Silken Windhound History in California
The first Silken Windhound west of Texas made it out to California in late 1999. She was from Kristull Ranch and was a brindle beauty named Kristull Azure, call name “Addy”. Ron Russel took Addy to be trained as a Service dog and she performed admirably in that capacity.
The second Silken Windhound to come out to California was the foundation for the first Silken Windhound kennel in California. Her name was Kristull Talisman of Sheba “Sheba” and she was the foundation bitch and dam of the first litter of Silken Windhounds in California for Talisman Hounds.
One of the first dogs in California to be trained to detect cancer in humans through a research project funded by the Pine Street Clinic in Marin County, CA was “Cat”. She was trained by her owners Kirk and Shelley Turner, professional dog trainers who trained all the dogs for this research project. While Cat was not part of the formal project she was on TV in South Africa and on a cancer detection demo tape demonstrating her talent.
In 2001 and 2002 the Silken Windhounds of California began having annual fall gatherings and calling them Boofest. It was a time when we could all get together and celebrate our rapidly growing breed in California. The whole of the Northern California Silken Windhound population (15 Silken Windhounds) was in attendance at the first Boofest.
Our first official Western Regional Specialty show, Boofest, was the first independent Specialty show held outside of the Silken Windhound Nationals. This show was first held in October of 2003 with judge Kris Brolin of Brolin’s Borzoi judging.
In 2004 another “family” gathering was held showcasing the ever-growing family of Silkens in California.
Our second Western Regional Specialty show was held in 2005 with Dennis Colbath of Zayante Borzoi judging.
Best of Breed, Winners Bitch and Best Puppy in Show was a California born Silken “Sony“, Talisman’s Scythian Huntress.
The Silken Windhounds in California were also the first involved in studies geared towards unlocking the secrets of the dog genome in two university research projects.
The WSU-UC Davis study on the Breed Distribution of the Canine MDR1-1 Gene was the feature story in the Aug 2004 edition of the Proceedings of the National Acadamy of Sciences (Cover Silken is Kristull Iambic Pentameter “Caliban“).
The entire breed was also involved with the UC Davis VGL research project to use all Silken Windhound DNA in the world to help decode the dog genome in a project called the Silken Windhound Genome Project.
In 2005 four California Silken Windhounds were featured, along with Silkens from around the world, in an article in “Our Dogs” UK, which was released during the Crufts Dog show.
The first official ISWS Racing programs were run in California in conjunction with the Borzoi Rescue of Northern California’s LGRA club under the direction of Sally Barron, Barron’s Borzoi.
The very first dog to get his performance title the SRC in the breed was “Gideon” and the second Silken in the breed to get her performance title was “Shadow”. Both were California dogs. They were also joined (later) by “Ella” SRC, and Gideon and Cinders’ daughter, “Tara“, the first SRC from and SRC, and “Brewer“, and California born and co owned “Teddy” who at 15 months was the youngest SRC ever in the breed, and who just a few months later became the youngest SRCX in the breed. His brother “Helios” soon followed suit, getting his SRC at the 2008 Silken Windhound Nationals.
In the fall of 2007 “Gideon” also became the first Silken ever to get the second leg of the Straight Racing Championship, the SRCX.
In 2006 the Silken Windhounds of California started hosting its own Specialty Race meets providing opportunities for very large entries of Silken Windhounds and racing practice for other breeds. These were the first Silken only Specialty race meets for Silken Windhounds outside of the Nationals.
Two California dogs were also featured on the Sighthound page of Chronicle Book’s Dogs 24/7: Tangaloor Delenn “Addie” and Gentle Winds Cinnabar of Rubia Hounds “Cinnabar”.
In 2006 the Silken Windhounds of California hosted our first lecture event featuring two days of instruction on canine structure and movement by Ed Gilbert, author of K9 Structure and Anatomy, as well as handling and grooming instruction by Pat Gilbert.
Racing California Silken Windhounds, along with other Silken Windhounds from around the world were also featured in the first Silken Windhound article in Volume three, Issue one of the Performance Sighthound Journal.
In mid 2007 the first four California Silken Windhounds were Coursing Instinct Certified (CIC), running with the Irish Wolfhound club and using the rules of the brand new International Silken Windhounds Society Coursing program. The new CIC dogs were SRC, “Shadow” Rarities and IABCA Int Ch Allagante Evening Wind SRC CIC, “Freya” Rarities Int Ch Rubia’s Electric Apogee CIC, “Sazi” ISWS, Rarities, IABCA Int Ch, Talisman’s Anasazi Sunrise CIC , and SRC, “Gideon” IABCA Int Ch Allagante Lunar Talisman SRC CIC SRCX IC.
In 2007 California-bred Silken Windhound Talisman of Electra Sarafias “Ella” won Best in Specialty Show in the large Silken Specialty held in Finland. Ella was shown to her win by her owner Salla Klemetti of Kennel Sarafias.
In August 2007 California Silken Windhounds were also featured on three pages in the large all dog breed reference book by Liz Palika: The Howell Book of Dogs.
In September 2007 California Silken Windhounds from Rubia Hounds were also featured in Positive Training for Show Dogs – Building A Relationship for Success by Vicki Ronchette.
In the spring of 2008 more California dogs added performance titles to their names including ISWS, Rarities Int Ch Rubia’s Sol Invictus CIC “Rex” , IABCA JuA Ch Scirocco’s Blue Djinn CIC CQ “Djinn” and his Mom “Tara”.
The SWC also received its first California ISWS performance and conformation Ch, ISWS, Rarities, and IABCA Int Ch Talisman’s Anasazi Sunrise SRC CIC “Sazi“, its second ISWS Dual Ch, ISWS, Rarities, and IABCA Int Ch Gryffyn’s Strange Brew SRC CIC “Brewer” and its third ISWS dual Ch, ISWS, Rarities, and IABCA Int Ch Talisman of Tarazed Scirocco SRC CIC CQ “Tara”.
As of the spring of 2008 three of the first five ISWS Dual Champions in history (ISWS performance and show titles) were California dogs.
In the fall of 2008 two more California bred dogs: “Phoenix” and “Djinn” achieved their straight racing championships making them Rarities/NAKC IABCA Int Ch Talisman’s Phoenix Fire SRC and Rarities/NAKC IABCA Int Ch Scirocco’s Blue Djinn SRC CQ. Djinn was our first SRC with two SRC parents.
On January 10th of 2009 “Teddy”, the number one racing Silken Windhound of 2008, became the first Silken Windhound to earn the third leg of racing championship, the XX at the first races of the new year. “Isis” earned her SRC at the same races making her the third ISWS dual Ch for the Silken Windhounds of California.
In the fall of 2008 two of our California boys “Tuscan” and “Ronan“, ISWS Rarities/NAKC Gr Ch Elessar’s Superb Tuscan CGC, and ISWS Rarities NAKC Gr Ch IABCA Int Ch Talisman’s Byzantine Empire respectively, qualified for their Rarities NAKC Grand Championships. This made them 2 of the first four Silken Windhounds in the breed with this honor.
In October of 2008 Silken Windhounds were able to participate in a newly minted oval track racing program. The first ever ISWS Oval track meet was held in Sacramento California hosted by the River City Racing Association. Our first foray into oval track featured nine dogs and Rarities/NAKC Int Ch Talisman’s Ursa Major SRCX “Teddy” emerged the winner.
In early 2009 the first two IC legs towards a lure coursing title were earned in California by “Helios“, Rarities/NAKC IABCA Int Ch Talisman’s Light of Helios SRC IC and “Gideon“, IABCA Int Ch Allagante Lunar Talisman SRCX IC. “Addie”, Tangaloor Delenn CQ IC, and “Isis“, ISWS Rarities/NAKC IABCA Int Ch Elessar Belle Isis SRC IC.
In April of 2009 at the Silken Windhound Nationals at Purina Farms MO, IABCA JuA Int Ch Elessar’s Marvel Storm SRC CQ became the youngest Silken Windhound to get an SRC at 13 months and “Teddy” finished #1, making him the first SRCXIII in the breed with over 90 National points since beginning his career. Teddy also finished the IC leg towards his Lure Coursing title at the Nationals.
