an explanation...

...since starting this blog back in July I have received many comments...and I appreciate all of them!...but I have also received questions. One of the questions that sticks with me is "why do we not see pictures of all your dogs on the blog...we know you have more dogs than the ones you are always showing?" There are several simple and sometimes complex reasons for this:

• some dogs are very photogenic and these dogs tend to get photographed quite often
• some dogs are the type which can better be appreciated "in person". Their absence in the photos does not indicate that they are any less special than the more photographed dogs but simply that their "essence", just as with some people, cannot be properly conveyed in a two-dimensional image
• some dogs (currently three) are confined in their own paddock...making it hard to get photos of them without fencing being in the photo....the presence of which I think in most cases takes away from the "feel" of the image
• some dogs are just never around...I get the camera out and poof they are nowhere to be seen
• some dogs will not stand still for a second and this makes it very difficult to photograph them....also if I start to take pictures they rush to me to get involved in the process....leaving them too close to me for me to get a decent shot of them
• I will not publish photos which don't have an aesthetic appeal to me...for me the image must express something unique about the individual dog AS WELL AS something archetypal about the race
• all of the dogs and puppies run free (the puppies now that they are old enough to be with the "pack") except for three: Enhal, because he is an alpha male that will fight with any other male around...and although I await the day he can be with the others...for now he has his own paddock where he is not alone....Sikasso is also with him for company. I have tried to keep Sikasso out but he simply prefers the paddock...go figure. I think he just likes to be with Enhal. And Noowairah is the third...since she jumps back and forth over the fence and I worry that she will catch her leg on the cattle fencing and get injured...but it is a no-win situation for me since she digs out anyway, and if threatened, since at this point she is not sure she is part of the pack, and this makes her vulnerable to bullying by the other taidit....she continues to go back and forth (that was a little off-topic!...I just went off on a tangent)
• I will not specify the number of dogs I currently own and who live here with me because of the Animals Rights Radicals; Freaks whose primary agenda is to put an end to all breeding of domestic animals....they search out and monitor blogs whose main focus is the breeding of animals....so specifying the number of dogs I own and live with could put my dogs at risk from said radicals
• there are just so many hours during any given day! I just won't go around struggling to get photos of dogs...I see photo ops and I take them...but they must present themselves to me...I don't seek them out....because
• aside from the not having enough time issue I'm lazy!
• this blog is about Azawakh, their culture, their history, as well as other topics that are of interest to me...my website http://www.azawakh.com/ is the place to find pictures of ALL the dogs bred by me and/or living here.....(well, not at the moment since I am in the process of updating it and many of the pages are no longer linked....but I hope to get this finished soon....well, so much for worrying about the Animal Rights Radicals!)