The Silken Windhound
 

 The Silken Windhounds started from a base of Whippets, Some sort of Collie ( most likey a Sheltie) and Borzoi at Kristull Borzoi Kennel in Austin, Texas. Ultimately, they came to be registered as Silken Windhounds, with their own standard and gene base. Here are excerpts from a story written for publication back in 1986.

For years, we had been searching for the perfect second breed for our Kristull Borzoi kennel. We had developed a unique and successful line of hounds that we are very proud of. 

But like so many dog people know, breeding and showing dogs is a process that can become blind and stagnant if complacency is allowed to set in. So, in 1975, we sat down to choose a second breed. We were going to be wise this time and try to apply all of the lessons that we had learned the hard way with our first breed to prove that we could short-circuit the trials and tribulations every novice must survive to stay "in dogs."

So, with great sincerity, we wrote down our requirements. The breed had to be smaller. Borzoi are magnificent in their size and presence, but the feed bill was outrageous and neither my sister Jackie nor I owned a big enough house to hold more than one large breed. Small, therefore, and easy to care for. No Lhasa Apsos with their floor-mop coats to drag through the cactus and rocks. Living in the heat of Texas, it should not be short snouted. Pugs and Boston Terriers do routinely suffer in the stifling summer heat. 

Temperament? Well, we were spoiled. Sighthounds are unique: independent, yet fawning; aloof, yet tender; exuberant, yet sensitive to both the objects and people around them. Terriers, with their feisty dispositions were out of the question-- our dogs lived and ran as a group, and arguing was never allowed.

A short coated breed? Well, somehow I just didn't like them. We had owned a darling Greyhound, and I swear that his skin was made of tissue paper. Admittedly, he healed as easily as he tore, but hunting scars do eventually become unsightly. We don't live an easy life. We often travel with our dogs on horseback, expecting them to keep up and enjoy the outings. They are fenced on five acres of natural cliffs, gullies, trees and creekfront water. The coursing records prove that those that grow up in this environment are tough and stable, but on the whole, life is not easy. 

And last, but surely not least, had to be aesthetics. Webster defines it as: "pertaining to the beautiful and artistic". I find it no surprise at all that there is more artwork available depicting Sighthounds than all other breeds combined. They are both beautiful and artistic, just as our new breed had to be.

So where were we? Small, gentle, beautiful, silky coated, but not dragging on the ground . . . what we wanted was our beloved Borzoi, only smaller!

That sounds easy, but when you think about it, the Afghan Hound is the smallest long-haired Sighthound. Sure there are Ibizans, Pharaohs, Whippets and IG's. But none of them carries a long coat. It would be nearly a decade before we finally bought our first tiny longhaired Sighthound.

In 1982, when I was working on the production of The Sighthound magazine, The Longhaired Whippet Association sent an article. The accompanying photos showed beautiful little coated sighthounds in all colors. They were fringed, angulated and sweeping -- very much a Whippet with long hair! For a person whose degrees are in genetics, I couldn't resist. I had to find out more and decided to do some research myself on their background. 

What I found was a surprising amount of apparent crossbreeding as late as the 19th century between the basic "Whippet" and other breeds to add a variety of useful traits. That terriers were used, is evidenced by the wirecoated Whippets that were perpetuated up until the 1950's when the last registered line of them apparently died out (the wire coat being dominant -- when the last individual displaying it dies, there can be no more without crossing again to a wire coated dog.) There were also, no doubt, crosses with spaniel-types or farm collie-types and fortunately, since the long, silky coat is recessive, it could carry through many generations without being displayed by the carriers (or totally lost to the breed.) 

Then I sat back and watched in amazement, as people took up sides to agrue over the development of this little dog. It was very much like when Ms. Joanne Jelke attempted to develop a miniature Borzoi and the Borzoi people were quite hostile. Only the ironic part about the criticism was that this time it came from the Whippet fanciers. The Borzoi people loved them! But the Whippet breeders quickly drew lines and took sides. "They look like small Borzoi!" Not surprising, with a fringed, Whippet-sized sighthound. "How dare he take purebred Whippets, inbreed on a breed fault, and still call them Whippets!" They probably had a point here, since although the Longhaired Whippet Association was established, the original breeder seemed set on arguing their purity rather than developing this new little dog into its own breed. 

I figured that with so much controversy, the breed would be swamped with breeders coming to see these dogs for themselves to make up their own minds from direct observation. Once again, I was wrong -- like in the case of Ms. Jelke, not one of the irate letter writers asked to see the actual dogs either before writing their disapproval OR after.

Well, the world went on and the Longhairs found a cozy little niche in the back of my mind. I had joined the Longhaired Whippet Association so that I would continue to receive updates on the variety. Soon a pair of pups was going to Switzerland. There were orders from many other parts of the world. Up until this point, the majority of the stock still resided in Massachusetts, but it proved that there was enough interest that the little dog was capable of making headway on its own merits.

Then, I received their new brochure showing the most recent generations! I showed it to everyone who would hold still long enough -- admittedly with great sighs of longing. My friend Gabe stopped by the office soon after that, and was treated to the usual display of brochure and photos. When I got through, he said, "Don't just sit there, Francie, see if you can have one." Why hadn't I thought of that? Why continue to do research on the background, show everybody the pictures, talk and dream, without ever going to see them myself?

 What an overwhelming experience! First to greet us was Bub, a pint-sized charmer officially known as Windhound Winter Legend. He was the dog pictured on the back cover of "The Sighthound!" How incomplete photos can be. His coat was pure silk, with no hint of undercoat or stiff outer guardhairs that one might find on a Sheltie. He stood slightly over 18 inches and had a personality of pure dynamite, bouncing from one guest to another, being sure to not miss anyone in his position as official greeter.

It was all there! The totally Whippet head, rose ears, black eyes, arched neck, deep chest, extreme tuck-up, sweeping rear, sickle tail and loving devoted personality. Not only was he a Whippet (abet with long hair), he was a good Whippet! 



Our drive to Boston from Texas had been a long one, and I could not help asking myself on the way, "Will they really just be weedy Shelties?" I had be cautioned by numerous people confiding in me that they were just sure that the Longhaired Whippets were actually half (a) Sheltie, (b) Borzoi, (c) Collie, (d) Spaniel, (e) Setter, or (f) Saluki (?!) (you may take your pick.) It was interesting that nobody could agree on what they figured they were mixed with. I kept wondering why they had to be mixed, knowing that a long coat is commonly recessive.

All of that became irrelevant when we were able to take these proto-type Silkens and combine them with some of the finest Borzoi and smooth Whippet lines available. The years of enjoyment that we have had in founding a new breed partially from the stock that we found there cannot be over estimated. We were able to see relatives, parents, grandparents and offspring of most of the lines that were used. In addition to this first pair, we were entrusted with three more females bred to diverse males to enlarge our Silken Windhound foundation. 

To be continued.

~*~*~*~*~*~ This breed of dogs originated mostly from smooth Whippets that apparently carried the longhaired trait recessively. Whether they did or not is controversial, but there are some things that are true. The long hair is always recessive to the smooth coat in every breed (wire coats are typically dominant to both smooth and long hair). Since there is documented proof that Whippets were not necessarily purebred much before the turn of the century, it would be no surprise that there were occasional collie or setter or spaniel type dogs bred into them at various points. These lovely coats would never be shown in the first generation (all of the puppies would be smooth, carrying the longhaired trait recessively) and, if the dog carrying the longhaired trait is not ever bred to another dog carrying that same longhaired trait, then a "coated" dog was never produced. In this way, the longhaired trait can be carried genetically for many generations without being displayed. So it is apparent that the Silken Windhound is based mainly on Whippets. In addition, there was an obvious cross to a coated breed somewhere in its history, perhaps long ago in addition to its more recent past.