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Mein erster Sloughi
 My lovely sloughi boy Azaar lies quietly asleep on the sofa, enjoying an early afternoon nap as I write this. He really is a 60 km/t couch potato. I have been asked to tell his story to the readers of sloughi-world, and I will do so as the rain falls outside. Azaar won’t go out in the rain anyway, so I have plenty of time to write his story.
It all started in the early winter of 2004, when my dearly loved South-African boerboel Mufasa began to limp and stumble. He had a puppy hood neck injury that had started to put pressure on the nerves in his neck, and I realized that he would not last much longer. I knew that I couldn’t be without a dog, but the boerboels tend to get skeletal problems easily, so I decided to go for a breed with as few known health problems as possible. And as I love mastiffs and sighthounds equally, I landed on the sighthound side this time. But I wanted a dog with a guarding instinct, and I prefer shorthaired dogs, and I like African dog breeds. So, after having considered chart polskis, magyar agars, and azawakhs (oh, they‘re lovely! - but too sceptical for someone who lives in a city), I landed on the sloughi.
 But how to find a breeder of such a rare breed? Norwegian dog people in general don’t care much for sighthounds, and a very rare breed such as the sloughi would surely be impossible to find in Norway? No, in fact! Luck would have it that one woman owned three sloughis (the only ones in Norway, in fact), and she had just mated one of her two lovely bitches with her own fantastic looking male. Now, that was promising.
The bitch, Twisty Marsh Jadita, was a Swedish import with lots of Dutch blood in her pedigree, and the male, Alto Kaheela de Moreau, also had a fine pedigree. Both were very nice looking, too. So I anxiously waited to hear whether there would be any puppies born.
But I had still never actually met a sloughi. Nor had I met the breeder, Line Urke, who lived on the west coast, far from Oslo. But Line was about to import a young bitch from the Dalvit kennel in the Chezh Republic, and the dog would arrive by plane to Oslo So when Line and her partner came to Oslo to get the dog, I was there at the airport to meet them and see my first ever sloughi. And what an impression she made! After several hours in the flight crate, on the plane and then at the customs office, Azira ag Dalvit came trotting out of the crate with all the calm, regal attitude of a queen. She was breathtaking. I knew right then that I had chosen the right breed.
 Then followed the long wait for the puppies to arrive. And finally, on May 26 th, six beautiful pups were born. I visited Line to see the puppies when they were five weeks old, and I had the pleasure of seeing them play in the garden for the first time. I at first fell in love with a big, handsome sand male, but Line recommended that I choose another, smaller male with dark overlay. At then I didn’t like that colour, but now I’m glad that I listened to her. I knew that I would soon get a second male sloughi, and Line therefore chose a more outgoing and inquisitive male for me to have. The sand male was very nice in every respect, but he probably wouldn’t be dominating enough to be a leader.
I still had my dear boerboel Mufasa, and he and I enjoyed our last summer together with nice walks, lots of playing and lots of swimming. He loved to swim, and he could do it without any pain. I had decided not to keep him until the cold autumn made his joints ache, and fortunately my new pup would be ready to move in on the 1 st of August. I knew that I couldn’t sleep in my own home after Mufasa’s death unless I had the company of another dog.
 I shall not tell you how my heart ached that last day with Mufasa. I still can‘t write, or even think, about it. I cried rivers, and I know in my heart that I will one day own another boerboel. But after it was all over, two of my friends drove me two hours north-east of Oslo to where Line was visiting her sister. She had brought my new puppy and one of his sisters, who Line would deliver to her new owners in Sweden.
Azaar stole my heart immediately. He was bold and playful, and absolutely beautiful. He slept peacefully through his first night away from his old home, in my bed with his little head on my arm. He quickly adjusted to his new life, and never chewed on any furniture He’d play with my shoes, but without damaging them. He also taught me that a sloughi will never lie on any hard surface. Pillows, dog beds and soft blankets were things that he took for granted. Only dogs sleep on the floor. Sloughis aren’t dogs, they’re sloughis - and sloughis need soft things to sleep on. He took a while to get entirely housebroken, but he soon learned to ring a bell that I’d attached to the entrance door, when he wanted to go out.
But his hunting instinct took me by surprise. I thought I was prepared, expecting him to want to chase birds and cats, but he wanted to run after anything small that moved. Even fluffy dandelion seeds sent him into a hunting frenzy. But I was happy to see this instinct unfold, as I was interested in lure coursing. He seemed to have a true talent for it.
In fact, little Azaar soon got the chance to check out lure coursing. He was, of course, far too young to run a course, but he got to try chasing the “rabbit” on a straight track of about 30 meters. He loved it! And I brought him everywhere with me, as I had all my time free to socialize and environment train him. I was studying at the University of Oslo, but health problems forced me to take a semester off. So Azaar got to travel by bus, streetcar and train, he got to meet lots of people and dogs, he tried scent tracking in the forests, he went for “training walks” in downtown Oslo, and every day he experienced something new. And he never showed any sign of fear or even hesitation. Whatever challenges I put before him, he always took them in stride.
 And he still experiences new things all the time. He’s 13 months old now, and he’s been just about everywhere with me. The only thing he hasn’t tried is travelling by plane and boat, but he’ll probably do both this summer He’s been to about a dozen dog shows as environment training and preparation, and he’s participated at three shows. At all three he got Cert and BoB I handled him myself without any prior experience, and he was so incredibly easy to show! Sure, there was little or no competition, but it’s still quite an achievement for a 1-year-old sloughi to get BoB from three experienced, foreign judges. And all three judges commented on his well developed muscularity and his calm, friendly personality. One judge insisted over and over again that I must show him often. Another judge actually gave Azaar and me a porcelain figurine that she’d brought from her home country, Russia. She said that she’d chosen him to receive this personal present, as he was so especially promising
Am I happy with choosing a sloughi? Oh yes, you bet. He’s everything I expected, and more. Azaar will meet any stranger with friendliness, but I have no doubt that any real threat will be met with defense (although he‘s never shown any defensiveness or suspicion so far). Friends of mine who have never seen a sighthound up close, and who thought they’d never like one, are all in love with him. Yes, they think he’s skinny, but his personality makes them love him nonetheless. A boerboel-owning friend of mine, who used to think that sighthounds were ugly and emanciated, is totally smitten by Azaar (“My God, look how fast he runs! Fantastic!”). And my old mother, who never would allow any dog to sleep on furniture, lets Azaar sleep on her expensively upholstered, antique sofa.
 His hunting instinct is strong, but he will not run away from me any farther than he can see me. If I let him off leash in the forest, he always stays close by. He loves all dogs, big and small, but he loves sighthounds the most. And this autumn (2006), I hope that Line will have another litter (Dahija Bohemia Genao x a fine LC male from Sweden) so that I can get my sloughi number two. Azaar, being his social self, will love to have a buddy to play with. And I, now an ardent advocate of the breed here in Norway, can’t wait to have another representative of this fantastic breed to show to the Norwegian sloughi community.
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