Contact: Päivi Nurmi Karhinkulma 55, 12240, Hikiä, Finland e-mail: nurmipaivi@hotmail.comWhy a sloughi?
Sloughi is a breed I had always admired in dogbooks, but never seen ”alive”. When I lived with my parents my father didn't like sighthounds and I couldn't get a dog of my own (although we still had dogs). When I moved to a rented flat it was time to start thinking of getting the dog of my dreams. At first I thought about a Galgo espanol (there was a litter in Sweden at that time), a Saluki or a Whippet. Sloughi is such a rare breed here in Finland that there weren't any litters, nor had I the money or relations to import one from abroad.
However, destiny was to turn things around when I noticed an advertisement in the Finnish Sighthound Association's magazine of upcoming Sloughi puppies. I called Pia and Hannu Puomila to ask more about the breed. Especially I was interested in the breed's character, because dogbooks described them as very reserved and suspicious towards strangers. The Puomilas asked me to visit them to get to know their Sloughis. The first Sloughi I saw was ”Pekko” (of Golden- West Harlem) and he was gorgeous! At the same time I got to know Tiri and Kustaa, Hulkah, Jukka and Jaakko and Pia's afghans. The dogs lovely characters, picture-beautiful movements and outlooks made an impression I'll never forget. During my visit Tiri put her head on my knees and looked at me with her dark eyes and it became clear to me: I want a Sloughi! We discussed about the upcoming litter, which was due to be born in Sweden. The dame was Pia's of Golden-West Hannah and the puppies would be born in Syringa kennel (breeders Eva &Anders Hildorsson, who have bred some top-winning afghans). Hannah went to have puppies there because there were already interested puppy-buyers, and Eva liked Hannah very much. Eva kept Syringa Hope ”Greta” from the litter.
Hannah was already artificially inseminated with frozen semen from Am Ch Ghali Shi'Rayan in Finland. Pia saw Ghali during World Dog show in 1998 in Finland and liked him very much. Ghali lives in at the Shi'Rayan kennel (breeders Dominique Crapon de Caprona and Bernd Frizsch) in USA. Ghali is a combination of German-Dutch-French-lines.
In May 1999 Hannah gave birth to 9 lovely puppies, some of them sand-colored and some brindle. I was determined to have a sand male, but Pia started to talk about (and showed me photos) this beautiful brindle boy…I contacted Eva to ask what kind of puppies had been born and if I had chances to be owned by a Sloughi…the answer was yes! We got to our puppy-trip to Skokloster Sighthound show in the end of July. We were there on Friday-evening and Eva brought the puppies there on Sunday-evening..it was a long wait! Jesse's sister Syringa Harmony ”Hertha” was also coming to Finland for Anna-Mari Rönkkö. Now it's been almost 5 years(2004) since I got Jesse and wonders of the soul of the Sloughi continues.
I wanted to visit a couple of dog shows to see what judges think about Jesse. Although I got Jesse as a pet dog, I wanted to do something with him. Jesse excelled my expectations - as a result several Best of Breed-winnings and one Group-5-placement. Since then Jesse has tried lure coursing and also been to a obedience-camp. With Jesse I got into sighthound-activities and since then I have gotten to know other sighthound breeds and I think that Sloughis (or my other breed Galgo Espanol) are not that ”strange” compared to other hounds. Even though Sloughi is a primitive breed they are not half-wild animals, as people sometimes seem to think. Of course there's differences in characters between different dogs (as in any other breed). I have met almost all of the Finnish Sloughis and part of Swedish Sloughis, and they all have nice temperaments. I have been really satisfied with this breed and I'm happy that I got Jesse. In the future, I'd like to have another Sloughi…who knows…
Päivi Nurmi