When the others had settled down, he came up to me to be petted and admired. We had a connection from the very first moment. And from then on, each time i came to visit Mr Sattarzadeh, his lovely wife and their salukis, Scheref and I had that special feeling. I just looked into his lovely eyes and I can´t really describe it, but I could almost sense what he was thinking.

This was in Hamburg spring 2001. I had been living in Hamburg for 3 years at that time. By summer I found out that I had been accepted to a school in Sweden and desided to accept. At the same time I had the great fortune to be offered to buy Scheref. I couldn´t believe my luck and I would like to take the opportunity to thank Cyrus again for this wonderful dog. So by the middle of august, this year, everything was set. I picked up Scheref and we were on our way to live together in Gothenburg.

Scheref is a desert bred golden male, 4 years old, with cropped ears. He was born on the 30st of November 1997 and reaches 64 cm at the shoulder. He is also 64 cm "long". He originally comes from Kurdestan. Cyrus had him imported to Germany at the age of 8 months. He is registered, has a pedigree and a racinglicense.

I couldn´t be more blessed! Scheref has enriched my life in so many ways. He is the most gentle and divine creature. He settled in with us after merely 3 days. Loving all the attention and walks in the forest off leash. I was worried at first that his hunting instincts would make him run off, but he never has. Sometimes, there is ofcourse some far more interesting thing to do than to come immediately when I call him, a lovely bunnytrack for instance, but eventually he always comes trotting along. On our daily walks we usually climb up a small mountain where we have a lovely view over Gothenburg and the town where we live. And the pictue of him standing there like a king, with a content smile and the wind blowing in his fuzzy ears will always be with me. We have been to one show and two coursing training so far with nice results and having a great time in the prosses.

23.12.2001 For once we have a cold winter in Gothenburg again. There´s a large lake about half a kilometer away from the house. It's located up in the hills, protected by a forest. At summertime this is were we go swimming but now the water is frozen. This makes it possible to make long excursions out on the ice. So today we took Scheref to his very first icecapade. With the hughest grin on his face, he set off as he understood that he wouldn´t fall through. Racing back and forth like a maniac. He reminded me of a butterfly, just barely touching the ground as he practically fluttered on the glimmering ice.

I´ve never seen him get tired. Not even during a 5 hour long walk, when he is in fact not walking but speeding through the forest. But when he comes home he sleeps like an angel. My brother who is here over Christmas said: Doesn´t this dog do something else than sleep all day. He is truly like a cat. We have also made great progress in teaching him to play with us. Squeeky toys or rags never work. He just looks at us with his head tilted as if he were to say: Look, what are you expecting me to do with this thing? But one day I came home with a new pair of earmuffs and Scheref took them into his possession immediately. We figured out that he only likes the really fluffy and soft toys. And when he plays he plays like a cat with a mouse; using his front feet, determined to kill his prey.

24.02.2002
What a wonderfull weekend! Long walks in the forest. We have a lot of small lakes up in the mountains, shimmering like a string of pearls in the sun, a fresh scent of pine in the air. Spring isn't so far away. Scheref enjoyed running off leash, as usual, playing with a dog we met on the way, barking at swans. We made some short breaks, snuggled, basked in the sun and ate the food we brought with us. 3 hours later we are back at home. And now somebody's lying in his basket, sleeping with a satisfied smile on his face.


22.08.2002
Here is the critique from the show in Tammsvik on the 28 Juli 2002. The judge was mr Jean-Louis Grünheid from France.
"4 1/2 years, nativ imported dog with cropped ears. Very good construction, nice head, good quite eyes, very moderate in all his points, excellent neck, top line, chest, good angulations, front feet, No teethe missing, very good in coming and going, very correct side movements, very interesting to use for breed in order to change blood and maintain type."
We also took part in the lure coursing contest and ended up as nr.11 (with 82 points) out of 18. Not bad for a first contest and I am terribly proud! Next lure coursing will take place near Gothenburg at the end of september and we are looking forward to that already!


01.09.2002
Kristina Stråhlman and her boyfriend came to visit us! They had their 2 beautiful saluki girls Gerda and Pärlan with them. We took a walk together in the forest, where the 3 salukis could run around. Scheref was showing off! Strutted his stuff. We had lovely weather and a lovely time. I hope we can get together again soon!


08.10.2002
Well, at the LC-contest in Kungälv (near Gothenburg) Scheref finished 12 out of 14. Not particularly great. During the first run both he and his "partner" got distracted by something else and lost their interest in the lure. By the second race Scheref did much better but couldn't catch up enough points.
But I am pleased to say that we also participated in a LC-contest in Förslöv (south of sweden) on the 5:th of oktober. After the first race (that went ok) Scheref was in 6:th position. But at the second race, he ran like a maniac and so by the end of the day he was in 2:nd position. Needless to say, I was bursting with pride! Here are the complete results:

m= male b= bitch

1. El-Cazzino Dyraq 80 (m) cert, cacil
2. Scheref (m) 79,75
3. Abu Baqr's Charda Hum (b) 79,5 r-cacil
4. S UCh Baklava's Rifa Tamannin (b) 79,5
5. Int NordUCh KbhV-99 SLCCh
Volante's Zimyah (b) 79
6. Baklava's Raai'ah Tamaaman (b) 78,25
7. Volante's Astarte (b) 77,5
8. Baklava's Raih Raqqas (m) 77,25
9. Volante's Albinoni (m) 75,25
10. Baklava's Sarqi Sadiq (m) 74,5
11. Baklava's Ramz Ragib (m) 73,75
11. Naradz Bågens Bara Barn Burr (m) 73,75


20.11.2002
We took part in a dogshow this weekend. The 17 of November here in Gothenburg. The judge was Lotta Brun from Norway. Scheref once again got a 1 and here is his critique:
"Spännande hanhund, maskulint huvud, trevligt uttryck, tillräcklig hals, mkt stark överlinje, välutvecklad kropp, välvinklad fram, mycket goda muskler, vll gärna leka, men visa steglängd emellan, stabil fram och bak, trevligt temperament."