Shamali´s heritage
| Shamali’s HeritageFrom ”Ustura Al Shamali” (Shamali’s ”magazine” -91). Some editing of the material has been made. For those interested I will take a look back, at Shamali’s heritage up to 1991. I will however update some facts to keep the text correct as time goes by. The article is setup in such a way that I’m looking more at breeders of influence rather than any particular salukis. Naturally, some will be mentioned anyway. I will try to present short summaries of each breeder mentioned and the characteristics of its breeding. However, the reader must be aware of that the descriptions are limited by my knowledge, and that everything said is *only* my personal opinion. Note that the number of champions stated only concerns each breeder’s native country, i.e. no exports to foreign countries. Also please note that numbers and figures can be wrong.SWEDISH BREEDERSKENNEL BEN HURI | |
 Int Ch Ben Huri’s Adir | Without any doubt Kennel Ben Huri constitutes the solid base upon which Shamali rests. First and foremost came the greatest of them all: Int Ch Ben Huri’s Adir, but also the male owned by Shamali: Int Ch Ben Huri’s Wadj Karmaz, together with his grandfather one of Ben Huri’s more successful – although in lesser scale – stud dogs. |
| Other important Ben Huri-dogs are Int Ch Ben Huri’s Narsia and Int Ch Ben Huri’s Hussein (full brother to Wadj’s father) |  Int Ch Ben Huri’s Narsia |
| During the years 1960-1977 Ben Huri bred about 120 dogs in 24 litters, out of which 60 became champions and among these 20 international champions. For 13 years Ben Huri was top winning saluki-breeder in Sweden. Ben Huri’s distinction was not only one of great success at exhibitions; the dogs from Ben Huri were of a very uniform type and one color dominated: The black grizzle. The biggest common feature probably was the excellent fronts. Last but not least Ben Huri’s distinguishing quality probably were the friendship between the owners Gerd & Nils-Lennart Olsson on the one hand, and their dog buyers on the other. There was great solidarity in the ”Ben Huri-clan”. | |
| In the mid-seventies we had become more and more positive towards black grizzle and had found a favorite saluki, Int Ch Wenarja’s Wawailah (”Waila”, great-great grandmother to our W-litter) and when we studied her pedigree we discovered that her mother was Int Ch Ben Huri’s Narsia. |  Int Ch Wenarja’s Wawailah |
| Soon we came to the conclusion that the things we liked came from Ben Huri. That’s how it came about that we turned to Ben Huri’s to buy a foundation-stud dog for our ”dreamt of” saluki-kennel. When we bought Wadj, Gerd had died and Nils-Lennart was alone, and he became our dear friend as well as our trusted guru. Many are the hours we have spent together with him in his kitchen, to sort out various questions regarding the breed, breeding principles and more. With time he shared much of his knowledge and through him and other knowledgeable saluki-people, and by reading all the available literature as well as studying living salukis, our opinion matured regarding what sort of saluki we wanted and why. Furthermore, Ben Huri inspired us to this Ustura (our ”magazine” 1981-1994/95) by their yearly publication. As far as we can tell, Ben Huri was alone in doing this at the time, as we were during the 15 years it existed.KENNEL ZOHARIWe bought our foundation bitch from Kennel Zohari, Nord Ch Zohari Zari-Ba-Yefa. After a trip to England 1978 we returned with the conviction that Sedeki was what we would like to add to Ben Huri. We searched among the existing Sedeki-offspring available in Sweden and when we found Zari it was love at first sight. Zari’s importance in Shamali is through her daughter Ch Shamali Qherun Nizza, which in her turn was the mother of our T- and W-litters, grandmother to the Y-litter and the A-litter and great-grandmother to the B-litter. Zari’s mother was Zohari Yemima. Zari, born 1977, otherwise represents Zohari’s first generations, its first litter being born 1973. Zohari have had 24 litters (up to 1991), out of which 37 became champions and 5 becoming international champions. During a few years in the early eighties the kennel was top saluki-breeder in Sweden. | |
 Int Ch El Kelus Dohab | Zohari’s breeding was based upon the Sedeki-salukis imported to Sweden by Birgitta Runmarker (Kennel Azadi) and mated with Int Ch El Kelus Dohab, as well as her own imports, like Sedeki Emsal. |
| Zohari has, with great skill, kept and increased the high quality and good type her dogs originally had. The strength of Zohari’s breeding was and is its excellent fronts, something not so usual in the late seventies and early eighties. Furthermore they have beautiful heads, good movement, and there are lots of qualities in its bloodlines.Zohari’s hallmark is the beautiful red grizzled dogs, unfortunately dominant over the black grizzle we love. Mating red grizzle/black grizzle gives – with luck – fawn grizzle, and if a fawn is mated with a black grizzle it might take another generation to get back to black grizzle again.KENNEL IBINOREShamali has never bought or used a dog from Kennel Ibinore; still there is no circumventing the kennel when writing about Shamali’s heritage. | |
| The parents of Ben Huri’s Adir, Ch Ibinore’s Fakhim and Ch Ibinore’s Carina both came from Kennel Ibinore. |  Ch Ibinore’s Fakhim |
 Int Ch Ibinore’s Ismail | Ch Argos, father to Shamali’s T-litter, also descended from Ibinore. He was heavily line bred, as an example the famous Int Ch Ibinore’s Ismail occurs three times in his pedigree and Int Ch Ibinore’s Fatima no less than nine times. Furthermore, Int Ch Ibinore’s Ryhl Ismene occur once on his pedigree (as great-great-great-grandmother) and also as grandmother to Int Ch Kashmani’s Lanthir Abshar. |
| Lanthir, who was the father of Shamali’s U-litter had, through his Ben Huri-heritage, Ibinore behind him as well. The name Ibinore was a composition of Sandagerhus Ibi (foundation bitch at Ibinore) and the owners surname NORman. |  Sandagerhus Ibi |
| The kennel used the first imports after WW2, the earlier lines being extinct. In this manner Ibinore together with – among others – kennels El Kelus and Derbendi Khan came to preserve the heritage of the first western salukis, thereby giving Ben Huri the opportunity to take over the responsibility of caretaking of the old Swedish bloodlines. Ibinore can hardly be said to have bred a certain ”type” or quality of saluki. However, the pedigrees up to the end of the sixties were very well thought through, various good dogs occurring several times in a thought-through manner. This gave that in the litter in which Ch Argos was born, much of the ”potential good” existing in Ibinore came together. Ibinore has had 57 litters since 1951, which has resulted in about 32 champions, out of which 7 have become international champions.KENNEL KASHMANIThe kennel started its breeding in 1977. In the second litter Karin Hedberg combined the two ”semi-Ben Huri” salukis Int Ch Schiram Ibicus and Ch Wenarja’s Washaya (”Shaya”). Ibicus was half-Ibinore, while Shaya’s father Int Ch Damasichton was of Daxlore blood. | |
| The result was Kashmani’s L-litter. Int Ch Kashmani’s Lanthir Abshar , a well built male with fantastic movements was later mated with Ch Shamali’s Rihla al Lail . This resulted in our U-litter. |  Int Ch Kashmani’s Lanthir Abshar |
| Kennel Kashmani has had 6 litters since 1977, all of very high quality. Karin Hedberg have had two types in her breeding, on one hand red/crème and on the other hand grizzles. The kennel have so far had 13 champions out of which one has become an international champion. During 1990 Lanthir’s grandchild Shamali’s Zari-al-Ustura , which Karin bought from Shamali, have done well at the two big exhibitions Skokloster and Stockholm Int. The kennels Kashmani and Shamali have cooperated a long time and hopefully that will continue in the future.KENNELS DERVISCH AND KHALILKennel Dervisch has had four litters, and the only one of importance for Swedish saluki breeding where it’s C-litter, whose parents were Ch Khalil’s Fayid (one fourth Ben Huri, one fourth Mazuri) and Khalil’s Harima, through her father Ibicus one fourth Ben Huri and Ibinore. | |
 Int Ch Dervisch Cherazade | Most well known in the litter was Int Ch Dervisch Cherazade (Zade), but for Shamali’s part her black grizzled brother Dervisch Charmoon played an important role as father to the W-litter and grandfather to the A-litter. |
| His offspring inherited his sound movements as well as his nice temperament. In his breeding work Dervisch’s owner Dan Johansson has been supported by Birgitta Harg, founder of Kennel Khalil. The above mentioned Khalil dogs have contributed to Shamali’s development. Kennel Dervisch’s breeding has resulted in five champions out of which one became international champion.OTHER IMPORTANT SWEDISH KENNELSKennel Derbendi Khan was a kennel that started breeding 1959 and ceased 1973, during which time it had 13 litters with nine champions. It’s relatively large importance for Shamali comes through Derbendi Khan Bellina (Belli), Int Ch Ben Huri’s Adir soulmate. Belli was, for instance, grandmother and great-grandmother to Wadj, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother to Lanthir as well as great-great-great grandmother to Charmoon. Another important bitch from this breeder was Derbendi Khan Hadjiba El Gazl, great-great-grandmother to Charmoon and in the lines behind Argos. | |
| Kennel El Kelus was a kennel whose main importance rests upon Int Ch El Kelus Dohab, ancestor through many different lines to Zari, Wadj, Lanthir and Charmoon. | |
 El Kelus Dokah | His brother El Kelus Dokah is in the bloodlines behind Lanthir, Argos and Charmoon. El Kelus was active 1957-1971 and had seven litters, resulting in 12 champions out of which two became international champions. |
| Kennel Schiram has bred salukis since 1968, so far it has had eight litters giving fourteen champions, out of which three have become international champions. | |
| Int Ch Schiram Ibicus is grandfather to Shamali’s U-litter and great-grandfather to the W-litter. |  Int Ch Schiram Ibicus |
 Ch Wenarja’s Washaya | Kennel Wenarja has bred salukis since 1971, the kennel has had nine litters resulting in sixteen champions out of which two have become international champions. Int Ch Wenarja’s Wawailah was great-grandmother to our W-litter and Ch Wenarja’s Washaya was grandmother to our U-litter. |
| Mother to these two were Int Ch Ben Huri’s Narsia , and father was Int Ch Damasichton . Kennel Wenarja have bred mostly blackgrizzles and other variants of dark grizzled dogs. The type has been very uniform and the quality nice with good fronts and movements, and much feathering as a distinguishing quality.FOREIGN BREEDERS KENNEL SEDEKIWhen we had made up our minds to found our breeding on Ben Huri-lines, a problem arose: there were no ”partners” in Scandinavia. Nils-Lennart himself had concluded that he had reached ”the end of the road” due to the fact that he had to succumb to relative tight line-breeding, something one cannot continue with forever. We decided to travel to England so as to – if possible – find partners to Wadj. What we sought were salukis with good fronts and who also could contribute with a ”lightening up” of the type of head that Wadj had as well as somewhat lighter movement. We visited seven breeders in a short period of time and at Sedeki we found what we were looking for.The Sedeki dogs were distinguished by their proportionate heads with a specific ”Sedeki” silhouette. The fronts were on average very good. But what made the biggest impression were the movements: light, effortless and effective movements were what characterized Sedeki’s breeding. | |
| To widen their breeding material, Sedeki had bought Multi Ch Jen Araby Mahal Bey of Sedeki (Una’s grandfather), who impressed us with his sympathetic ways and his charisma. |  Ch Jen Araby Mahal Bey of Sedeki |
| Don started his breeding at around 1960 and has had around 25 litters. Since it is much harder to have your dog become champion in GB than in Sweden, Sedeki, with its 7 champions, is among the ten most successful breeders in GB since the saluki first were brought there ca 80 years back. Naturally, Sedeki exported dogs that became champions in their new homes. We imported Una Uslub 1978 from Don’s U-litter. She became the mother of Shamali’s successful R-litter, and through her grandchildren in the U-, Y-, and A-litters she was extremely important to our breeding. Ready to start now are her last grandchildren in Shamali’s B-litter, which also looks promising. At the kennels Ritza’s and Red Hawk’s she might get an even bigger influence through her son Int Ch Shamali Rayyan Hilal , since there are litters from him now, 1991, on both. | |
 Multi Ch Sedeki Barre | The most important Sedeki dogs behind Una are the successful Multi Ch Sedeki Barre and his sister Sedeki Bala . Further, the smooth haired bitch Sedeki Talata (daughter to Sedeki-Mazuri Badshah) is Una’s great-grandmother. |
| But our Ch Zohari Zari-Ba-Yefa , which we bought from Birgitta Nordqvist in Dalarna, got even more Sedeki-blood in her veins. Talata is there, as well as her daughter Sedeki Tani (imported to Sweden) and the famous Ch Sedeki Mazuri Tiza (son to Badshah). |  Sedeki-Mazuri Badshah |
 Sedeki Ahmar | Tisa’s and Talata’s son Sedeki Ahmar were imported to Sweden and became Zari’s grandfather. Kennel Zohari in its turn imported Sedeki Emsal (son of Multi Ch Sedeki Barre and Sedeki Talata ), who became Zari’s grandfather on the bitch’s side. |
| Don Wieden was not just a skilled breeder, but also recognized as a world-class exhibition judge. He was also an artist of importance. In a very interesting article in ”Saluki Quarterly”, Don showed his solid knowledge of the breed and expressed his gratitude towards Gwen Angel on Kennel Mazuri. As homage to her, his kennel was known as Sedeki-Mazuri for a period.KENNEL MAZURIThis is an English kennel. Behind the first Swedish salukis there are many Mazuri dogs. The kennels Ibinore, El Kelus and Derbendi Khan all had Mazuri blood in their lines. Ben Huri continued to manage those lines by mating Adir and Bellina. Kennel Sedeki is in a way a direct continuation of Mazuri, and Don Wieden is to be seen as Gwen Angels ”spiritual son”. By that, Una and Zari are both descended from Mazuri. Mazuri’s greatest effort was perhaps that Gwen kept a number of salukis during a time when it was very hard to find food for dogs in England, namely during WW2. By that, Gwen was among the few that contributed to the preservation of the old Sarona- and Amherstia-lines from the beginning of the century. She also made the breed known through her articles in The Kennel Club’s magazine and was the breed authority of her time.Mazuri had 58 litters between the years 1935-1973. The foundation bitch Sheba Mazuri was a mix of Amherstia and Sarona. The most famous Mazuri behind all salukis used in breeding at Shamali is one of the breeds’ foundation dogs here in Sweden, Mazuri Kharga. The first Swedish brood-bitches Zomali Ekrebel and Sparrowhawk Sheeba both had one Mazuri parent. | |
| The Mazuri dog most occurring in the lines of Zari and Una is Sedeki-Mazuri Badshah , but the smooth Mazuri Varah was also important (occurring four times in four generations) and she is Una’s great-great-great-grandmother. |  Mazuri Varah |
| Maybe one could say that Mazuri is the most important kennel for Shamali, even if most European breeders can say the same thing. At Ibinore and Ben Huri the relationship are more distant, and at Sedeki, Azadi and Zohari the relationship are nearer in time.KENNELS SARONA AND AMHERSTIAThese are two English breeders that started their work in the beginning of the century. Most European salukis have tons of Sarona’s behind them. Amherstia begun their work earlier, with salukis of ”desert-type”, whereas Sarona bred bigger and sturdier salukis. | |
| The relationship between Sarona and Shamali can be seen by looking at Ch Sarona Gulshere , born April 16th 1930. |  Ch Sarona Gulshere |
| OTHER IMPORTANT ENGLISH BREEDERSKennel Burydown is behind Argos through his ancestor Burydown Emir Al Baraka , who occurs seven times behind him. There are also the grandmother of Int Ch Asphodel Arabis , Burydown Asphodel , who exists in the bloodlines of Wadj, Zari, Argos, Charmoon and Lanthir. But closest to Burydown of all our salukis was Una, since Sedeki Dafuri Burydown Pallu was her great-grandmother. Kennel Daxlore is behind the littermates Int Ch Damasichton and Semele, their grandparents were Silvervelvet of Daxlore and Frolic of Daxlore . | |
| Kennel Knightellington is an important breeder that has never exported dogs to Sweden. Despite this, several Knightellington salukis exists in our dogs’ pedigrees. Renowned are Mazuri Knightellington George , Ch Knightellington Vandal and Knightellington Victory . |  Ch Knightellington Vandal |
 Kumasi Rihan | Kennel Kumasi. This breeder imported Kumasi Rihan from Iraq, who was known to have killed 42 gazelles before coming to England. |
| Kennel Tahawi exists mostly in the bloodlines behind Argos through his great-grandfather Tahawi Mansoor. | |
| Kennel Windswift exists partly through Windswift Khosro, one of the first salukis in Sweden in the fifties and therefore existing behind Ibinore, El Kelus, Derbendi Khan and Ben Huri. Windswift Salim of Talawi was the father of Talawi Mansoor. |  Windswift Khosro |
| OTHER IMPORTANT CONTINENTAL & AMERICAN BREEDERSKennel Van Der Orange Manege(NL): from this breeder came Qatif Van Der Orange Manege , who came to be Adir’s grandfather and so the direct ancestor of Wadj, Rayyan and Lanthir. He also occurs five times behind Argos in the sixth and seventh generation, as well as behind Charmoon. Qatif himself came from old English blood, amongst others Mazuri. He was tricolor but his descendants on the paternal side are for the most part blackgrizzles. The mother to El Kelus Dohab/Dokah mentioned above also came from this breeder, Cayenne Van Der Orange Manege .El Saluk (Ger): Zorro El Saluk was imported from this breeder. He exists behind Lanthir, Charmoon and Argos.Kennel Jen Araby: Una’s grandfather, Multi Ch Jen Araby Mahal Bey of Sedeki (”Boss”) came from this famous and successful American breeder. Boss was imported to Britain by Don Wieden, and he was a gentle soul with lots of feathering, well constructed but with a straight upper arm, the same fault that his granddaughter Una had as well. | |