I live together with my family in Stockholm, Sweden. My family contains of a husband and four kids. We also have a sphynx called Carmen. I have grown up with dogs (poodles) and I also got myself a standard poodle when I left from home. I have had three standard poodles before I got my first azawakh. I am a trained dog instructor and I have held courses for new puppy buyers and some obedience training courses. Ever since I was a child I always dreamed of having a sighthound. But the fact, that in my youth I was very interested in obedience training (heelwork etc.) I didnt felt that the right choice for me then was a sighthound. Not until I was older, the time was right for us to get our first sighthound. And then I did choose the most challenging one.
I had to learn the hard way what different breed an azawakh is compared to a more common breed. I wanted to try to train my first azawakh but I soon had to realize that this dog was something completely different from what I was used to. He was so very special in every way. I adored him from the first moment and he slowly learned to like me as well. But for personal reasons I unfortunately wasn’t able to keep my first azawakh, and this will always be one of the biggest failures of my life.
I think that it absolutely can be possible to train your azawakh but my strong opinion is that if you have interest in pure obedience training, for example heelwork training, you should choose another breed. Some azawakhs love to train with their owners but it is on a completely different level than other, more trainable breeds. Other azawakhs have no interest at all of that kind of cooperation with their owner. Of course most azawakhs love to do things togehter with their owners, but it is more on the dog’s terms. They love learning new tricks and problem solving for example. You cannot nag in something for him to learn. And the methods in training an azawakh is something completely special and not to compare with other dog training.
I don’t devote myself to dog training at that level anymore. Now my only interest is everything about the azawakh breed and the way to live in harmony together with these amazing dogs.
