Puppies

I feel very privileged to say that I am a saluki breeder. Privileged in that I have been able to breed enough litters to satisfy my own wishes for canine companionship; to provide great homes and great lives for all of the puppies; to help preserve and cultivate a very special breed; and to make a meaningful contribution to the pedigrees of some unforgettable salukis – and hopefully of some in the future.

I’ve also been incredibly fortunate to have great co-breeders – true partners that I know care about their salukis as I do mine – and then ours. I value these relationships like treasure.

The metronome of when I try to produce puppies is based on what space exists for them in my world – my home, my work life, my family of humans and dogs. To some, that might seem quite a limited proposition but to me it feels just right. I don’t feel the need to breed for a market or a community or a fan club.

Also, I really believe we should only be breeding from the very finest of our salukis. I know there was a time – and perhaps that time co-incided with the introduction of salukis to the UK and Europe and then the USA – when private kennels could maintain large breeding programs. I suspect the breed, like all others, needed that kind of heavy concentration to life-off. But we don’t live in that time anymore. Back then salukis remained in the hands of a very few. I’m glad a wider, more diverse population gets to connect with salukis now.

I also believe that good husbandry is a challenging pre-occupation and really does require study, thoughtfulness, rigorous planning and solomonic judgment – of dogs and of people.

Whom puppies go with, where they go – and what back ups are in place – are all important parts of the breeding process now.

Lily’s 2024 litter was a singleton — just the one lovely girl Dolly — so we were unable to fulfill the hopes of those who had been waiting for a puppy. It’s unlikely that we would breed Lily again. Several breeders have inquired about using Kaspian on one of their bitches — and there are two breedings on the horizon, though not immediate. It is our plan to breed Kyra to Kaspian possibly in 2026 or 2027.