Windstorm Salukis

Windstorm Salukis are bred first and foremost for temperament and they fit into the busy lifestyles of the 21st century home. A Windstorm Saluki can weather the good and bad times with their owner. Potential owners must realize that their Windstorm Saluki would rather weather the bad times with them than be relocated to another home.

A Windstorm Saluki is willing and able to live a nomadic life, a city life, and a country life. It will live with children, cats, and other dogs. A Windstorm Saluki will walk along a city street or through a mall or down a country lane and still be a well-behaved and respected canine citizen. A Windstorm Saluki will accept your friends and watch your enemies.

Windstorm puppies leave our house well-socialized and well on the road to the behaviours that we just described. As a puppy owner you are responsible for keeping your Windstorm Saluki socialized and trained and part of your success relies on nurture.

Windstorm puppies and adults are raised as naturally as possible. We feed a biologically appropriate raw food diet (see detail) which closely simulates the diet that a healthy dog would eat in the wild.

Background

Since 1998, Windstorm Salukis have been fed a biologically appropriate raw food diet. We have won multiple Best in Shows and specialty shows with dogs fed this way. We have raised several litters and are onto our third generation of Salukis that are fed this way. Please see the fact sheet for more information. We strongly suggest you purchase a book on raw feeding, not only will it answer your questions, it will help to convince you that this is the way to feed your companions.

The Benefits

Windstorm Salukis are fed raw meat, bones and vegetables. Our puppies are weaned onto this diet and never eat kibble of any kind. Preference for puppy placement will go to people who are interested and willing to feed this way because it is important for the health of your Saluki, be it companion or show dog. Since I have been feeding this way, we have found less shedding, shiny coats, very little doggy odour, cleaner teeth, smaller stools, few ear infections and generally a health level in my dogs that was unprecedented. We have other experiences that we are happy to share and discuss.

We Chose Chcken As Our Meat of Choice

The majority of the diet is composed of raw meaty bones. We use chicken breast frames (the bones that are left when they skin and bone chicken breasts). Wings are an excellent choice because they have good meat to bone balance. You can also use chicken backs. Chicken is the meat of choice for me because it is the cheapest. If you find a poultry processor or speak to your butcher (even in the grocery store) you can usually buy large quantities of chicken bones for very little money. Bag them in appropriate quantities and then freeze them. We avoid necks because of choking and We do not use many legs because of the size and shape of the bones.

Other Meat Supplements

We supplement these chicken bones with meat. Often ground beef because of availability, but also with goat, rabbit, venison, lamb, or whatever else we can get on sale. They do not need large quantities of meat on top of the bones, so we try to give them variety.

Vegetable Supplements

Then there are vegetables. A tablespoon or two given about four times a week. We use the leftovers from my family; the trimmings from the broccoli, the beans, the carrots or the stuff that we realize no one will eat before it goes bad. We put the veggies in a blender with some water and make mush. This mush just gets poured on top of their meat and bones. Veggies can be prepared ahead and frozen in single serving size although unfrozen is, of course, the best.

Recomended Reading

These books can be ordered by your local bookstore, or are available through Amazon.com

Give Your Dog A Bone by Ian Billinghurst

Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Pet Diet by Kymythy R. Schultze

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(Windstorm Salukis is neither affiliated with the authors of those books nor responsible for their content.)

The Windstorm Diet - Fact Sheet

70% Raw meaty bones. Choose your own from: chicken wings and carcasses (backs); lamb neck or rib bones, etc.; rabbit meat is anything the butcher has; pork ribs; and muscle meat either minced or ground such as beef or turkey.

10% Liver, heart, kidneys, and egg with shell. Put these through your blender.

15% Vegetables. Make up a good mix. Choose from: raw garlic

; any greens though dark leafed greens are best; sprouted seeds such as alfalfa; plain seeds such as sunflower or pumpkin; nuts of any variety except peanuts such as walnuts, cashews, pecans, or almonds; and herbs, ideally fresh from the garden. All the above must be put through blender with liquid if necessary, usually just water.

5% Fatty fish or fruit. Fish should be raw, head and all. Fruit choices can be dried or overripe.

Additional supplements: Kelp powder 1 tsp; Alfalfa powder 1 tsp ; Cod Liver Oil 1 tsp daily in winter; cold-pressed organic flaxseed oil or fish oil 1 tsp; Vitamin C 200 mg per kg of dog.

LARGE meaty bones are the most important. I feed them daily. It's no big deal if you have to feed only meaty bones once in a while. Wholesome table scraps are not taboo if your dog likes to feel part of the family. Remember to use a snood when feeding or those lovely ear feathers will be history.

A Word To The Wise
RAW BONES ONLY.

We first established Windstorm Salukis in 1974. Ten years passed and after watching, learning and making a few mistakes, we had some Salukis that although quite sound, were not as sound as we wanted nor were as pretty as we wanted.

So we began the search for the right stud dog for Annie (Ch Sedeki-Mazuri An) and we chose Bachrach (CanAm Ch Bel S'Mbran Bachrach). Bachrach was a dog that we had always admired for his soundness, temperament, and type. Our litter from this breeding was very exciting and everything that we now have stems from this foundation, our 'D' litter.

Demetra (SBIS Can Am Ch Windstorm Demetra-An) was our first really good show dog. She came from our 'D' litter and she was sane, sound, pretty, and an exceptional mover. Demetra won under breeders and all-around judges alike. Demetra was line-bred to Montebello Sedeki Lancelot, going back to Annie's side of the family.

With Demetra's litter, we had firmly established the type and soundness that we desired. Her litter included Gillian (CanAm Ch Windstorm Melik Gillian) who by the way, was born nine days after our daughter, Madrigal!

In Gillian we had a very sound, very sane bitch who was also pretty and we wanted to maintain those qualities and perhaps improve on some others, perhaps improve side gait or maybe add a little more glamour so we decided upon Bashir (SBIS CanAm Ch Clarinda Sunna Sarea Bashir) as a stud dog for our Gillian.

With Gillian's litter, our dream came true with Lucky (SBIS, BIS CanAm Ch Windstorm Luck Be An Lady). Mary Jane Helder would say the same of Lyric (SBIS CanAm Ch Windstorm Lyric An Abd-Shalom).

In December 1995, we lost a very special bitch, Kheli-An. Her death saw us with only two Salukis at home, Lucky and Gillian. Lucky was being shown so we decided to breed Gillian again. Again we could not look past Bashir. He had produced so well for us in two litters. We liked the temperament, the type, and the soundness.

Our Lucky was a multiple Specialty, multiple Best in Show winning Saluki and her children and grandchildren continue her winning tradition with more generations to follow. Her son, Wuzzle (SBIS BIS S.African Ch and KUSA National Winner Windstorm Over the Rainbow to Roaringwater) has become a top winning Saluki in South Africa.

More than thirty years have passed since we started, and since 1996 our reward is that Windstorm Salukis have consistently become the top winning Salukis in Canada!