This Site Chosen By Microsoft As THE Afghan Web Link for Encarta
Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange
(Reference Library)Remembrance to Vera Watkins
Windswift Salukis, UK
Ortrud Rvmer Horn, (Ortrud.Roemer-Horn@t-online.de)
This article was first published in the Swiss sight hound magazine "Der Windhundfreund" (The sighthound friend) Number 218, April 1997, and is based on the interview which was taped for the American magazine "Saluki Quarterly" and my personal memories.She had a top place on my interview list, and after her name "Priority 1": Vera Watkins, the world famous breeder of the Windswift Salukis.
My personal remembrance to Vera Watkins goes back to a Saturday afternoon in August 1984 when I arrived at the railway station in that little town in the south of England district Devon. No, I had not to stay in a Hotel, meant Vera Watkins when she offered me gladly her hospitality. Also naturally for the more than 80 years old Lady, that she would pick Me up at the station and drive me back again. When we arrived in her typical cottage, hard to find for a stranger, she asked me to sit down in her living room and said: "You must have a Sherry now!" I still feel dizzy when I remember the stairs without banisters, the old Lady climbed to serve me an "early morning tea" on Sunday morning. On this day we sat together in her winter garden and she told me about her life with Salukis
.... Vera Watkins grew up with pets. A dog taught her to walk and a horse how to ride, were her own words, when she thought back to her childhood. During WW II she had a position in the army and one evening eight Officers sat together and tried to find out which dog should suit best to whom. When it came up to Vera Watkins they all agreed: "You should have a Saluki!" She never saw a Saluki before but it always kept in her mind. After a while all her officer colleagues had their dogs and Vera Watkins decided that she now had to have her dog as well. For exactly 12 English pounds and 10 Shillings -that amount was given from the army to buy civil clothes - she acquired the female Zahara Zuleika. This was in the summer of 1945. "Sally", this was the Salukis nickname, had a nice show success in 1948 in Brighton, where she went BoB and she was the mother of the very first WINDSWIFT Salukis after Knightellington Salah-ed-Din. One male puppy out of that litter went to Denmark, and his sister Windswift Yasmin stayed at Vera Watkins.
Then, one day the phone rang in Vera Watkins house, and she nearly Dropped it, when the voice at the other end said: "This is the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, and if you agree, his Excellency would like to give you his Saluki. With a twinkle in her eyes, Vera Watkins said, that it might have caused a diplomatic note, if she had refused the dog. So "Sabbah", this means "the morning" came to her. Due to a badly healed Broken leg Sabbah had no show career, but became very important for Windswift as a sire. With Windswift Yasmin he produced in his first litter the wonderful grizzle female Windswift Soraya. (She is on the cover of Vera Watkins book.) This mating was repeated and produced Windswift Turki and the female Tarfa. Both dogs became very important in Vera Watkins further breeding program. The litter sisters Tabitha and Thamar went to Mrs. Skelton Fortune (Daxlore) and to Lady Gardener (Knightellington). Another line was founded on Zahara Zuleika by Mazuri Najan.
Well know Windswift champions were: Windswift Zuleeka (owner Mrs. Chorley), Windswift Tarfa Tani, who stayed with Vera Watkins, Windswift Aziz, who became an American Champion, and not to forget Windswift Al Calip. He was owned by Mrs. Copperthwaite and gained 35 CCs (Challenge Certificates)
But Vera Watkins main interest wasn't the show ring. She was more interested in Coursing. But again, it was a very different thing which made her very proud: Windswift Salukis went back to Arabia to improve the stock there! She told me the story of a native Iranian, who overlooked the highly decorated champions in a couple of Salukis but picked out the Windswift, he would have liked to take home.
One day, Vera Watkins held a lecture about Salukis and was asked: "Why don't you write a book?" But she was so horrified about sitting down and writing, that she rejected this idea. But it was nobody less than Pauline Kendall, the breeder of the Gulzar Salukis who said: "I type that for you!". And like this "Saluki - Companion of Kings, was first published in 1974. Already 1000 books were sold in the very first year. Some plus 100 pages are filled with valuable information about the history of the breed and the daily life with Salukis.
Vera Watkins also judged Salukis, and while the interview tape ran, she remembered her judging assignment at Santa Barbara and looked forward a journey to Australia, to another judging invitation.
Besides her dogs, and her work in the committee of the Saluki Club, Vera Watkins had other interests as well. She was a member of the local Conservatives board and an active member of the parish.
The "Great Old Saluki Lady" had a remarkable mental freshness, and looking in the future, she mentioned the well known Irish Wolfhound breeder, Mrs. Nagel, who still drove her Bentley and showed her dogs with over 90 years, as her shining example.
Destiny had other plans for Vera Watkins. At the end of 1996 she died in a nursery.
Ortrud Rvmer Horn, (Ortrud.Roemer-Horn@t-online.de)