Ali and Siru on the Loose

Ali and Siru stand amid clovers in the common yard. July 2001.

No matter how cute and endearing silkens are at home, they were made for the great outdoors. Our excursions there became even more fun than usual when Ali moved in with us. Ali came to us on a Friday. She knew us from before and immediately took her place in the pack. By Sunday we felt confident enough to set her loose...

Ali in June 2001. Like many dark whippets, Ali carries a gene which leads to early greying of the face.
She was only two years old at the time but her face was already grey. By the way, Ali plans to have some puppies in 2003.

Ali is simply a fantastic dog. The first thing you notice when Ali is off-leash is how easy it is to control her. A mere suggestion at a course of action and she follows it dilligently, smiling happily as she does it. One might think that Ali is very obedient, but the Saviaros are quick to point out that Ali is not obedient, she understands you. And indeed there seems to be a difference. Whereas Siru and Hippu obey us because of our pack leader status and the possibility of tasty rewards for such action, Ali seems to acknowledge the importance of what we are saying and to choose of her own will to follow our suggestion, seeing that it is for the best. When you are around Ali for a few weeks you become convinced that the dog is paying attention not only to your tone of voice but also to the full meaning of what you are saying.

Does all this make Ali some sort of a wonder dog ? No, Ali is after all a sighthound and sighthounds are easily distracted by their surroundings or by the exhilaration of running off-leash. Sighthounds also have the most selective hearing of all dog families, being unable to register even the loudest and firmest of commands when engaged in some important or interesting activity. But when you have Ali's attention she is an extremely easy dog to own. The following table illustrates some differences of attitude and manageability between Ali and Siru:

Command	Ali's Interpretation	Siru's Interpretation
No.	No.	(no reaction)
No !	No !	Hmm... you must be talking to someone else.
NO !	n/a	No ? What do you mean, "no" ?
NNnnOoooo !	n/a	Allright, allright ! I'm not deaf you know !
n/a = Not Applicable, these commands are not used with Ali

Hippu, Ali and Siru in the Ragvalds Woods.
This is a great place full of interesting smells and fallen trees.

On meeting other dogs Ali's reaction is always the same: She raises her wagging tail and bends her front legs, bowing down in the age-old greeting of friendly dogs - come and play with me ! Her greeting is so disarming that she quickly became our ambassador whenever we met canine strangers. After Ali's invitation to play even the grumpiest stranger always considered us friends.

Ali entices Siru into yet another high-speed romp through the common yard. She is a lot of fun, always inspiring Siru to run more but doing so in a friendly way without teasing. In excellent shape after extensive training with Cucu the whippet and Pontus the boxer, Ali runs extremely quickly and apparently effortlessly with a great economy of motion. When Ali moved in with us in March 2001 we noticed with some embarrassment that Siru was quite outclassed by her sister when it came to running. A few weeks of training together and the sisters were more equal in speed and stamina, but still after a run Siru would pant like a steam locomotive whereas Ali's breathing would be much more subdued.

And off they go, catapulting through the yard... the poses of the dogs should give some indication as to the speeds involved. The lawn of the common yard gives very good traction when dry.

How fast do silkens run ? Well, Siru's brother Teal'c has been clocked at 34.43 seconds on a 480 meter (525 yard) run. That works out to an average speed of 13.9 meters (45.6 feet) per second which is about 50.2 km/h (31.2 mph)... from a standing start on an oval track with two curves... top speeds are likely to be higher. When we set these two loose, passers-by would sometimes stop and just stare in disbelief...

In the picture above Siru has come from the right and is cornering towards the lower left corner of the picture. Ali on the other hand has come from the left and is now dashing after her sister...

It was at this point that we began to realize just how much running Siru was missing. While Siru and Hippu would run almost every day, Siru and Ali would run three times every day and the running was a good deal more serious with Ali. Five years earlier Hippu would have given Siru an excellent run for her money but now at almost eleven years of age she was understandably less of a fanatic when it came to running.

Most of the time Hippu would be content just to watch the youngsters run but every few days she would join in, running after them, barking all the time like whippets tend to do. Originally, we obtained Siru in order to have a running mate for her. Now, we got to thinking that perhaps a third dog, this time a running mate for Siru, would be a good idea...

Ali is such good-natured dog. She is kind, can get along with everyone, loves kids and even listens to what you say. She is a lot of fun.

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