Page 24 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE 6

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 2 4

What attracts you most to the breed?

In a word: the character. In ‘82, by now I could start working half-days, we ordered 2
puppies from Peter Kouwenhoven (Kamar al Akbar kennel). Because there was no doubt it
had to be 2. They had so much fun together, playing together, eating together, sleeping
together and most of all: running and hunting together! We had to wait another 3 years.
But then, in 1985, the B-litter Kamar al Akbar was born (Ted's Furuq was the father) and
Barud and Beldi came to us, 8 weeks old. Barud (means gunpowder) because of his
charbonné-coloured coat and black tail. Beldi was a different story. She was the fattest in

the litter (and stayed that way) so I kept shouting: I don't need that chubby one. But such
a sweet face! It really became my dog.

That same afternoon, they immediately redid our backyard completely to their own liking,
to the dismay of a passing neighbour (do you have rabbits now??). Our interior followed

some months later. The see-through bench is a Sloughi design, as is the see-through wall.
Barud had a very strong will-to-please. When we once passed a group of dogs with their
owners during a walk, it turned out that a ball had been thrown a bit too far into the
water. None of the dogs wanted to fetch it or saw the ball yet. I gently asked Barud if he
would grab the ball for me. He looked at me faithfully, calmly stepped into the water,
swam to the ball, came back and laid it at my feet. Gladly accepted my compliment and
biscuit and calmly walked on, totally uninterested in the ball.

Barud Kamar al Akbar being closely looked at by our chairman Willem Buitenkamp © Willy