Kel Simoon Wanu (male) and Winta (female) at 9 months here. As a reminder, they are the 2nd generation after my Niger import: Inaya is their granddam, and Rouchenn Melech Haolam is their sire.
I don't own rights to media.
Winta, female, the azawakh, obviously
copyright Victoria Ambriz
I am shocked and outraged and need to resort to publicly shaming this person: the American azawakh breeder Deb Kidwell, Kel Simoon kennel, practically stole my dog!!
I've given Deb Kidwell my dog Rouchenn Melech Haolam and handed over two years ago with the condition, in contract, that she wires the value of the dog once he sires his first litter. This had happened last November. I even was patient to wait till the puppies were over 5 month of age. She had zero excuses left of not delivering on her contractual obligation.*** Frozen semen store clearance ***
Once in a lifetime chance:.jpg)
Beautiful first offspring of Rouchenn Melech Haolam, Half-African male, who was bred by me- and the dam is Grantulla Tamenzut, "Gigi".
3 males, 2 females, colours and patterns are all FCI compliant, all limbs and tailtips white and nowhere is excessive white, not that it has to be, as this is AKC territory, nonetheless one more thing to be right about in, once being in the midst intense, vicious defaming attempts against me and the half-African sire's dam, my Niger import, Inaya.
It is truly a pivotal moment on this journey that you, dear Reader could follow on this blog. 5 years after having picked up Inaya as a 2-3 week young puppy in Tamaya village in Niger, here we are, celebrating her grandchildren. And hopefully, this litter won't be the last we hear from Rouchenn. I am overjoyed, as a visionary breeder.
In the meantime Rouchenn's Embark DNA profile is also available, here: https://my.embarkvet.com/dog/melechhaolamrouchenn#traits
REGISTRATION American Kennel Club (AKC): HP68611701
Photo copyright Deb Kidwell, at Kel Simoon kennel in Tennessee, USA https://www.facebook.com/happy.azawakh
ABIS Expedition 1995: Herman Bürk Travel Report
Herman Bürk: A journey through the Sahel
After 20 years of intensively dealing with Azawakhs through their breeding and keeping, a long-cherished wish came true this year in February (1995), an expedition to a part of the area of origin in the "middle Niger Basin", to Burkina Faso in West Africa.
This trip was organized by the Association Burkinabé Idi du Sahel (A.B.I.S.). Ten people from Germany and Austria took part in this trip, which took us, within just under three weeks, from the capital Ouagadougou via Kaya, Dori, Gorom-Gorom and Markoy to Tin Akouf in the north of the country. From there, on the border with Mali, the explorations went east to Intangoum on the border of the state of Niger, west to the Fadar-Fadar region. The entire area traveled through can be assigned to the bush savannah and semi-desert. The population, which is ethnically mainly composed of Tuareg, Bella (former vassals or slaves of the Tuareg), and Peul (Fulbe), usually inhabits clay buildings in the places mentioned, in the north, the main observation area, live the sedentary or semi-sedentary Residents mainly in leather and mat tents made of millet straw, some of which are also inhabited by domestic animals and farm animals. On this trip I gained a lot of impressions, so that the main reason for the trip, the exploration of the Azawakhs, is only a part of the memories I brought back.
We met about 150 to 200 "Idis", as the greyhounds we call "Azawakhs" are called there. The term Idi simply means dog in local parlance. However, since there is no other type of dog, let alone breed of dog, in the entire area travelled, apart from Ouagadougou (approx. 700,000 inhabitants, including many Europeans), one always understands the sighthound of the Sahel zone. All of the dogs we encountered were of the same type, although of course the individual characteristics were different. The colors encountered show that there is no selection in this regard, even though only very few puppies are raised per litter. Here one or two puppies, usually males, are chosen while the rest of the litter is laid out in the sun to perish. If certain colors or drawings were preferred, it would be easy to select here for the reasons described. This also applies to all other characteristics.
Of course, the degrees of expression of the characteristics vary in a way that does not allow the term "high breeding" according to animal breeding standards. Along with very high quality dogs in the population, dogs of less good quality (by European standards) also coexist, often in the same family. This is caused by the randomness of the character distributions in the very random mating. Animal breeding knows the expression "landrace" here, which is defined in such a way that populations that are self-contained (isolate type) and in which no outside, foreign individuals penetrate the genetic material, develop a type over time - usually over centuries , showing same anatomy, performances etc. In this case, propagation is carried out without breeding planning mating. This is very true in the extant population of Azawakhs. All other livestock breeds from this region, probably from the entire Sahel zone, that I encountered on this trip showed the same breeding status. Whether camels, donkeys, zebus, goats, sheep, guinea fowl or chickens, the same pattern of landraces can be found everywhere. In the case of these livestock, selection occurs, if at all, based on a maximum of one or two characteristics. This can be seen very clearly from the different hair and feather colors in each case. The selection pressure is based exclusively on useful characteristics (meat, milk, etc.), as was the case in Europe up until the middle of the last century. In the case of the ldi or azawakh, these were certainly the hunting performance, i.e. speed, endurance and hunting skills, which were among the most important characteristics and therefore also appeared important for breeding.
But this has changed recently. During the almost three-week expedition, no huntable game was sighted by the author apart from a young captive jackal and several ground squirrels which disappeared into burrows. In addition, a general ban on hunting has been in place for six years, which entitles the military stationed in almost every town to shoot stray dogs under this pretext and under suspicion of rabies. Culinary reasons should also play an important role in the military. As a result, today there is almost no selection pressure in relation to the hunting characteristics of Azawakhs. Of course you get the question: "Where is your Idi?" as an answer "while hunting".
With the semi-sedentary population and the nomads, the dogs, almost exclusively males, live singly or in pairs, in or by the tent. The dogs are kept completely free, i.e. without any restrictions on movement or freedom. And this alongside many other free-ranging farm animals such as chickens, sheep, goats, etc. in complete peace. Only in larger camps, where more than four or five Azawakhs are kept, is there a bitch among them, who then regularly gives birth to a litter. One can imagine that there is absolutely no way to keep hot bitches away from males. In the non-lockable tents, without collars and leashes - if available, only leather straps for decoration - it is simply impossible to separate males and females. When asked about the father of a fallen litter, a certain male is often shown or named. In reality, however, several males may have mated, so that paternity is almost never traceable. In the past, pregnancies were said to have been prevented with vaginal clamps, but this apparently no longer occurs today. Breeding is therefore more or less left to chance or the males that are in the immediate vicinity are used for breeding without selection or breeding goals.
To protect themselves from the sun, the bitches usually dig a 50 - 100 cm deep, open-topped cave in the sand under a thorn bush or acacia tree in the immediate vicinity of the owners' tents. There the puppies are born without help. In the first few days, the puppies to be left are selected, as already mentioned, usually one or two males. The selection criterion for the Bella (slaves, vassals) is said to be the firstborn, while the Tuareg are said to be based on strength, especially the chest and front limbs, as far as this is possible in the first few days. Such statements must be evaluated very relatively, as will be explained later.
Selected puppies are identified with a thin leather strap tied around their necks, and the rest of the litter is laid out in the sun to dry out and die. According to traditional beliefs, no animal may be killed without a particular reason. The sun takes care of this, including young sheep and goats whose mothers give too little milk or who are weak for other reasons and cannot survive on their own.
A conversation with one of Idis' breeders, who owned about 4 males and a female with a litter of 6 puppies, illustrates the current breeding situation aptly. This breeder, who has allegedly devoted himself to breeding for 19 years and inherited this from his father, could not begin with the question of a breeding goal or definition of characteristics at first. Only by paraphrasing the question (such conversations often went through up to 4 languages-Tamaschek-Dioula-French-German, but in this case only French-German) could produce an answer. Referring to his 10 month old male, the breeder said this is what an Azawakh should look like, he had no defined criteria to describe an ideal Azawakh. This male was indeed a single horse, built somewhat leptosome overall, with a tight gait, but definitely a solid Azawakh. When asked about the importance of individual anatomical features, the breeder named muzzle, ears and neck. He could no longer answer the question of what these three body parts should look like. I conclude from this conversation, and also from many other observations, that there are no real ideas defining a breeding goal and perhaps an ideal; the population represents a landrace in the truest sense of the word. Presumably it was never otherwise, with the exception of the already mentioned and probably practiced selection for hunting use and the resulting breeding ideas for this one trait.
In this context, I would also like to briefly shed light on the problem of notifications based on an incident: We met a very old woman in the Intangoum camp. When the "village elder" was asked how old this old woman was, he answered spontaneously: 80 years. About 15 minutes later the same question was asked by another traveler, again he answered spontaneously, but this time: 64 years. The different answers can have many reasons, possibly a lack of understanding of numbers, whereby illiteracy must be assumed, or covering up ignorance out of politeness towards the foreign guest. In general it can be said that statements should only be interpreted with extreme caution. Presumably it also depends on the wording of the question; perhaps the answers are also tailored to the expectations of the question.
The physical condition of the dogs encountered was very good in terms of nutritional status. On average, the dogs were in a fuller condition than we are used to in Europe. Like humans, the dogs are fed with millet and products from camel, goat or sheep's milk and, not very often, with slaughterhouse waste. The health of the population is a bigger problem. There is no veterinary medical care for livestock in this area at all. About 60-80% of the dog population shows visible demodicosis (mange) caused by the hairy mite Demodex canis. This is shown by hairless areas on the back, eyes, tail, etc., which are more or less accompanied by pustules and inflammation. It can be assumed that the entire population is infested with Demodex mites. Dogs are often found that show clear coordination disorders in the course of movement, in my opinion probably overcoming distemper infections. This may also be the reason that often all the puppies in an area die. Also not to be overlooked are the gross mechanical injuries caused by the thorns of the bushes and shrubs. The limbs were often punctured, with suppurating and very badly swollen tissue, some of these dogs were then unable to walk or severely disabled. As with humans, there were many eye injuries, including blindness, also caused by thorns. In the area of a marabout (spiritual Islamic leader also with secular powers) three somewhat ailing azawakhs (probably recovered from distemper) were found, which had slits on both sides of their chests with signs of the cross (scars). When asked about the reasons for these measures, said marabout replied that the dogs had drunk camel blood (taken during the rut to lower their temperament), which would inevitably lead to death. Slitting and subsequent wound treatment with herbs had to be used as a healing method. Apparently, in popular belief, drinking camel's blood and distemper are seen in connection. When asked about the fact that in this place the sheep and goats each have the same sign of the cross on their ears, zebus on their hind legs and camels on their shoulders, presumably as a sign of ownership, the marabout stuck to his version.
The behavior and nature of the dogs in the area of origin seemed to me hardly different from that of the still very young population in Europe. Very few of the dogs were immediately approachable and friendly to strangers like us. A large number of the dogs I observed behaved in almost the same way. When we came to a camp, the dogs usually got up from the sand, slowly but surely, barking and growling more or less loudly, to go to a safe distance of about 50 to 300 m from the camp. They stayed there until we left the area. In these situations, in the presence of their owners, the dogs never behaved aggressively toward defense or guarding. Some specimens also withdrew to the nomad tents. We also met several dogs at busy oasis markets, lying peacefully next to their owners, without any shyness and not tied. An exception, of course, were the dogs that were injured and probably damaged by distemper; they usually prevented them from coming closer with a clear growl as a warning, since they could not avoid the unpleasant situation. In contrast to their European colleagues, they have the opportunity in their country of origin to avoid an unfamiliar or negatively perceived situation by avoiding it.
The European population with a leash requirement and very precise space limitations (kennel, apartment, garden) lacks this possibility, which can sometimes lead to difficulties. On the other hand, it is not surprising that the dogs in the country of origin show no different character or behavior than the Azawakhs in Europe. Here it is important that a targeted choice of partner pays attention to "nature" and that the population, of course over many generations, is "Europeanized" in this regard in order to adapt the behavior to our circumstances. This has already been achieved with other oriental dog breeds. Of course, the external living conditions (environment, surroundings) have an enormous influence on behavior.
The behavior of the residents of the visited area towards their dogs was very different. While extremely few dogs were encountered in the capital, the local escorts (black Africans from the South who usually have no relationship with dogs) could be observed to be very inexperienced with dogs in terms of handling, touching, feeding, etc . At the holders and breeders deAzawakhs, the dogs have a fixed social place in the fabric of a settlement. Although they are kept very freely, they must fit strictly into the community. The dogs have to live peacefully with other animals, are not allowed to take any food from the "table", subordinate themselves very well to the human community, they very well receive orders from their familiar owners, which they also carry out. However, the owners are not always squeamish when it comes to training and enforcing their wishes, so nomads could be observed several times how they punished their dogs when they violated taboos when they felt unobserved. In our presence, however, the Idis were able to break some taboos, since the owners were aware of our appreciation of the dogs. Overall, however, the dogs were not shy or overly submissive towards their owners.
As already indicated, the quality of the Azawakh population varied greatly when measured against the specifications of the standard that was drawn up and applied in Europe. According to a Gaussian distribution, all characteristics contained in the gene pool of the population appear in the individuals of the region of origin. Accordingly, there are few high-quality dogs, many very typey, and of course specimens whose appearance is to be regarded as very moderate. However, the type, regardless of the quality of a landrace, is present in all specimens. There can be no question of hybridization in less attractive specimens, there is no potential for dogs from other breeds in the said area. However, a gradient in quality from north to south can be observed. In the north, on the borders of Mali and Niger, there are dogs that are more elegant and of better quality by our standards.
Of course, the question of possible imports to Europe arises at this point. All the characteristics that are necessary for the development of high breeding in Europe are present in large numbers in the original population. Thus, the very limited, small population in Europe could very well be supplied with genetic material for blood refreshment in larger quantities. A difficulty that can be overcome is the fact that excellent adult specimens can no longer be kept in a species-appropriate manner in Europe due to the imprinting in the area of origin (absolute freedom, completely different living conditions). Thus, one is dependent on the import of puppies at any stage (from about 8 days) up to young dogs of 3-4 months, the quality of which can only be guessed at. Above all, you only see the mother dog (father unknown) in puppies, while the young dogs are almost always found without a mother dog. In my opinion, imports make sense in any case, even at the risk that later only part of the imports can be used for breeding. Of the approx. 20 imports carried out under these conditions in recent years, nine (!!!) dogs have already won candidatures for championship titles at European shows according to the FCI standard, five dogs are national champions.
All in all, it was an exhausting but very informative journey to the country of origin of the breed, which gave me a lot of knowledge and clarity about the keeping conditions and breeding in this area.
Appearently google translate can handle pictures as well, so I publish here unedited google's translation, link of the original article is:
http://history-of-the-azawakh.blogspot.com/2013/03/afrikanische-abenteuer-die-6-azawakh.html
MYNDEN/Norsk Myndenklubb – nr.3-2014
Azawakh:Gabriele Meissen for Mynden, a Norveigan Sighthound Magazine
2015-04-08
MYNDEN/Norsk Myndenklubb – nr.3-2014
Azawakh:
An interview with Dr. Gabrielle Meissen
Dr.Med.Vet. Gabriele Meissen got her first Azawakh in 1986, and the first Tombouktou's Azawakh litter was born in Germany in 1994. Kennel Tombouktou's has since been important in the international Azawakh community, and 25 Azawakh litters have been born under this prefix. Gabriele Meissen has participated in ABIS expeditions to the countries of origin where the main aims have been to study the breed in its natural habitat and to import Azawakhs from Sahel to be included in European and American breeding programs.
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Tombouktou's U'Tidet with Gabrielle, 2010
What was it with the Azawakh that initially fascinated you?
As a young woman I was very fascinated by the smooth coated, long legged French or Italian hounds, for example the Seggugio Italiano or the Bleu de Gascogne. I did not like sighthounds, because I imagined them all with arched loin and the tail between their hind legs, which did not match my understanding of esthetic at this time. In the mid-eighties, the Azawakh was an extremely rare breed and you could hardly find any literature about them, so I had no idea that this breed existed. A weekend in the summer of 1986 I visited a sighthound show in a park, located in a little town close to Frankfurt/M. I went there with a friend, who wanted to look at Deerhounds, and all of a sudden I saw a pair of red, smooth-coated sighthounds full of energetic elegance. They seemed to embody my vision of the ideal dog. I was totally captured from this moment on, and this fascination and passion lasts until today. I was too shy to get in touch with the owners of these dogs, but could not take my eyes from them. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type.
- To share your life with one or more of this highly intelligent and aboriginal hound is an incomparable adventure.
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Tombouktou's Azawakh and Gabrielle, 2012; Amazzal: female with a sire imported from the Sahel
Can you tell us a bit about your daily life with Azawakh?
I am living only with females. Right now, all of them, except the oldest, Takute' al Ifriqiya, bred by David Moore in the USA, are born in my house. When I decide to keep a puppy, she lives with me until she dies. I never place any of my adults living with me. It does not matter if they have grown up to my expectations physically, or if they are successful at shows or do not like shows at all.
My dogs are living indoors with me, no outside kennels, no crates inside. They reside on my sofas and some are sleeping in my bed also. Besides my profession as a vet, the Azawakh are the most important in my life. They are taken out for walks daily and they all get the chance to run free almost every day. I have a variety of several routes, so there is always something new and interesting for them. I always let about two or three of them run free together, so they can chase each other for a while and run out their energy at high speed. When they start to slow sown, I usually capture their interest with some simple search games, like throwing treats, which they have to find. They love this "sniffing" game and it is holding them back to look around for something to chase. All of them have a quite good recall, something which, in my opinion, is developed over average compared to other Oriental sighthound breeds. They are very quickly and easily trained with positive reinforcement. Giving them a treat when coming back, let them understand in a few minutes what you expect from them to do. The same for "sit" and "down". Usually a puppy of 8 weeks or even earlier understands the command after exercising a few minutes. And they will never forget it again. We are going to coursing practice or training on the racetrack now and then, and the puppies are going to puppy school for a few months. I am feeding dry food (with lower protein content) with milk or milk products added in the morning and raw meat with cooked millet (this is their main food in Africa) and all kind of supplements, such as vegetables or spirulina etc. in the afternoon. I would always avoid to feed them with high protein, high fat content, especially growing puppies and adolescent Azawakh. Besides a few rare cases of Radius curvus, they would grow too fast, which can have negative effects on their bones and joints.
What do you think are the greatest differences between Azawakh and other sighthounds?
The Azawakh, as a member of the Oriental sighthound group, is an independent character, but besides their prey drive, this breed has stronger developed territorial behavior and guarding instinct, which is not comparable to "K9 breeds", but more similar to livestock guardian dogs. I would say that of all the Oriental sighthound breeds (I know about), the Azawakh lives in their Sahelian homeland with the nomads under the most "primitive" conditions. They are usually not kept in a fenced area, but are just living free around the nomad camps or small villages, similar to pariah dogs, patrolling in a very wide radius, barking at any kind of intruder. They accompany their people for hunts and they share their meals mainly made of millet and milk products. Of course, some of them are also sleeping in the tents of huts, but mostly they dig their own holes in the ground close to a shady place, like an Acacia tree for example. So they definitely belong to a group of primitive dogs with a lower domestication level in my opinion.
There are many myths about the Azawakh, are there any that should be debunked?
I have already lived and bred Azawakh for more than half of my life, and the prejudice against the character of the Azawakh, whose behavior is very often misinterpreted as dangerous or unpredictable, has not changed at all. The reason for this is the misinformation of most people, that there are some important differences in behavior to more domesticated European breeds and most sighthound breeds. The Azawakh, of course in a wide individual variety, which is caused by genetic (epigenetic) influence as well as the socialization at the breeder's home and later by the owner, has an intense suspicion of the unknown. They are avoidant with new situations and strangers, and reactions can vary from just stepping back and being a bit distant, to hysteria and fear aggression, especially, if the Azawakh has no chance to get out of the way or is not able to keep a certain distance from for example people approaching him. These behavioral traits can be lifesaving in his homeland. Of course the Azawakh can adapt well to modern civilization life in the city as well as in the countryside when socialized well. They need to live close to their people, in the house. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral.
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Tombouktou's "J" litter with a large percentage of African blood
I am deeply convinced that besides a close bond to a stable and reliable owner, the Azawakh needs time to be free without commands coming down on him every five seconds. His soul needs some self-determined time to live out its nature and be balanced. All the rumors about the dangerous character of the breed are spread by spread by people who never understood the origin of this breed and the reasons of their behavior. The Azawakh is not really for everybody, but for persons with the right kind of personality, who give them a good socialization, a stable background and patient guidance, this breed is one of the most fascinating. To share your life with one or more of this highly intelligent and aboriginal hound is an incomparable adventure.
What are the most important pieces of advice you give to newcomers in the breed?
Essential for me is early and intense socialization, of course already at the breeder's house, which has to be continued with patience and consequence and positive reinforcement. It is very important not to try to comfort a puppy which is afraid of something new, because this is positive reinforcement for his fear and avoidant behavior. With patience and time, the puppy should be confronted repeatedly with the situation or object, which has caused his fear reaction and it will get used to it and loose fear (but these are just common educational advices, which are for all kind of dogs, not only for the Azawakh). It is important to give him positive experiences with all kind of people again and again. I take my puppies everywhere, to restaurants, the bank or to the post office. Some people with children take them to kindergarten or school to pick up the children. I spend time with them at the entrance of supermarkets or at a bus station. Just to meet people of all kind and introduce him to various situations. I also let people feed him treats. Most Azawakh would do a lot for food.
When visitors are coming to a home to see the new Azawakh puppy, I never would let people, who are excited about this new addition, approach the puppy, staring at him, bowing down to him, trying to pet him. Just ignore the puppy in the beginning and almost all of them will become curious and will come to meet the visitors after a while. Never let your Azawakh run free when you are nervous or under time pressure. They feel your nervous "aura" or vibration, and many of them will be hard to get back on leash because of this.
There are voices that call for an Azawakh that is more available confronted with strangers, what are your thoughts about this?
I think these people would maybe feel happier with a poodle? I think to select for more "available" Azawakh will not only change their behavior, but much of the fascination of the breed will be destroyed. I do not talk about panicking Azawakh, or individuals with increased aggression towards other dogs or people. Of course such individuals should not be integrated into future breeding programs. People always want to see an Azawakh with the attitude of an Arabian stallion, but the personality of a sheep. They don't understand that both do not go together. I cannot deny that there are some Azawakh, who are genetically more fearful or has a very low stimulus threshold (as well as in many other breeds), which causes over reactions in response to very small stimuli. Many times when we see behavior like this,
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Tombouktou's Azawakh October 2013, Gabi to the right
What are your thoughts about genetic diversity, and inbreeding?
Our breed has a very small genetic base. In the beginning in the early 1970s there were two breeding lines. The Yugoslavian line, bred from only three foundation Azawakh imported from Mali and Burkina Faso and the French line, which was based on only seven desert-bred Azawakh, two females and five males. Later, in 1980s, the French kennel Kel Tarbanassen imported three more Azawakh, among them a brindle female and started breeding. So the foundation stock of the breed in Europe is very small. Several Azawakh have been imported since then and many has been used for breeding to enlarge the gene pool, but still the base is much too small for a breed to survive outside Africa in the long run. The inbreeding coefficient as well as the loss of ancestors will increase even with careful selection of breeding partners under this aspect, which unfortunately isn't the case in the majority of the matings in Europe. Of course the breed also went through the classic "sins" of intense line breeding and excessive use of popular sires, which has decreased the genetic heterogeneity of the breed even more.
After a time period of using more imported Azawakh in the breeding plans of several kennels in Europe and the USA from about the mid-nineties until the mid two thousands, now a turn back trend to use more dogs with "full" pedigree for breeding is recognizable, unfortunately.
For more detailed information about the breeding history and genetic perspective of the breed I would recommend to read this article: Back from the Precipice
What are your thoughts about the general competence about the breed among judges?
I really wish we had more breed specialist judges. Old, experienced judges, who still know the "old fashioned" more authentic type of Azawakh, are more and more retired. Many, not all of course, of the new generation of judges in my opinion, tend to place the more extreme individuals at the top, which supports breeding decisions and sets trends to produce more extreme types. I also wish that we had more judges that know about their special nature and accept that the Azawakh is a distant dog. They don't need to be touched all over the body like a Golden Retriever. Almost every Azawakh can be trained to accept a teeth and testicle check by a judge. Extreme panic or aggression in the ring should not be tolerated, but I think a judge should always take into consideration the distant nature of the Azawakh, and avoid approaching them too intense.
What do you consider to be the greatest challenges for the breed today and for the future?
As previously mentioned. the breed is highly endangered by its very small genetic base in Europe and the US. Most part of the Azawakh community will probably not be happy about the following paragraph, and I want to apologize in advance to all the people and new breeders, who really care and want to learn, for the following open words.
I do not deny, that also I love to see Azawakh bred by me winning awards and titles – who would not? Also, I am not against showing dogs, but what I am criticizing is the new fashion of extensive showing on a level which has nothing to do with selecting dogs for breeding, but where the Azawakh becomes an instrumentalized victim of a group of people, who only show to win, no matter what, and also of course adapt their breeding strategies to reach this goal!
The Azawakh, because of the extreme shape and its fascinating attitude, is becoming more and more fashionable for this kind of people. This tendency is even increasing right now, because the breed received recognition of the AKC, so also Americans can start showing the "flashy" Azawakh. The special, aboriginal behavioral traits of the Azawakh, which I have mentioned and tried to explain above, do not make him an ideal breed for extensive showing (sometimes already with professional handlers around the world, so the dogs have to change environment and also the person, they had developed a bond with, which is completely against their nature).
Of course this growing part of the Azawakh community is only interested in producing new award winning generations of Azawakh and without any deeper knowledge and interest of the breed's history and genetic problems. They develop breeding strategies to produce even more extreme types for show, they mate Champion to Champion, without even looking at the ancestry, caused by this combination. They are not interested, they ignore or do not even know the basics of modern canine genetic science, or breeding strategies aimed at slowing down the process of losing more and more genetic heterogeneity. I would like to quote a sentence, which I have read recently and describes the situation of the breed very well in one sentence: "The real Azawakh population (in the Sahelian country of origin) is really shrinking - while the show version in Europe seems to be inbreeding out of control. Or, I should say, out of ignorance for the most part."
Just one recent example: A litter, which was bred out of two highly prize winning breeding partners: In ten generation pedigree of this litter one matador stud appears 17 times in the first seven generations in the pedigree. Another 27 times in nine generations and except five desert bred Azawakh far back in their ancestry, all strains of this pedigree are in strong line breeding are going back to the very few (13) foundation Azawakhs of the breed in Europe. These puppies will be distributed worldwide, winning shows and being used for breeding, which will be an unfortunate contribution for the decrease of the gene pool again. To speak openly, in my opinion this is a "genetic crime" towards the breed.
5-jattay.jpg
Jattay, son of Amazzal and a half African sire (50% desert bred again),
already quite successful on shows.
MYNDEN/Norsk Myndenklubb – nr.3-2014
Azawakh:
An interview with Dr. Gabrielle Meissen
Dr.Med.Vet. Gabriele Meissen got her first Azawakh in 1986, and the first Tombouktou's Azawakh litter was born in Germany in 1994. Kennel Tombouktou's has since been important in the international Azawakh community, and 25 Azawakh litters have been born under this prefix. Gabriele Meissen has participated in ABIS expeditions to the countries of origin where the main aims have been to study the breed in its natural habitat and to import Azawakhs from Sahel to be included in European and American breeding programs.
Tombouktou's U'Tidet with Gabrielle, 2010
What was it with the Azawakh that initially fascinated you?
As a young woman I was very fascinated by the smooth coated, long legged French or Italian hounds, for example the Seggugio Italiano or the Bleu de Gascogne. I did not like sighthounds, because I imagined them all with arched loin and the tail between their hind legs, which did not match my understanding of esthetic at this time. In the mid-eighties, the Azawakh was an extremely rare breed and you could hardly find any literature about them, so I had no idea that this breed existed. A weekend in the summer of 1986 I visited a sighthound show in a park, located in a little town close to Frankfurt/M. I went there with a friend, who wanted to look at Deerhounds, and all of a sudden I saw a pair of red, smooth-coated sighthounds full of energetic elegance. They seemed to embody my vision of the ideal dog. I was totally captured from this moment on, and this fascination and passion lasts until today. I was too shy to get in touch with the owners of these dogs, but could not take my eyes from them. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type.
- To share your life with one or more of this highly intelligent and aboriginal hound is an incomparable adventure.
Tombouktou's Azawakh and Gabrielle, 2012; Amazzal: female with a sire imported from the Sahel
Can you tell us a bit about your daily life with Azawakh?
I am living only with females. Right now, all of them, except the oldest, Takute' al Ifriqiya, bred by David Moore in the USA, are born in my house. When I decide to keep a puppy, she lives with me until she dies. I never place any of my adults living with me. It does not matter if they have grown up to my expectations physically, or if they are successful at shows or do not like shows at all.
My dogs are living indoors with me, no outside kennels, no crates inside. They reside on my sofas and some are sleeping in my bed also. Besides my profession as a vet, the Azawakh are the most important in my life. They are taken out for walks daily and they all get the chance to run free almost every day. I have a variety of several routes, so there is always something new and interesting for them. I always let about two or three of them run free together, so they can chase each other for a while and run out their energy at high speed. When they start to slow sown, I usually capture their interest with some simple search games, like throwing treats, which they have to find. They love this "sniffing" game and it is holding them back to look around for something to chase. All of them have a quite good recall, something which, in my opinion, is developed over average compared to other Oriental sighthound breeds. They are very quickly and easily trained with positive reinforcement. Giving them a treat when coming back, let them understand in a few minutes what you expect from them to do. The same for "sit" and "down". Usually a puppy of 8 weeks or even earlier understands the command after exercising a few minutes. And they will never forget it again. We are going to coursing practice or training on the racetrack now and then, and the puppies are going to puppy school for a few months. I am feeding dry food (with lower protein content) with milk or milk products added in the morning and raw meat with cooked millet (this is their main food in Africa) and all kind of supplements, such as vegetables or spirulina etc. in the afternoon. I would always avoid to feed them with high protein, high fat content, especially growing puppies and adolescent Azawakh. Besides a few rare cases of Radius curvus, they would grow too fast, which can have negative effects on their bones and joints.
What do you think are the greatest differences between Azawakh and other sighthounds?
The Azawakh, as a member of the Oriental sighthound group, is an independent character, but besides their prey drive, this breed has stronger developed territorial behavior and guarding instinct, which is not comparable to "K9 breeds", but more similar to livestock guardian dogs. I would say that of all the Oriental sighthound breeds (I know about), the Azawakh lives in their Sahelian homeland with the nomads under the most "primitive" conditions. They are usually not kept in a fenced area, but are just living free around the nomad camps or small villages, similar to pariah dogs, patrolling in a very wide radius, barking at any kind of intruder. They accompany their people for hunts and they share their meals mainly made of millet and milk products. Of course, some of them are also sleeping in the tents of huts, but mostly they dig their own holes in the ground close to a shady place, like an Acacia tree for example. So they definitely belong to a group of primitive dogs with a lower domestication level in my opinion.
There are many myths about the Azawakh, are there any that should be debunked?
I have already lived and bred Azawakh for more than half of my life, and the prejudice against the character of the Azawakh, whose behavior is very often misinterpreted as dangerous or unpredictable, has not changed at all. The reason for this is the misinformation of most people, that there are some important differences in behavior to more domesticated European breeds and most sighthound breeds. The Azawakh, of course in a wide individual variety, which is caused by genetic (epigenetic) influence as well as the socialization at the breeder's home and later by the owner, has an intense suspicion of the unknown. They are avoidant with new situations and strangers, and reactions can vary from just stepping back and being a bit distant, to hysteria and fear aggression, especially, if the Azawakh has no chance to get out of the way or is not able to keep a certain distance from for example people approaching him. These behavioral traits can be lifesaving in his homeland. Of course the Azawakh can adapt well to modern civilization life in the city as well as in the countryside when socialized well. They need to live close to their people, in the house. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral.
Tombouktou's "J" litter with a large percentage of African blood
I am deeply convinced that besides a close bond to a stable and reliable owner, the Azawakh needs time to be free without commands coming down on him every five seconds. His soul needs some self-determined time to live out its nature and be balanced. All the rumors about the dangerous character of the breed are spread by spread by people who never understood the origin of this breed and the reasons of their behavior. The Azawakh is not really for everybody, but for persons with the right kind of personality, who give them a good socialization, a stable background and patient guidance, this breed is one of the most fascinating. To share your life with one or more of this highly intelligent and aboriginal hound is an incomparable adventure.
What are the most important pieces of advice you give to newcomers in the breed?
Essential for me is early and intense socialization, of course already at the breeder's house, which has to be continued with patience and consequence and positive reinforcement. It is very important not to try to comfort a puppy which is afraid of something new, because this is positive reinforcement for his fear and avoidant behavior. With patience and time, the puppy should be confronted repeatedly with the situation or object, which has caused his fear reaction and it will get used to it and loose fear (but these are just common educational advices, which are for all kind of dogs, not only for the Azawakh). It is important to give him positive experiences with all kind of people again and again. I take my puppies everywhere, to restaurants, the bank or to the post office. Some people with children take them to kindergarten or school to pick up the children. I spend time with them at the entrance of supermarkets or at a bus station. Just to meet people of all kind and introduce him to various situations. I also let people feed him treats. Most Azawakh would do a lot for food.
When visitors are coming to a home to see the new Azawakh puppy, I never would let people, who are excited about this new addition, approach the puppy, staring at him, bowing down to him, trying to pet him. Just ignore the puppy in the beginning and almost all of them will become curious and will come to meet the visitors after a while. Never let your Azawakh run free when you are nervous or under time pressure. They feel your nervous "aura" or vibration, and many of them will be hard to get back on leash because of this.
There are voices that call for an Azawakh that is more available confronted with strangers, what are your thoughts about this?
I think these people would maybe feel happier with a poodle? I think to select for more "available" Azawakh will not only change their behavior, but much of the fascination of the breed will be destroyed. I do not talk about panicking Azawakh, or individuals with increased aggression towards other dogs or people. Of course such individuals should not be integrated into future breeding programs. People always want to see an Azawakh with the attitude of an Arabian stallion, but the personality of a sheep. They don't understand that both do not go together. I cannot deny that there are some Azawakh, who are genetically more fearful or has a very low stimulus threshold (as well as in many other breeds), which causes over reactions in response to very small stimuli. Many times when we see behavior like this,
Tombouktou's Azawakh October 2013, Gabi to the right
What are your thoughts about genetic diversity, and inbreeding?
Our breed has a very small genetic base. In the beginning in the early 1970s there were two breeding lines. The Yugoslavian line, bred from only three foundation Azawakh imported from Mali and Burkina Faso and the French line, which was based on only seven desert-bred Azawakh, two females and five males. Later, in 1980s, the French kennel Kel Tarbanassen imported three more Azawakh, among them a brindle female and started breeding. So the foundation stock of the breed in Europe is very small. Several Azawakh have been imported since then and many has been used for breeding to enlarge the gene pool, but still the base is much too small for a breed to survive outside Africa in the long run. The inbreeding coefficient as well as the loss of ancestors will increase even with careful selection of breeding partners under this aspect, which unfortunately isn't the case in the majority of the matings in Europe. Of course the breed also went through the classic "sins" of intense line breeding and excessive use of popular sires, which has decreased the genetic heterogeneity of the breed even more.
After a time period of using more imported Azawakh in the breeding plans of several kennels in Europe and the USA from about the mid-nineties until the mid two thousands, now a turn back trend to use more dogs with "full" pedigree for breeding is recognizable, unfortunately.
For more detailed information about the breeding history and genetic perspective of the breed I would recommend to read this article: Back from the Precipice
What are your thoughts about the general competence about the breed among judges?
I really wish we had more breed specialist judges. Old, experienced judges, who still know the "old fashioned" more authentic type of Azawakh, are more and more retired. Many, not all of course, of the new generation of judges in my opinion, tend to place the more extreme individuals at the top, which supports breeding decisions and sets trends to produce more extreme types. I also wish that we had more judges that know about their special nature and accept that the Azawakh is a distant dog. They don't need to be touched all over the body like a Golden Retriever. Almost every Azawakh can be trained to accept a teeth and testicle check by a judge. Extreme panic or aggression in the ring should not be tolerated, but I think a judge should always take into consideration the distant nature of the Azawakh, and avoid approaching them too intense.
What do you consider to be the greatest challenges for the breed today and for the future?
As previously mentioned. the breed is highly endangered by its very small genetic base in Europe and the US. Most part of the Azawakh community will probably not be happy about the following paragraph, and I want to apologize in advance to all the people and new breeders, who really care and want to learn, for the following open words.
I do not deny, that also I love to see Azawakh bred by me winning awards and titles – who would not? Also, I am not against showing dogs, but what I am criticizing is the new fashion of extensive showing on a level which has nothing to do with selecting dogs for breeding, but where the Azawakh becomes an instrumentalized victim of a group of people, who only show to win, no matter what, and also of course adapt their breeding strategies to reach this goal!
The Azawakh, because of the extreme shape and its fascinating attitude, is becoming more and more fashionable for this kind of people. This tendency is even increasing right now, because the breed received recognition of the AKC, so also Americans can start showing the "flashy" Azawakh. The special, aboriginal behavioral traits of the Azawakh, which I have mentioned and tried to explain above, do not make him an ideal breed for extensive showing (sometimes already with professional handlers around the world, so the dogs have to change environment and also the person, they had developed a bond with, which is completely against their nature).
Of course this growing part of the Azawakh community is only interested in producing new award winning generations of Azawakh and without any deeper knowledge and interest of the breed's history and genetic problems. They develop breeding strategies to produce even more extreme types for show, they mate Champion to Champion, without even looking at the ancestry, caused by this combination. They are not interested, they ignore or do not even know the basics of modern canine genetic science, or breeding strategies aimed at slowing down the process of losing more and more genetic heterogeneity. I would like to quote a sentence, which I have read recently and describes the situation of the breed very well in one sentence: "The real Azawakh population (in the Sahelian country of origin) is really shrinking - while the show version in Europe seems to be inbreeding out of control. Or, I should say, out of ignorance for the most part."
Just one recent example: A litter, which was bred out of two highly prize winning breeding partners: In ten generation pedigree of this litter one matador stud appears 17 times in the first seven generations in the pedigree. Another 27 times in nine generations and except five desert bred Azawakh far back in their ancestry, all strains of this pedigree are in strong line breeding are going back to the very few (13) foundation Azawakhs of the breed in Europe. These puppies will be distributed worldwide, winning shows and being used for breeding, which will be an unfortunate contribution for the decrease of the gene pool again. To speak openly, in my opinion this is a "genetic crime" towards the breed.
Jattay, son of Amazzal and a half African sire (50% desert bred again),
already quite successful on shows.
I just had to take the chance to speak out my concerns about this development in open words. The new popularity of the Azawakh among people, who are fascinated by the eye catching appearance of the breed and who are only interested in winning shows and their breeding strategies adapted to this goal, will destroy the work of most of us breeders of the last twenty years.
We have traveled to Africa to bring back new genes, we wrote articles, collected empirical data, and tried to integrate the imported dogs in our breeding to enlarge the gene pool. But now, this new fashion will destroy our efforts to preserve the breed in only a few years. I have to say I am not optimistic about the future of the breed in Europe and the US. I still hope, some of us will have the chance to import some more dogs out of their original homeland, when the political situation in this region should become more stable one day, to help us breeding forward with a better feeling for some more generations.
I just had to take the chance to speak out my concerns about this development in open words. The new popularity of the Azawakh among people, who are fascinated by the eye catching appearance of the breed and who are only interested in winning shows and their breeding strategies adapted to this goal, will destroy the work of most of us breeders of the last twenty years.
We have traveled to Africa to bring back new genes, we wrote articles, collected empirical data, and tried to integrate the imported dogs in our breeding to enlarge the gene pool. But now, this new fashion will destroy our efforts to preserve the breed in only a few years. I have to say I am not optimistic about the future of the breed in Europe and the US. I still hope, some of us will have the chance to import some more dogs out of their original homeland, when the political situation in this region should become more stable one day, to help us breeding forward with a better feeling for some more generations.
An interview with Dr. Gabrielle Meissen
Dr.Med.Vet. Gabriele Meissen got her first Azawakh in 1986, and the first Tombouktou's Azawakh litter was born in Germany in 1994. Kennel Tombouktou's has since been important in the international Azawakh community, and 25 Azawakh litters have been born under this prefix. Gabriele Meissen has participated in ABIS expeditions to the countries of origin where the main aims have been to study the breed in its natural habitat and to import Azawakhs from Sahel to be included in European and American breeding programs.
Tombouktou's U'Tidet with Gabrielle, 2010
What was it with the Azawakh that initially fascinated you?
As a young woman I was very fascinated by the smooth coated, long legged French or Italian hounds, for example the Seggugio Italiano or the Bleu de Gascogne. I did not like sighthounds, because I imagined them all with arched loin and the tail between their hind legs, which did not match my understanding of esthetic at this time. In the mid-eighties, the Azawakh was an extremely rare breed and you could hardly find any literature about them, so I had no idea that this breed existed. A weekend in the summer of 1986 I visited a sighthound show in a park, located in a little town close to Frankfurt/M. I went there with a friend, who wanted to look at Deerhounds, and all of a sudden I saw a pair of red, smooth-coated sighthounds full of energetic elegance. They seemed to embody my vision of the ideal dog. I was totally captured from this moment on, and this fascination and passion lasts until today. I was too shy to get in touch with the owners of these dogs, but could not take my eyes from them. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. Later I found an advertisement in a sighthounds magazine and got in touch with Ingrid Aigeldinger, the breeder of the well-known Al Hara's kennel in Switzerland, who was one of the very few, first generation breeders of Azawakh. She described to me very well the fascinating, special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type. special character of the breed, the aboriginal, independent and often distant behavior, which increased my fascination even more. In November 1986 I went to Switzerland and Ingrid entrusted me with my first own Azawakh, Al Hara's Jaba, a pure Yugoslavian line female of outstanding type.
- To share your life with one or more of this highly intelligent and aboriginal hound is an incomparable adventure.
Tombouktou's Azawakh and Gabrielle, 2012; Amazzal: female with a sire imported from the Sahel
Can you tell us a bit about your daily life with Azawakh?
I am living only with females. Right now, all of them, except the oldest, Takute' al Ifriqiya, bred by David Moore in the USA, are born in my house. When I decide to keep a puppy, she lives with me until she dies. I never place any of my adults living with me. It does not matter if they have grown up to my expectations physically, or if they are successful at shows or do not like shows at all.
My dogs are living indoors with me, no outside kennels, no crates inside. They reside on my sofas and some are sleeping in my bed also. Besides my profession as a vet, the Azawakh are the most important in my life. They are taken out for walks daily and they all get the chance to run free almost every day. I have a variety of several routes, so there is always something new and interesting for them. I always let about two or three of them run free together, so they can chase each other for a while and run out their energy at high speed. When they start to slow sown, I usually capture their interest with some simple search games, like throwing treats, which they have to find. They love this "sniffing" game and it is holding them back to look around for something to chase. All of them have a quite good recall, something which, in my opinion, is developed over average compared to other Oriental sighthound breeds. They are very quickly and easily trained with positive reinforcement. Giving them a treat when coming back, let them understand in a few minutes what you expect from them to do. The same for "sit" and "down". Usually a puppy of 8 weeks or even earlier understands the command after exercising a few minutes. And they will never forget it again. We are going to coursing practice or training on the racetrack now and then, and the puppies are going to puppy school for a few months. I am feeding dry food (with lower protein content) with milk or milk products added in the morning and raw meat with cooked millet (this is their main food in Africa) and all kind of supplements, such as vegetables or spirulina etc. in the afternoon. I would always avoid to feed them with high protein, high fat content, especially growing puppies and adolescent Azawakh. Besides a few rare cases of Radius curvus, they would grow too fast, which can have negative effects on their bones and joints.
What do you think are the greatest differences between Azawakh and other sighthounds?
The Azawakh, as a member of the Oriental sighthound group, is an independent character, but besides their prey drive, this breed has stronger developed territorial behavior and guarding instinct, which is not comparable to "K9 breeds", but more similar to livestock guardian dogs. I would say that of all the Oriental sighthound breeds (I know about), the Azawakh lives in their Sahelian homeland with the nomads under the most "primitive" conditions. They are usually not kept in a fenced area, but are just living free around the nomad camps or small villages, similar to pariah dogs, patrolling in a very wide radius, barking at any kind of intruder. They accompany their people for hunts and they share their meals mainly made of millet and milk products. Of course, some of them are also sleeping in the tents of huts, but mostly they dig their own holes in the ground close to a shady place, like an Acacia tree for example. So they definitely belong to a group of primitive dogs with a lower domestication level in my opinion.
There are many myths about the Azawakh, are there any that should be debunked?
I have already lived and bred Azawakh for more than half of my life, and the prejudice against the character of the Azawakh, whose behavior is very often misinterpreted as dangerous or unpredictable, has not changed at all. The reason for this is the misinformation of most people, that there are some important differences in behavior to more domesticated European breeds and most sighthound breeds. The Azawakh, of course in a wide individual variety, which is caused by genetic (epigenetic) influence as well as the socialization at the breeder's home and later by the owner, has an intense suspicion of the unknown. They are avoidant with new situations and strangers, and reactions can vary from just stepping back and being a bit distant, to hysteria and fear aggression, especially, if the Azawakh has no chance to get out of the way or is not able to keep a certain distance from for example people approaching him. These behavioral traits can be lifesaving in his homeland. Of course the Azawakh can adapt well to modern civilization life in the city as well as in the countryside when socialized well. They need to live close to their people, in the house. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral. Outside kennels will just produce stronger "Pariah behavior". They will be even more avoidant, independent and feral.
Tombouktou's "J" litter with a large percentage of African blood
I am deeply convinced that besides a close bond to a stable and reliable owner, the Azawakh needs time to be free without commands coming down on him every five seconds. His soul needs some self-determined time to live out its nature and be balanced. All the rumors about the dangerous character of the breed are spread by spread by people who never understood the origin of this breed and the reasons of their behavior. The Azawakh is not really for everybody, but for persons with the right kind of personality, who give them a good socialization, a stable background and patient guidance, this breed is one of the most fascinating. To share your life with one or more of this highly intelligent and aboriginal hound is an incomparable adventure.
What are the most important pieces of advice you give to newcomers in the breed?
Essential for me is early and intense socialization, of course already at the breeder's house, which has to be continued with patience and consequence and positive reinforcement. It is very important not to try to comfort a puppy which is afraid of something new, because this is positive reinforcement for his fear and avoidant behavior. With patience and time, the puppy should be confronted repeatedly with the situation or object, which has caused his fear reaction and it will get used to it and loose fear (but these are just common educational advices, which are for all kind of dogs, not only for the Azawakh). It is important to give him positive experiences with all kind of people again and again. I take my puppies everywhere, to restaurants, the bank or to the post office. Some people with children take them to kindergarten or school to pick up the children. I spend time with them at the entrance of supermarkets or at a bus station. Just to meet people of all kind and introduce him to various situations. I also let people feed him treats. Most Azawakh would do a lot for food.
When visitors are coming to a home to see the new Azawakh puppy, I never would let people, who are excited about this new addition, approach the puppy, staring at him, bowing down to him, trying to pet him. Just ignore the puppy in the beginning and almost all of them will become curious and will come to meet the visitors after a while. Never let your Azawakh run free when you are nervous or under time pressure. They feel your nervous "aura" or vibration, and many of them will be hard to get back on leash because of this.
There are voices that call for an Azawakh that is more available confronted with strangers, what are your thoughts about this?
I think these people would maybe feel happier with a poodle? I think to select for more "available" Azawakh will not only change their behavior, but much of the fascination of the breed will be destroyed. I do not talk about panicking Azawakh, or individuals with increased aggression towards other dogs or people. Of course such individuals should not be integrated into future breeding programs. People always want to see an Azawakh with the attitude of an Arabian stallion, but the personality of a sheep. They don't understand that both do not go together. I cannot deny that there are some Azawakh, who are genetically more fearful or has a very low stimulus threshold (as well as in many other breeds), which causes over reactions in response to very small stimuli. Many times when we see behavior like this,
Tombouktou's Azawakh October 2013, Gabi to the right
What are your thoughts about genetic diversity, and inbreeding?
Our breed has a very small genetic base. In the beginning in the early 1970s there were two breeding lines. The Yugoslavian line, bred from only three foundation Azawakh imported from Mali and Burkina Faso and the French line, which was based on only seven desert-bred Azawakh, two females and five males. Later, in 1980s, the French kennel Kel Tarbanassen imported three more Azawakh, among them a brindle female and started breeding. So the foundation stock of the breed in Europe is very small. Several Azawakh have been imported since then and many has been used for breeding to enlarge the gene pool, but still the base is much too small for a breed to survive outside Africa in the long run. The inbreeding coefficient as well as the loss of ancestors will increase even with careful selection of breeding partners under this aspect, which unfortunately isn't the case in the majority of the matings in Europe. Of course the breed also went through the classic "sins" of intense line breeding and excessive use of popular sires, which has decreased the genetic heterogeneity of the breed even more.
After a time period of using more imported Azawakh in the breeding plans of several kennels in Europe and the USA from about the mid-nineties until the mid two thousands, now a turn back trend to use more dogs with "full" pedigree for breeding is recognizable, unfortunately.
For more detailed information about the breeding history and genetic perspective of the breed I would recommend to read this article: Back from the Precipice
What are your thoughts about the general competence about the breed among judges?
I really wish we had more breed specialist judges. Old, experienced judges, who still know the "old fashioned" more authentic type of Azawakh, are more and more retired. Many, not all of course, of the new generation of judges in my opinion, tend to place the more extreme individuals at the top, which supports breeding decisions and sets trends to produce more extreme types. I also wish that we had more judges that know about their special nature and accept that the Azawakh is a distant dog. They don't need to be touched all over the body like a Golden Retriever. Almost every Azawakh can be trained to accept a teeth and testicle check by a judge. Extreme panic or aggression in the ring should not be tolerated, but I think a judge should always take into consideration the distant nature of the Azawakh, and avoid approaching them too intense.
What do you consider to be the greatest challenges for the breed today and for the future?
As previously mentioned. the breed is highly endangered by its very small genetic base in Europe and the US. Most part of the Azawakh community will probably not be happy about the following paragraph, and I want to apologize in advance to all the people and new breeders, who really care and want to learn, for the following open words.
I do not deny, that also I love to see Azawakh bred by me winning awards and titles – who would not? Also, I am not against showing dogs, but what I am criticizing is the new fashion of extensive showing on a level which has nothing to do with selecting dogs for breeding, but where the Azawakh becomes an instrumentalized victim of a group of people, who only show to win, no matter what, and also of course adapt their breeding strategies to reach this goal!
The Azawakh, because of the extreme shape and its fascinating attitude, is becoming more and more fashionable for this kind of people. This tendency is even increasing right now, because the breed received recognition of the AKC, so also Americans can start showing the "flashy" Azawakh. The special, aboriginal behavioral traits of the Azawakh, which I have mentioned and tried to explain above, do not make him an ideal breed for extensive showing (sometimes already with professional handlers around the world, so the dogs have to change environment and also the person, they had developed a bond with, which is completely against their nature).
Of course this growing part of the Azawakh community is only interested in producing new award winning generations of Azawakh and without any deeper knowledge and interest of the breed's history and genetic problems. They develop breeding strategies to produce even more extreme types for show, they mate Champion to Champion, without even looking at the ancestry, caused by this combination. They are not interested, they ignore or do not even know the basics of modern canine genetic science, or breeding strategies aimed at slowing down the process of losing more and more genetic heterogeneity. I would like to quote a sentence, which I have read recently and describes the situation of the breed very well in one sentence: "The real Azawakh population (in the Sahelian country of origin) is really shrinking - while the show version in Europe seems to be inbreeding out of control. Or, I should say, out of ignorance for the most part."
Just one recent example: A litter, which was bred out of two highly prize winning breeding partners: In ten generation pedigree of this litter one matador stud appears 17 times in the first seven generations in the pedigree. Another 27 times in nine generations and except five desert bred Azawakh far back in their ancestry, all strains of this pedigree are in strong line breeding are going back to the very few (13) foundation Azawakhs of the breed in Europe. These puppies will be distributed worldwide, winning shows and being used for breeding, which will be an unfortunate contribution for the decrease of the gene pool again. To speak openly, in my opinion this is a "genetic crime" towards the breed.
Jattay, son of Amazzal and a half African sire (50% desert bred again),
already quite successful on shows.
I just had to take the chance to speak out my concerns about this development in open words. The new popularity of the Azawakh among people, who are fascinated by the eye catching appearance of the breed and who are only interested in winning shows and their breeding strategies adapted to this goal, will destroy the work of most of us breeders of the last twenty years.
We have traveled to Africa to bring back new genes, we wrote articles, collected empirical data, and tried to integrate the imported dogs in our breeding to enlarge the gene pool. But now, this new fashion will destroy our efforts to preserve the breed in only a few years. I have to say I am not optimistic about the future of the breed in Europe and the US. I still hope, some of us will have the chance to import some more dogs out of their original homeland, when the political situation in this region should become more stable one day, to help us breeding forward with a better feeling for some more generations.
Kel Simoon Wanu (male) and Winta (female) at 9 months here. As a reminder, they are the 2nd generation after my Niger import: Inaya is th...
