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Our New Azawakh Puppy from the Aulad al. Sahra’s Kennel – a dog with a Radius Curvus Syndrom.
1. How did we get a puppy with a Radius Curvus Syndrom. From the very moment I got our first Azi, Tatrit I dreamt of getting another dog. At first I hoped to leave a puppy from Tatrit’s litter. Unfortunately, two trials of mating were not successful. I started to think about buying a dog from a different kennel. In December 2005 it turned out that I was going to be the first to breed, hahahaha – I got pregnant. This made me think even more seriously about buying a puppy at this very moment – for me and for Tatrit to have a companion and a play mate. I did contact Aulad al Sahra’s kennel over a month earlier. I knew they were expecting a litter, and I inquired about a possibility to have a female from them. When the puppies were born I got an e-mail from the breeders that there were two females born and one could be mine. I thought it was meant to be that way and I was happy to hear good news. I was getting a new puppy! In the same time one of my “clients”, Alma Oakley-Abrahams asked me if I could help her to get a female puppy from any other kennels. She waited for my puppies, but since there was no success she was desperate to get a pup from anybody else. She told me how she cried when it didn’t work out with me and other kennels. She told me she was looking for a puppy for such a long time that she was loosing her hope. I felt sorry for her as well as I felt I also disappointed her. I asked here and there if there were any chances to buy a female for Alma. As she is British, it was not so easy – not many breeders want to keep a puppy for 9 months at their home – during the quarantine. I also asked the Hochgesands – the Aulad al Sahra’s – if the other female from the litter was already reserved. Unfortunately she was not available either. But the breeders started to persuade me to buy a male from their litter – they had 6 of them – and this way Alma could have “my” female. I started to think about it. This way I would get a stud for my Tatrit… After some negotiations with my husband – he was absolutely sure we should not get a male and he only wanted a female – I finally took a decision to take a boy. From this moment our dramatic story begins.
I have to admit the kennel of Aulad al Shara’s was never recommended to me – on the contrary – other breeders would always warn me: “don’t buy a dog from them”, “these are old, inbred lines” etc. Mr. and Mrs. Hochgesand are also very unpopular among the majority of the Azawakh breeding community because of their war against developing the breed’s standard and accepting more colors in it. They also lead some kind of a crusade against white spots vs. white markings – which seems so absurd that it is difficult to explain and to follow. I decided that I did not want to get into politics and step into breeders’ competition. I wanted to keep all of this apart from the dogs. And the dogs from Aulad al Sahra’s seem very beautiful – they actually win many shows. I decided that my “African rustic girl” Tatrit could do quite well if mated with one of these high inbred, feline type Azis from the Hochgesands. Mr. and Mrs. Hochgesands told me that all the bad things I heard of them were all due to envy, that people developed bad gossip about them cause they all hated them for their winning successes.
In the 6th week after the birth of the litter I flew to Frankfurt to see the puppies. They were covered with bold spots. I was surprised. But the breeders explained they developed an allergy to some supplements they gave to the mother and it got to their blood with the milk. Ok. I bought it – it sounded possible. Only later I found out that it was a lie – puppies are not able to develop an allergic reaction till they are about 6 months old. So, before this age any skin problems must be a result of either an infection, demodex or fungus. (After confronted with this arguments 2 weeks after I got my puppy home – the breeder admitted they had an infection cured with a week of antibiotics. Hm….. ).
Anyway, when I was there the puppies looked really beautiful despite their bad skin condition. Moreover, they were very friendly and outgoing which is rather rare in the breed. I liked them. I took a final decision – I wanted a puppy from this litter. I made a choice for a dog nr 1 or a dog nr 3 – just in case the nr 1 would not be available for any reasons (there were more people thinking of him).
This is what the puppies looked like in the 6th week of life – with the bold spots:
When the puppies were 9 weeks old I got a phone call from Anne Hochgesand. She told me she reserved the dog nr 3 for me cause the boy nr 1 had only one testicle up till now, and she would not dare to sell me a puppy with any problems. I did consult it with some Polish breeders and FCI judges. Generally, they would not recommend to buy any puppy from a litter in which a testicle problem appeared. But on the other hand, they told me that sometimes the testicles come down in the age of 12-16 weeks and it is still ok. I thought I would wait. I made an arrangement to come and collect my puppy in 3 weeks – when the puppies were to be 12 weeks old When we came to take our puppy home the dog nr 1 was still waiting for his testicle to come down. But the breeders were showing us that it was close to happen and that all they had to do was to massage the puppy’s tummy where the “lost ball” was hiding. On the other hand the puppy nr 3 looked a bit weak, had still little hair, but was, as each puppy, very adorable. He also seemed the smallest from the litter and he caught my heart for being such a poor little thing. I also thought such a delicate little boy would balance my “big” and “masculine” Tatrit. We took Tarat home. It was one of the happiest days in my life. Tarat was a happy, little piglet.
This is what he looked like the very first day after his arrival to our home:
Isn’t he cute?
But a good eye of one of my friends – Tomasz Kuszyk, an FCI assistant and Borzoi breeder – immediately caught that Tarat’s legs look a bit worrying at the first photo - standing in the library. I started to look closer. I took a whole series of pictures of his front legs according to advices I got from a friend. His front legs looked awful – pics taken two days after he came to our home:
On the 15th of February (Tarat came to us on the 13th) I sent the above pics to the breeder with a question: what is going on???? I got a phone call from Anne: “oh, dear, they look bad, bring him back! Or do not panic, they might get better. We will talk to “experts” and we will let you know”. A few days later they wrote me, that this is nothing to worry about, I should change his diet, give less supplements, check his Ca/P ratio in blood and his legs will get straight.
I was disappointed. So much hassle, so many emotions, all the time and money invested in buying this puppy and immediately we get problems. But even in my worst nightmares I didn’t anticipate the catastrophe that was ahead of us.
As it turned out later – there is always some truth in each gossip, sometimes more sometimes less, and sometimes we find out that this is not gossip, but the truth, a famous “word of mouth” which should never be underestimated.
Now, I can say: not all gold that glitters… What a pity I had to learn it trough my own experience. I feel very silly, especially that I have an article about the “Genetic Impoverishment” in the breed on my own website.
And I am not talking here from envy. I have no reason to envy the breeder – I actually bought a puppy from them! I wanted to share their breeding experience. I wanted to be part of the glamour they get at dog shows…
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