Siru, the Silken Windhound
Siru, Kristull The Surprise, is a Silken Windhound. This new, still unofficial breed was created from Borzoi and Whippet stock with the intention of creating a small, longhaired sighthound. Despite their ancestry Silkens are definitely neither small Borzoi nor furry Whippets, yet they combine many of the best aspects of both established breeds. These pages were created because we wanted to share some of the unique experience of owning a Silken Windhound.
The name Siru means fragment, splinter or even a small piece of broken glass. We like the name - it immediately makes people think of something which is small and delicate but nevertheless has sharp edges.
Physically, Siru is some 58 cm (23 in.) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 19 kilograms (42 lbs.). For a Silken she is a bit large perhaps but it must be remembered that the breed is still evolving. These photographs were taken between late March and mid-June, 2000. At the time Siru was one year and two to four months old and had shed most of her hair, which is now quickly growing back. Her coat is brindle, mostly black and white but with reddish hair on her haunches and sides. More and more of this color is emerging all the time.
It was in fact the Silken's coat which drew our interest to this breed. As long-time owners of Hippu the Whippet, now almost ten years old, we find that while this English breed is absolutely adorable it is not really suited to the climate of Finland. Where we live the mercury can easily drop below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees F) in the winter and stay there for a week. Understandably Hippu has an extensive garderobe: a fashionable white raincoat for downpours, a sporty wrestler's outfit for windy days in the spring and fall and when the temperatures fall to zero degrees, an outdoorsy brown army-type sweater with high collar for below-freezing days, an Australian racehorse blanket of genuine leather and sheepskin, and of course, a jumpsuit in romantic pink. But still, we could see how she suffered in the dead of winter, Hippu is after all a dog whose favorite sleeping place is whichever piece of furniture the sun happens to be shining on.
Hippu is getting old and while she still runs excitedly after her tennis ball she has begun to be more reserved with other dogs. Earlier on she used to run with nearly any dog we met on our walks but today she is mostly contented to simply sniff at them. So we thought, how about if Hippu had a companion, another sighthound who would inspire her to keep on running and to keep her company during the working day when we are away from home (we have four cats but Hippu does not much care for them). Getting another Whippet would have doubled the amount of dressing, undressing and shivering involved with the average walk.
So the search was on... for a fur-coated, smallish sighthound who could handle the weather. We live in a cluster of nine houses, each inhabited by two families, so the dog would also have to meet strange adults and hordes of little children without exhibiting aggressive behavior. We needed a dog who could be trusted to live with our cats without attempting to kill them. We needed a dog who would get along with other dogs whether on or off-leash. We needed a dog who could be let loose in unfenced areas and who would return to us when we called, yet still run like the wind. In addition, Eero preferred a slightly larger dog than a Whippet since it is not very manly to walk around with a small, feminine dog in tow. And above all we wanted a kind dog who liked people and enjoyed physical attention, i.e. petting.
Salla considered various sighthound breeds. Furry dogs tended to be too big, or seemed to have problems coping with people and/or other animals or with understanding the concept of returning to the owner after being let loose. Shorthaired dogs would have the same problems as Hippu when it came to cold temperatures. We found articles on Silken Windhounds on the Internet and met Eija and Nipsu, the first Silken in Finland, at coursing meets in Helsinki. In November 1999 Salla was planning a working trip to Texas and realized that the Kristull Kennel would be within what passes for reasonable driving distance in that part of the world. After meeting Eija and Nipsu in Finland Salla visited the kennel and came back all the more excited about Silkens.
Arrival in Finland
Three Silkens were imported into Finland in late March, 2000: From the left:
Ali, Kristull Alyssa owned by Tytti Saviaro and Salla Klemetti, Siru Kristull The Surprise owned by Suzanne Stjernborg of Kennel Starcastle, Sweden, and Salla Klemetti and Teal'c Kristull Texas Pinto owned by Eija Achrén. This increased fourfold the number of Silkens in Finland.
First day in Finland... Ali (sitting) and Siru admiring the countryside from our porch.
What is that white stuff out there anyway ?
So now we had a Silken Windhound of our own. To find out what it is like to live with a Silken, click on the link below...
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