The years have seen our breeding philosophy evolve away from the AKC showring. While we do believe the showring can be a good place to showcase potential breeding stock, we, as many before us, have come to the realization that the showring is more about politics and extremes than about preserving our breed. We hope the following philosophical beliefs of ours will provide thought for those who read them.
We believe in pedigrees, and we believe in pedigree honesty as there is no replacement for this tool in dealing with health issues which can devastate both hound and owner.
We believe in the value of the Country of Origin Saluki but they are not the genetic savior some would hope for. Rather, they are an opportunity to be used judiciously as they come with no genetic history. With that truth in mind, we Doppler hearts, check thyroid. We microchip, we DNA parentage type through AKC.
We do not breed in a vacuum. We work with other like minded breeders across all borders. I have had the opportunity to go to the homelands that produced this strain of Saluki we breed. I have found that listening to breeders and hunters in the Middle East will provide valuable insight into who our Salukis are, and how to care for them. The two areas that have been the most enlightening are how these dogs live in the Middle East and how they are fed. It seems to us that those who have had custody of this working sighthound for 8000 years might actually know something useful. The most important fact is the Saluki is part of a village. Puppies are underfoot, exposed to a busy environment, constantly handled by children. Diet is meat light, which means the primary source of nutrition is flat bread, yogurt or soured milk, very little meat.
THEIR GIFT IS THEIR GENETIC POTENTIAL.
We believe form follows function and these hounds are superbly adapted to open plains and mountain sight hunting where ever that open plain or mountain may be. Whether hunting in Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Egypt, California, Nevada or New Mexico, they excel and that is why the phenotype is so widely dispersed..it WORKS.
ANY Breed standard or person that eliminates a dog based on color is just plain wrong. The only exception to that would be a color pattern that is linked genetically to a fatal or debilitating disease…In the Saluki, color is truly immaterial. This has always been the case.
Politics has no place in the whelping box.
And finally, we are completely opposed to any further splitting off of strains from the basic Saluki phenotype as separate breeds. We think it is important to preserve the various strains as strains are generally supremely suited to perform in their particular geography, but to isolate them as a “breed” is the sure path to extinction.
A Saluki’s function is to be an effective hunter.
A Saluki is beautiful because of his function.
To deny this truth is to deny the Saluki.
