A little history
The azawakh is a breed that originates from the nomads of western Africa, mostly common associated with the Tuaregs. The tuaregs are a tribe of nomads living in the southern part of the Sahara. In this region lies the Azawakh Valley after which the breed is named. The azawakh was originally used to guard and hunt. Today the nomads use their dogs primarily for guarding; protecting herds of livestock and nomadic camps and villages. If an azawakh sense danger it will bark to alert the other members of the pack and then they gather together as a pack and chase off or attack the predator. When hunting, they does this also in packs and they work as a team bringing down the prey.
Living with azawakh
The azawakh is an elegant and mysterious breed. They are breath takingly beautiful in looks and soul and they are absolutely and completely unique. But unfortunately because of this, they have become fashionable dogs in the western world. The number of dogs has increased significantly in recent years. This is never a good thing. The breed is not suitable for everyone, but for persons with the right kind of personality, who will give them a good socialization, a stable background and patient guidance, this breed is one of the most amazing ones.
The azawakh needs to be socialised from an early age always with consequence and positive reinforcement. They are extremely intelligent and they seem to possess an incredible combination of total loyalty and independence! Each new situation presents the potential for the struggle between his natural desire to please and his prideful desire to do things his own way. A firm, fair hand is called for. Properly socialized and trained, the azawakh will live harmoniously within his family. They develop a strong and deep emotional bond with their owners.
A well socialized azawakh is affectionate, gentle, playful, subtle and very loyal to his owner. Azawakhs are usually cautious with strangers. In most cases they become reserved and incredulous with strangers. They also in most cases prefers not to be touched by strangers, and this must be accepted. They typically observe for a while before approaching. They are also extremely protective of their home and family and they will bark continuously and persistent when strangers approach their territory. You must be aware of this before you consider to choose to live with an azawakh.
Due to the azawakhs will to guard his territory and his distrust when confronted with strangers, the breed unfortunately has a reputation of beeing aggressive and difficult to educate. This is a sad reputation with no truth in it. The azawakh is not aggressive and they are definitely not hard to educate. It is actually the other way around. They are extremely intelligent and responsive and if you have won its trust, they are easy to train and they like to work together with their owner. Some dogs can be shy and unsecure, perhaps due to lack of socialization, but they are never aggressive. It is also important for the owner to educate his azawakh from day one. This is a work that will proceed every day and every month the first years. He must learn from his owner, how to adapt to our society and this with the support from a confident and harmonious leader. You cannot leave your azawakh to try to adapt to the environment all by himself. That would be unfair and pointless. The azawakh are completely dependent on a confident owner who wants to show him the world at a reasonable pace. Otherwise he will become too independent and therefore think that he manages best and preferably on his own.
Food
For centuries, the azawakh has lived on a low-protein diet in their country of origin. Their basic diet is cooked millet with raw goat’s milk and occasionally a bit of meat from hunting. The azawakh that live in western society today have not changed that much in their dietic requirements.
Today in Western society, we tend to overwhelm the azawakh with meat protein and we should stop ourselves from doing that. But in fact, I think the problem actually is not the protein itself, the problem is if we give the dog too much food, too much energy. In order for the growing puppy to have an appropriate growth rate, it is extremely important to keep the dog very slim. Puppies can grow too quickly if they are fed with too much protein-rich food. I believe we should think the same way when feeding our fully grown azawakh. Give a good quality protein, but don’t overfeed! Meet with millet, goat’s milk, dairy products and vegetables/fruit. I also believe in boosting my azawakh; occasionally they get significantly more protein but never for a long period of time. A day/a few days here and there. My idea is to try to choose a food with a suitable amount of good protein (not too high and not too low) and not too high fat content as your ”standard food”, then, as I mentioned before, you can boost your dog with a high protein content every now and then.
The azawakh does not have a mechanism which triggers thirst like a normal domesticated dog, consequently they tend not to drink enough water to keep themselves well hydrated. This is the result of survival evolution in the harsh Sahelian belt. If you are feeding dry food it is important to compensate their intake of water by adding water to the dry food. You can just add and serve. Waiting for the food to soften is not necessary.
The azawakh also appreciates some fruits and vegetables in his diet, such as bananas, sweet potatoes, blueberries, and carrots. Add also cooked millet or brown wild rice served with a mixture of lukewarm water and dairy products such as cottage cheese, yoghurt and sour milk. The azawakh can utilize cooked millet very well and the millet has high iron content and the fat from millet is digestible by the azawakh.
My azawakhs get their goat milk mixed with a little lukewarm water, just before bedtime!
Raw goat milk contains live enzymes which serve many important functions. Pasteurized milk and cow milk are not good substitutes for raw goats milk. Pasteurized milk is essentially a ”dead food”.
A.B.I.S.
Association Burkinabe Idi du Sahel is an organisation who works for the preservation of the ancient azawakh.
They strive to preserve all the traits which make the azawakh unique in their traditional role as camp and livestock guards, companions and hunters.
A.B.I.S. will advocate through educating the public about azawakh history and about the people and culture that surround it and through importing specimens from the azawakhs origin in the Sahelian belt to the western world. It is important to bring back new genes from the country of origin to our western world, for enlargening the gene pool. They try to integrate the imported dogs in the azawakh western world breeding, they collect empirical data and they write articles on the subject.
A.B.I.S. work for the survival of the azawakh are inestimable.