Rarefied Heirs – The Azawakh

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140 – July, 2025

By Lori Sternola

Sometimes there’s value in starting a conversation that finishes on another day. There’s worth in open discourse, and ideas that are supposed to sit with you for a while. And often, the toughest questions are the ones most worth finding answers to. So, under the heading of “for what it’s worth”, I offer a topic which hits rare breeds particularly hard: The need to communicate well within our own breed and with our fellow breeders. In breeds that may see between two and ten litters born each year, there’s no space to find your small band and work within it. Maybe there are five active breeders in your breed. Maybe there are less. When you’re preserving a rare breed, you set favoritism and pride aside; it’s the only way.

At our best, we breed selectively for the purpose of protecting and preserving our breed. We place those puppies in the best homes we can find for them. We screen extensively to maximize their health and their quality of life. We stand behind them and take them back on the rare occasion their homes can’t keep them. To achieve all those things, we must communicate with each other. And we must be truthful. In short, we have the hard conversations. We talk about disorders, x-rays, and seizures. We talk about temperaments, aptitudes, and the things that have surprised us: lousy bites, monorchids, and dwarfism. We do all of this not because it’s easy, but because our breed, and our dogs, deserve it. When we do share these discussions, they deserve to be heard in the spirit of openness and honesty. We keep things in confidence when we’re asked to do so. The breeders who can do these things earn the respect and trust of other breeders… and that ultimately puts them in a better position within their breed and within the sport. Doing the right thing is a competitive advantage. Secrets, misinformation, and gossip deliver the opposite. But most importantly, those things hurt our breeds. And hurting our breeds is not why we’re here. Just… food for thought.

And speaking of our rare breeds: The Azawakh fascinates me. One of the things I loved hearing as I researched this article was the effort and passion Azawakh fanciers put into making sure the breed is seen; and that people have the opportunity to learn and understand its unique conformation and temperament. As I write this article, there are currently two Azawakhs in the Top Ten hounds. That is a such a testament to the supporters of this rare breed. To pull the story together, I spoke to Essie Yates, the owner and backer of our current #7 hound, and to Lilia Berezkina of Azawakh Ayur es Sahel – the breeder and co-owner of our current #3 hound and the top BIS winning Azawakh in history.

Click here to read the complete article
140 – July, 2025

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Posted by AnthonyA on Jul 13 2025. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.