best (and I don't mean sleeping on the settee or stealing the remains of the joint). I mean running freely. Nothing cheers us more than watching Pip and Coco racing across the fields, jumping for a frisbee, leaping over the grass and splashing about in the pond. The purpose of this site, if I can master the technology, is to share some of the moments captured erratically on video, with anybody else who likes to see salukis run.

Finding safe dog-free places for the dogs to run was essential with Becca who would chase and worry any other dog she met, and with Pip who would follow and play with any dog he met. (Rosa pretty much stayed by my side, and rarely let me out of her sight. I've never, before or since, felt so loved or needed.)

We felt like we'd won the lottery when a friend offered to rent her 18 acres of secure pastureland. For a year we were in heaven as the dogs could run free, chase and sniff to their hearts content, and get as muddy as they liked in the pond before, for Pip at least, a paddle in the river to clean up.

Coco loves running in the rented fields, but Pip has recently decided that 18 acres isn't enough and has taken to crossing the river to explore the greener grass on the other side away from Coco's constant attacks. Pip clearly loves doing this, mooches about with nary a care in the world, looks across the river at us as if to say 'yes, I'll be with you in a moment, but there is such an interesting smell enticing me just a bit further on. For goodness sake, I don't know what you are making such a fuss about.' The best way of getting him to come back is to ignore him, play loudly with Coco and walk on, as he hates to miss out on a play or attention. He tears back, wet and cheerful, and says 'well here I am, where's my treat? What's the game? Aren't I a good boy?'  We resist the urge to call him an ungrateful cur or strangle him.

Below is a photo of Rosa and Becca in elderly lady, do not disturb mode, although if you look carefully at Rosa I think she's saying 'if you really loved me you'd get that bitch off my settee'.

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