Well About me!
Doug and Sheshonq middle of 2000
I started Domiko in the early 90’s showing borzoi and salukis. Then, at a show one day in Atlanta, Georgia I saw a man walking around with a grouping of the most gorgeous dogs I had ever seen. That man was David Moore and the dogs he had were Azawakh. It was love at first sight and instantly I wanted to know more about this breed. As I learned more about them I decided to add one to our family. David had none available at the time but I was lucky that a borzoi friend I knew also fell in love with the breed so I purchased my first Azawakh from her, a male named Omar. He was an incredible dog who sired one litter of extraordinary puppies. Then, as fate would have it a couple of years later I was speaking to David and he informed me he had a litter of puppies. Of course I went to see them and of course, I brought home a perfect little brindle boy named Sheshonq. However, while there to see Sheshonq and his siblings, there was another young female that completely captured my attention. Her name was Afsoon. David quickly informed me she was not available even though I begged and begged. So, I took Sheshonq home and decided he would be my show dog. At that time, AKC hadn’t recognized Azawakh so we were only able to compete in UKC and a few other shows of clubs that allowed rare breeds to be shown. Sheshonq won 2 Best in Shows and several Reserve Best in Shows over his career in the very limited showing we did with UKC.
Afsoon Idiiyat-Es-Sahel
In addition to these dogs, I also imported a beautiful female, Masi, from Switzerland from renowned breeder, the late Monika Kessler of Kel Dahoussahaq kennel. I also purchased an incredible female named Noor from Corine Lundqvist and her famous de Garde-Epée kennel. And a happy ending occurred when David finally agreed to let me bring home that gorgeous female I fell in love with at his home, Afsoon.
One of the first Azawakh to achieve an
AKC Champion title
CH Dakar ak Domiko-Belozor
Iri ak Domiko 3 time Winner of the Azawakh National Speciality Shows
I bred two litters, one each from Afsoon and Masi both sired by Sheshonq. The puppies all went to wonderful homes and several were shown. Im most proud of Dakar ak Domiko-Belozor owned by Suzanne Liggett who achieved his AKC Champion title and won Select Dog at the very first Westminster Kennel Club show the breed was eligible to compete in. Im also extremely proud of Iri ak Domiko, owned by Jan Butterworth, who won three National Specialities in a row. Mostly, Im proud of the exceptional temperaments these dogs all possessed.
OHBIS OHRBIS GCH Edi n’Amanar - America’s #1 Owner/Handled Azawakh
of all time.
Ksenia has had more group wins and placements than any Azawakh in AKC history.
GCH Chalas Amber Sand has had an incredible year handled exclusively by Brendan Coleman. After winning the breed at Westminster 2023,Chalas and Brendan traveled the country to various shows which culminated in a Group 2 placement in Massachussetts.
Ten years ago, I met the love of my life, Aslaam, who was deathly afraid of dogs. When I say afraid, I mean he would run from the front door to my bedroom to not interact with any. Today, he is handling successfully in my opinion the two hardest breeds of dogs to show, Azawakh and Standard Poodles. He talked me into buying him his first dog, our Standard Poodle named Aladdin and it’s been love at first sight for all of us since. And yes, we even changed our logo from Domiko Sighthounds to Domiko Kennel as a result of Aladdin and more anticipated Standard Poodles in our future. Aslaam bonded from the moment Seydou arrived into the US with him. Seydou, under Aslaam’s handling, finished his AKC Champion and Grand Champion titles before he was 2 years of age as well as being the #2 Owner/Handled Azawakh in the United States in 2022. He also finished Aladdin’s AKC Champion title just after his first birthday.
Today, I have started a completely new breeding plan with a focus on type and especially, temperament. It is my opinion that temperaments in this breed have been neglected and that we have focused more on type and producing pretty dogs and not enough on breeding sound temperaments. These dogs are no longer livestock expected to work in Africa but are now beloved companions who need to be stable and sociable with others. The basis is my new foundation bitch GCH Eidi n’Amanar (Ksenia) from my wonderful friend Maria Szynaka Tomaszewska. Ksenia is the top winning Owner/Handled Azawakh of all time in the United States. She won an Owner/Handled Best in Show, Reserve Best in Show and has more Group placements than any Azawakh in the history of the breed in the United States. We also have her half brother, Eidi n’Amanar Jaeraw who is a stunning male from Maria. I already mentioned GCH Seydou of Silverdale from the famous Silverdale Kennel in Germany that we are grateful our friend Helene Peither allowed to come live in the US. Our current star in the ring is Chalas Amber Sand that Maria helped me bring over from Latvia from Tamara Grina’s excellent breeding. Chalas has shown only a few months and is already very close to her American Champion title, having both of her majors already after winning mutiple Best of Breed over Specials from the puppy class. Chalas is everything I strive to produce in perfect breed type, movement and an outgoing, rock solid temperament that endears her to all who meet her. Additionally we have Xanadu Farms Targe (Kira) who is a connection to my original breeding of Sheshonq and Afsoon. We are also blessed to have Xanadu Farms Jafar, the Azawakh equivalent of a unicorn because he is black with perfect white markings. Jafar is a first generation puppy from Africa as his mother was imported from Niger and his sire also has a Nigerian import mother with his sire from established European lines.