I try to always remember...

...that the dogs are gifts to us from the cultures and history of the Sahel...we do not possess them. They possess us. (photos: [Targia] Christiane Thier-Rostaing, Germany, ABIS member; and [Targi] Gerhard Hans, Germany, ABIS member.

the rains return...

Tintzirit (Amenzu X Tawinak), surrogate dam to the puppies

puppies in the house...NOT...

sometimes I wonder...

if many people really understand what it means to raise a litter of puppies. The bitch (as in female canine) takes care of everything for the first three weeks. She nurses them and they only begin eating solid food at 21 days. Then the horror begins. Currently there are the remains of two litters here. There is joy and love and wonder and fascination of course...in watching them develop as individuals...and watching the interplay between the puppies, the puppies and their dams and other individuals of the pack (particularly Tintzirit their surrogate dam), but there is also irritation and fatique and horror and cleaning up after them and wanting to do something evil to them when they learn they can CLIMB OUT OF THEIR PEN. As I write they are running around inside the casita (luckily it has a hard mud floor, easy to clean) because I have to go fort-knox their pen so that I can put them back in it! Meanwhile they are eating chairs, chewing the mud walls, peeing, the other, chewing up a new toy (a milk carton), knocking over the fan (the only thing besides daily drinking that keeps a human alive in this environment...), chewing up the broom, trying to climb up to steal the DVD's (to eat of course), jumping on me, etc., etc., etc. Let's just say its a LOVE/SOMETHING LESS THAN LOVE relationship. But in any case I still say al hamdullilah (thanks to God) they are here at all. Al hamdullilah. (pictured to the left/above is how I like to see them.....ASLEEP!) Al hamdullilah.

amzad:imzad:amzhat

The amzhad is a monochord violin used by the Tamasheq nomads. The resonator is of wood in a circular form and is covered with goat-skin. The neck is relatively short and the bow (of curved wood) is made of horse-hair (it was traditionally made of womens' hair...the word for which in Tamasheq is the root of the name of the instrument). It is a close relative of the Arabic "oud".

Kidal photos from back in GA...

Kidal

Brian Reiter was kind enough to point out that Kidal was sired by Fasiqqi and not by Kaisoon as I originally posted. He also sent this photo which he was able to locate on my website...its Kidal as a puppy but well he's pretty much the same now. At least its a photo and thank you Brian.

Illi Tin Hinan Batna

Over the past three days I have bred Batna (Idi Ilaman Elouret X Ultafa, bred by Brigitte Washington) to Kidal (Kaisoon X Imouyene). I was so pleased with the quality of her first litter (X Afalkou), al hamdullilah, but I would like a female puppy to carry forward her dam line.....so Insh'Allah Batna will be pregnant and there will be at least one female puppy. Uh...thanks for reminding me Brian in your comment that Kidal was sired by Fasiqqi and not by Kaisoon...apparently the coffee did not help! So Batna was bred to Kidal (Fasiqqi X Imouyene).

pre-coffee and...

Marya leaves today with her puppy (haansii k'nai in Djerma) Ailymas (Aslam X Semteende) and her taidit (Tamasheq for female dog). The two haansii/taidit are Tadawelt (Kaisoon X Imouyene) and the desert bred Chomeissa/Shemaysah (Tamasheq for Arabic "Khamsa", or "five", a talismanic symbol of the five fingers of the hand of Fatima, daughter of ar-Rasool, peace be upon him).

sometimes I wish I was a puppy...

This photo was sent to me by Brian Reiter. Brian, his wife Christie and their two children live with two Azawakh in DC. The brindled male lying beneath the puppy is Azelouan, (Qulood X Dari), who just turned one year old. The puppy is Tawzalt (Aslam X Semteende). Brian came to visit and pick up Tawzalt just two weeks ago. Looks like she has settled in quite comfortably with her new family. I will go into the interesting story of Azelouan and his littermates in another post...

more rain...yet another puppy

One of the mountains to the west of us starts to green up from the recent rains...and a puppy manages to slip into the casita (Spanish for small house). The puppy is called Samhan (Aslam X Semteende).

my friend Marya comes to visit us

The rains came and went. Marya came for a visit. She will leave tomorrow and will take home her new puppy Ailymas (Aslam X Semteende), Insh'Allah.

just a puppy