I've chosen to introduce Midbar Salukis with the "account" below. For information on pedigrees and more photos, please visit my other www sites and please feel free to contact me.

Today was the day!

Today was the day. The hare lost....the Salukis won. And the scavengers and predators, coyotes and ravens, get a free lunch.

It was a remarkable course and I actually was able to see the beginning, missed a little then Azal reappeared right in front of me, just inches behind a mature hare. As he passed me Nadira and Klelah, seeing how close Azal was and seeing the hare, took off with that reservoir of heart and spirit that drives even 10 year olds to turn on every drop of speed they have.

The beginning of Azal's course came at the end of a course all of the youngsters ran. They flushed what appeared to be a young hare and it led them into the high cover but before it eluded them, I could see Kushie right up on it and she was beside it because she was looking sideways and there was some packing up with all of them and dust, and then they were all 4 jumping around in the area, clearly looking for this hare.

Then 3 of them galloped on a track to the right with Azal starting after them when up jumped a large hare right out from under the bush he was next too and I could see both the hare's startled take off and Azal's equally surprised response because he leapt for it immediately. He was right on top of it and this hare broke from cover at the edge of this very heavy cover where they usually elude the dogs. But the hare couldn't get back into the cover so it ran straight.

At this point, since this is not the usual scenario, I lowered my binoculars because there is a dip in the terrain there and I can't see what's going on. I assumed Azal had lost the hare in the high cover but NO. Suddenly he was running right by me, 10' away, inches behind the hare. In other words, this was his second long course with the hare inches in front.

And here Nadira and Klelah joined the course, running like they did as youngsters. There were several turns as the hare began to tire. With one turn Azal lost ground and seemed to flag but Klelah came in from the side running like a bullet and she and Nadira prevented the hare from getting away.

The circles got smaller and smaller, then lots of dust and I could see Nadira dive for the hare and come up with her tail high and the hare between her jaws. They stayed with the hare for quite awhile. My Azal x Div litter always carried the hare back to me. But the girls are old and I think Azal was exhausted and the kill was made by Nadira, so he wasn't likely to try to take her hare.

Meanwhile the other 3 came to me, also very tired, so they had found something out there while the drama was going on not far from me. Had Azal had their help I think it might have ended faster, but Nadira and Klelah put in marvellous performances. Of course, they only ran the last 3rd of the course so weren't as trashed as Azal, and this was his second course with no break, so he'd had a gruelling run, really. They all returned and Nadira had blood on her legs.

So....today was the day. They did it. I'm a firm believer in coming back another day and not overdoing it on an outing, so I told them "up, in the truck" even though the weather was still not too warm and they were no longer panting. Up they jumped, each decorated with the cow dung they rolled in and which seems irresistible because they all roll in it, not just the usual Klelah-roll-in-everything.

Driving home I put on my son's U-2 tape, full blast, because that's what I listened to when I first started taking my gang to that gorgeous place.....and I thought back on my other Azal's. I can see each of them in my mind's eye, each running right on the tail of a powerful hare.

My Archives Azal, the gr-grandsire of our youngsters, when he was about 10, I remember we flushed a hare in a place we never found any. That Azal would get disoriented off lead and run home (which could be dangerous) so he was almost always on lead. Because I was just expecting a walk to the car, he was loose. Up popped that hare! He was a golden hound and the sun was low and the dry grass was glowing as it can at that time of day, and off Azal went with Shiraz, who was maybe 8 then....Azal flying over the golden grass defying age and death for those few moments until the hare escaped.

And then Azal ben Azal, his son. Of many great courses that he ran, the one that I remembered today, because he must have passed me at about the same distance away as my young Azal did. Anyway, there was a hare sort of just sitting in the field....not running, clearly unaware of approaching danger. But ben Azal somehow saw this hare and I could see him baring down on it, the hare apparently unaware.....and he just kept coming stronger and stronger until the hare startled and started to run with a good lead on him. But with that total power that Azal had, he pushed harder and harder with every stride and he simply ran the hare down and killed it.

And today....another Azal.....which in itself is the oddest thing because I named these pups before their eyes were open, so there was absolutely no way to know that of the 2 males, one would be stronger than the other, at least for now.

And I do believe Yahkar did kill the first hare they took and his namesake, Dar Tarabin (aka Yahkar) did the same but brought it to me and dropped it at my feet. Azal didn't make the kill today but he did run the hare down.....and ran by me, so close to that hare....so close to me.....that his great namesakes ran through my memory with him.

Sweet memories of my dear Saluki friends and satisfaction that their legacy lives on. As the poet Abu Nuwas wrote centuries ago for his Saluki: What a fine hound you are, without equal.

Gail