Ch Odi et Amo Iapetus Bandera

Odi et Amo-Elessar maintains no less than 37.5% Ch Rafelda's Feron of Sheik Saeer in all pedigrees to date. This goes from 50% in thirteen year old Ch Odi et Amo Iapetus Bandera, from my first litter, to 40% in our fourth generation Odi et Amo breeding, one year old Odi et Amo Amber Elessar. Is this true because of the power of numbers? Is this true because of the fuzzy feelings I get when I watch dogs charge into the house, and am reminded of the dog that introduced me to Salukis? Is it because I have been given an opportunity to protect the most ancient of breeds?

Andi's Gaea of Rafelda

When he was three months old, "Rajah", Ch Rafelda's Feron of Sheik Saeer was the first "show" dog that I met when I became acquainted with Joan Hoefer. At that time, as a junior high school kid working minimum wage as a bather for a groomer, I did not know much about dog shows and owning a Saluki was the furthest thing from my mind.

Rajah was the Hoefer's first Saluki. Since Joan was active in her Miniature Poodle program, Rajah was supposed to be her husband, Harry's dog. At his first shows Harry was prepared to show his dog, but always changed his mind at the last minute and someone else would take Rajah into the ring. Then one day when I accompanied them to the Saw Mill River Show, Harry decided to show his dog and Rajah won his first major under Anna Katherine Nichols. But, in spite of his initial very successful experience, Harry never showed his dog again. In his opinion, Rajah was perfect and the stress of having his Saluki evaluated by a judge was too much to bear.

Ch Rafelda's Feron of Sheik Saeer

P. Fritz Sweeney bred Rajah, but at first was not overly enthusiastic about the dog. Rajah was the result of the only litter by his sire, Nor-Jo's Az Zukhruf, who was an outcross for Fritz's Sheik Saeer-Hightower, but Fritz did finally realize the potential of Rajah. Story has it that Fritz appeared at the Hoefers during a blizzard in February with a bitch in heat, Ch Hightower Fanfaronade, "Care". As with everything in the environs of Sleepy Hollow, Fritz disappeared back into the blizzard not to be heard from again until the birth of the litter from which Joan chose her puppy, who became Ch Rafelda's Pairika, "Suki". Fritz bred both Rajah and Suki. Rajah was genotypically and phenotypically a new direction for Sheik Saeer-Hightower, and Suki was a return to the Sheik Saeer-Hightower foundation.

Rajah

Rajah was a very elegant dog with a very extreme tuck up for a male. Joan Hoefer stressed this point and I think it is a hallmark of Rafelda Salukis. His light colored face (he was a deer grizzle) made him especially attractive, and his dark eyes were beautifully expressive, but he had less stop than I would say is typical for Sheik Saeer, and might have been considered by some as too elegant. The fine head was placed on a long, strong neck. He had more than enough lay back of both shoulder and upper arm, and just as importantly, there was approximately a two finger space between his shoulder blades, and the shoulder and upper arm fit smoothly around a properly sprung rib cage. He had a solid topline. It was with his rear that some questions can be raised. I would have liked a more solid rear, able to give more push. Few knew that when very young, Rajah in one of his many escapades (his cleverness in outwitting his human was legendary) had sustained pelvis fractures. Although the healing was called a success, when gaiting toward you, the bones did not make the straightest column. Later in breeding both Andi Sahara Sheherazade and Ch Hightower Fanfaronade, the get exemplified the proper strong rear and continued his lifting, light and reaching front movement.

Ch Rafelda's Pairika

Rajah produced two litters for Andi's Salukis. I note four dogs from these breedings. From the first litter there was Ch Andi Chukka Khan Alazan, "Chukka", who leaves her own legacy and Andi's Disco Dancer, a wonderful red parti-color bitch which I wished I was able to acquire. To me she was an excellent representative of her pedigree. In the second litter again there are two bitches of note: Ch Andi's Small Raja and my Andi's Gaea of Rafelda. I drove all night from Atlanta during my Spring Break to pick up my puppy getting as far as the Seitzs' in Cold Spring on no sleep. Ethel Brogan and Joan Hoefer joined us along the way as part of my "selection team" and we all arrived at Eileen Barbieri's to pick my puppy. I leaned toward the red bitch who became Ch Andi's Small Raja, but my mentors pointed me towards the cream bitch, Andi's Gaea of Rafelda, "Gaea". So back home with a cream puppy to begin Odi et Amo.

When it came to breeding, the overall theory that has driven Odi et Amo was the parallel between genotype and phenotype. The first step was to examine scientifically what I had genetically in Gaea, so I decided to breed to the top half of her pedigree. So, after a few telephone calls to Fritz Sweeney, Suki's brother, Treu von Sheik Saeer, "Troy", was located, along with his adoring mistress, in one of those half acre Tudor houses in Scarsdale living in heaven on earth. This half brother-half sister breeding produced the first Odi et Amo litter from which Ch Odi et Amo Iapetus Bandera, "Mork", is very influential, especially because he is 50% Rajah. I did attempt to use Troy again, this time to his niece, Ch Rafelda's Terra, but the breeding did not take.

Argo

An interlude... Rajah's daughter, Ch Rafelda's Pairika, was bred twice to Ch Enchalla's Ahmadon Puca, "Puca", which produced two dogs important to my Odi et Amo-Elessar breeding program, Ch Rafelda's Terra and Ch Rafelda's Moonraker. Although Rajah and Puca frequently competed against each other in the ring, I think that the breeding of Suki and Puca was the result of two individuals, Joan and Ethel, who put furthering the quality of the breed ahead of personal show records. Joan looked at a number of Salukis before she bred Suki, because she wanted the best for her.

As people explore the offspring of Ch Rafelda's Feron of Sheik Saeer I think most would agree that the phenotypical variation that is part of the breed and specific to this family can be seen. I hesitate to say that this or that characteristic is due solely to Rajah because of the limited times and limited genetic pedigrees to which Rajah was used. All Rajah offspring have been combined with Puca at some time except for the breeding of Suki to Ch Baghdad's Gulliver (Ewles). The individuals who have the Gulliver X Suki outcross have yet to return to the strength of Rajah through the Puca X Suki breedings.

Treu von Sheik Saeer

In order to reach a better understanding of the influence of Ch Rafelda's Feron of Sheik Saeer, I suggest you look at both Jo-Anne Kearney's Elan Salukis and Dr. and Mrs. Robert Seitz's Marob litter, both based on Ch Rafelda's Elegant Moonbeam, Eileen Barbieri's Andi's Salukis, both those based on his daughter, Ch Andi's Chukka Khan Alazan, and the new introduction of Ch Rafelda's Abu Ahlam Al-Showah, Cloris Costigan's Shareco Salukis, which outcrossed to Ch Rafelda's Windfire and my own Odi et Amo-Elessar which includes Ch Rafelda's Terra and Ch Rafelda's Moonraker as well as our foundation bitch, his daughter, Andi's Gaea of Rafelda. Ask yourself what are the common points of these individuals. I would be willing to predict that more than anything else, those characteristics could have been seen in Rajah. I hope that I have learned from my concentrated breeding program and use of Rajah that the resulting individuals of any future breeding of Odi et Amo-Elessar Salukis will result in the continuation of the Saluki as typified by Ch Rafelda's Feron of Sheik Saeer.