BREEDER INTERVIEW—WARREN & VICKY COOK, SANTANA SALUKIS
As for our experience in Salukis, we were married in 1974 and purchased our first Saluki in 1978 from an Afghan Hound and Saluki breeder, Betty Richards of Camri fame. That is when the love affair began. Our exposure to the remarkable Salukis of Dr. Jo Ann Van Arsdale, Chu- basco Salukis, and her smooths resulted in an obsession with the breed, its history and its preservation. The Santana Salukis are widely known, highly successful and well respected. What breeding philosophies do you adhere to? We have maintained two lines of Salu- kis: Jen Araby, from Wayne and Marlys Jensen, and Desert Bred Salukis from our Chubasco line, bred from Dr. Van Arsdale to a Saluki bitch imported from the first Desert Storm by a soldier and owned by Lynn and Jim Green in Texas. In order to be able to register the Des- ert Breds, there is a process. Our Dual Champion (Open Field champion and AKC bench champion) dog was bred to the import, resulting in Generation One. A Dual Champion dog was bred to a bitch from Gen 1 to produce Generation 2; then a bench champion was bred to a Gen 2 to produce Generation 3. All this was done under the auspices of the Society for the Perpetuation of Desert Bred Salukis, a domestic registry recognized by the Saluki Club of America, which is an AKC Mem- ber Club. At each generation, including Generation Zero (the import), an evalua- tion of the quality of the dogs was made by evaluators approved by the SPDBS: a per- formance expert, an established and recog- nized breeder, and an AKC judge, before the dogs were allowed to be registered by the domestic registry. At Generation 3, when approved by the evaluation and the Society, application may be submitted to AKC for regular registration. There are two immediate results of this process: 1. The dogs that we show today are a direct line from dogs that survived
Vicky and Joan Ludwig in 1983 at Santa Maria Kennel Club. Wouldn’t you like to listen in?
Who were/are some of your most signifi- cant Salukis, both in the whelping box and in the show ring? First and foremost, Ch. Santana Chu- basco Hotfoot II, CC, CM, a great show dog and a fierce hunter in the open field. “Hotfoot,” when bred to Ch. Santana Chubasco Boojum CC, CM, also a fierce hunter, produced Ch. Santana Chubasco Kish, CC, CM, our first homebred cham- pion and a bitch that we could take to the field to teach young dogs to hunt. From the above explanation of Desert Bred Salukis, we had Gen 1 Booshra, CC, CM, 2003 Top-Winning Dog All-Breed in Open Field Coursing. When “Booshra” was bred to a top-flight OFC AKC champion, she produced a Grand Course winner and two Grand Course Top Ten winners. One of the dogs that the aforementioned “Kish” taught to hunt was Ch. Santana Hoopla Sidon, “James,” a smooth, who was Win- ners Dog and AOM at the 2000 SCOA National Specialty under breeder-judge Mary Ellen Gorske. Please comment positively on your breed’s present condition and what trends might bear watching. The genetics of Salukis is deeper and more resilient than can be imagined. The dogs that win in the ring are the best dogs there, but not always representative of what the Saluki is. We, the dog show world, have a tendency to reward the spectacular over quiet excellence. However, regardless of statistics, in progressive generations we behold dogs that are quite similar to that Generation One bitch imported at the end
in the desert 7,000 years ago; and 2. There are dogs produced that cannot be shown because they occur too early in the gen- erations, so cannot be registered. We have promised these dogs that upon their exis- tence they will always have a home with us or close friends, so for the past 20 years we have had a number of dogs. How many dogs do you currently house? Tell us about your facilities and how the dogs are maintained. In part, as answered in the previous question, we have had significant numbers of dogs, many of which reside, day by day, in shifts in the house. We also have a cli- mate-controlled 3,000 square foot build- ing close to the house where those that do not have the “house shift” reside. In this building, we have 12 x 4 foot runs that open up to 1/8 acre paddocks in which the dogs exercise. Additionally, we have 2- and 4-acre exercise yards that they are run in, weather permitting.
left: Ch. Summerwind Sacre Blue Mist; right: the famous Afghan Hound Ch. Coastwind Gazebo, “Ezra”
126 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2022
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