A high-speed comfort hog, Kristull Talisman of Sheba, AKA Sheba, was my introduction to the Windhounds. She came to me from breed founder Francie Stull's Kristull Kennel at the age of nine months, and was the first queen of Talisman Hounds. Sheba walked into my house, housebroke herself in one day, learned all the best people to charm into giving her food, and formed a strong emotional attachment to my couch.

Sheba had a limited show career, since she chose to either race, eat, be petted, or spend her days upside down on the couch than show. In her single show outing in 2005, Sheba took American Bred Bitch at the 05 Western Regional Breed Specialty. She is shown here handled by breed founder Francie Stull.

Sheba's kids do not share her snooty attitude towards showing, and her litters proved to be quite the force in the show ring and on the sporting fields.

Loki , Multiple Best of Breed, Best Puppy in Show winner, NAKC Int Ch IABCA UCICB Int Ch Talisman's Viking Kumbaya SRC, achieved his Ch in one four-show day at the age of 9 months, going Winners Dog, Best Puppy in Breed, Best Puppy in Group and Best Puppy in Show. He's had multiple Best of Breed wins as a Ch., and took Reserve Winners Dog at the Regionals in 08. He finished his straight racing title in 2009! He's also now a licensed Therapy Dog, and is making his rounds as a canine ambassador!

Ronan, Multiple Best in Show, Reserve Best in Show, Multiple Best of Breed, Nationals Award of Merit, ISWS, NAKC Gr Ch, IABCA Int Ch Talisman's Byzantine Empire src ptd, won multiple Best Puppy in Breed and Best in Hound Puppy Group at IABCA shows in Antioch Ca 05, and has since gone multiple Best of Breed, and Reserve Best in Show and multiple Best in Shows in NAKC ! At this point, he's also qualified for his Rarities Grand Championship, which makes him one of the first few in the breed with this honor. In 2009, he also got an Award of Merit at the Silken Windhound Nationals!

Sazi, Multiple Reserve Best in Show , Multiple Best in Specialty Show , Multiple Best of Breed winner , Nationals Award of Merit winner, ISWS Ch IABCA Ch and NAKC Ch Talisman's Anasazi Sunrise CIC , SRC , has a Winners Bitch under noted AKC Best in Show judge Ed Gilbert, author of K9 Structure and Anatomy, and a NAKC Silken Windhound Specialty BISS and Reserve Best in Show win under Rita Seibel , as well as a Best of Breed at an ISWS Specialty in 07! She's also won her ISWS racing Championship, the SRC, and gotten her Coursing Instinct Certification through both the ISWS and ASFA ! Sazi also got Best in Specialty Show at our largest Western Regional Specialty yet in Oct 07 ! She's the third dog ever in the history of our breed to be a Dual Ch!

Calantha, Talisman’s Dream of Atlantis, took 2nd in Companion Bitch at the 05 Western Regional Specialty.

Sony, Best in Specialty Show, Best Puppy in Specialty Show,Talisman's Scythian Huntress, co-owned with Alison Brendel, had her first show at the Western Regional Specialty Show in Lafayette Ca. At 10 months, over a very large entry, she took Best Puppy in Show, Winners Bitch, and went all the way to Best in Show! Since then, she's also gotten her CGC !

Abby, Talisman’s Aliende, from Sheba's first litter , took 1st place in Companion Bitch at the 03 Western Regional Specialty and second place in Companion in 07.

Sheba's "Mythos" litter has followed in their previous siblings footsteps, and several of them have made it into the ring and set astonishing records in the field.

Helios , Multiple Best of Breed, Multiple Best Puppy in Show winner, ISWS, NAKC and IABCA JHA and UCICB Int Ch Talisman's Light of Helios SRCXIICIC SJORC is the youngest Silken to ever achieve an NAKC Ch , at just 7 1/2 months of age! He also got his puppy IABCA Ch in January of 08! He's also won a Reserve Winners Dog in ISWS Specialty Show in April of 08 in stiff competion, and in his very first race weekend, ran his way to high points and got 6 points towards the 12 needed for his ISWS racing Ch ! Helios finished his SRC in just three months of racing! Since then he's gone on to win the second leg of his racing Ch, and get his ISWS and his adult IABCA Ch! Helios was one of the top ten racing Silkens of 08, and the #2 racing Silken of 09, the #3 oval track Silken of 09, and the #5 Silken Windhound at ASFA in 09 . For the inaugural season of Silken Windhounds at NOFCA, Helios was the #1 Silken Winhound!

Phoenix , NAKC Int Ch, IABCA JuA Ch, Talisman's Phoenix Fire SRC , in her first show weekend, got her IABCA JuA Ch, and at her first Rarities show weekend, she came away with two five point majors towards her Championship and finished her Championship with majors easily on her next show outings at just over a year ! She's also won Reserve Winners Bitch in an ISWS Specialty show in April of 08, and finished her SRC in Oct 08!

Teddy , NAKC Int Ch Talisman's Ursa Major SRCX VI ORTC LCC , is the top title holder in the Silken Windhound breed. Hestrutted his way to his Ch in a set of NAKC shows in the NW in 07, becoming the second Mythos pup to get his Ch at under a year in age! He also got his first straight racing champion points as a first time entry dog at a race in the PNW, and got his Straight Racing Championship in less than a month and a half, making him the youngest Silken ever to achieve this title with only National points at just shy of 15 months old ! He quickly earned his SRCX, and then another 30 points for his SRCXI, another 30 for his SRCXII, and another 30 for his SRCXIII, then another 30 for his SRCXIV, and another 30 for his SRCXV, and another 30 for his SRCXVI ! Teddy is the number one straight racing Silken Windhound for 2008, 2009, and 2010, the number one oval track Silken Windhound in 2009, the winner of the 2009 National race meet, and the winner of the 2009 Western Regional Race meet and was the winner of the first OFC event for Silkens in 2010!

Garibaldi Multilple Best of Breed, ISWS Ch, NAKC Int Ch Talisman's Star of Taranis CGC beat out a large number of Silken boys to get Reserve Winners Dog at our 2008 Silken Windhound Nationals in Colorado ! This was a very auspicious start to his show career! At his next set of shows, he was awarded WD for two majors! He finished his ISWS and NAKC Ch in grand style in 09, winning WD BOW at a large Specialty show, and winning enough Best of Breeds to become the top ranked NAKC Silken Windhound in 2009! Garibaldi is also our youngest CGC hound in the breed, having gotten the title at the age of seven months!

Sheba was an avid hunter. I found out the first time I took her walking in Golden Gate Park that Sheba would jump 6 feet up a tree going after squirrels if I let her. She would also chase any non-dog small feathered or furry animal in the yard. She also managed to empty a small pool of goldfish all on her own one day, standing in and over the water, plunging her head in past her ears to catch fish a lot like an egret would. Oddly enough, while cats were not to be tolerated on her territory, she did let cats at other people's houses walk right over her head with no fuss.

Sheba found a less hair-raising way  to show off her prey drive when the ISWS started a straight racing program ! In 2005, the ISWS partnered with participating LGRA clubs to create the ISWS racing program, which is a venue for Silkens to competatively race in, and Sheba got her first ISWS racing wins towards her Straight Racing Championship! Her children and grandchildren bring her power and speed to the sporting fields in straight racing, lure coursing, oval track, and the open field!

Sheba had an incredibly long memory for positive and negative experiences, an amazing instinct for self preservation, a powerful instinct to mother her children, and a strong drive for her own comfort. She knew exactly the pitch and caliber of crackle her favorite bag of dog treats made, as well as knowing exactly what object, her brush or the dog nail trimmer, I picked up from the shelf no matter how hard I tried to hide the sound. Sheba believed with all her heart that food, especially any kind of fish, was the best thing in the universe, and that she could never have enough of it, and that nail trimming was the most horrible torturous cataclysm ever foisted upon the world of dogs by people.

Her pedigree incorporates some of the most diverse lines used to create the breed. From her Borzoi side, she got her fabulous big happy grin and her love of cold weather, from her Whippet side she got her obsession with lolling around in the sun. She is a balanced girl with lovely angles, substance, a beautiful long and well carried tail, an excellent bite with full dentition and a strong lower jaw, sound movement, lovely head with rich black pigment and very dark eyes, and a gloriously thick and wavy Borzoi type coat.

Sheba's littermates live all over the world, with two of her siblings residing in Europe (Siru and Teal'c), one in Texas, and one in New Jersey. Sheba herself had three litters of gorgeous, very sweet puppies. Her first litter was born in 2001, and you can see the pups here. Her second litter was born in January, 2005, and puppy pictures can be found here. For her third and final litter in 2006, Sheba was bred to ISWS and Rarities Int Ch Tangaloor Captain Sinclair AKA Connor , puppy pics can be seen here .

Sheba remembered which person was the most talented at giving her belly rubs, and which person gave the best ear rubs. She loved all small babies and could not stop herself from giving them kisses when she saw them.

The thing I loved about Sheba most of all was that she was an intensely dedicated and loving Mother to her children. The ones that got to stay with her, Ronan, Helios, and Sazi, were treated to morning ear and eye washings every day they had with her till her last day. Her Grandchildren from Sazi, Anthias and Ivy, were also as doted on as her own children were. Especially close to her was her son Ronan, and he mourned her for months when she passed just before Christmas in 2010. Through her incredible children, her strength and spirit will continue.  

Sheba's Pedigree

DOB : 2/7/1999

Height : 24 inches

Reg # 2000-40/03

MDR1: Clear

OFA Thyroid : Normal SWH-TH4/85F-PI

OFA Cardio : Normal SWH-CA6/85F/P-PI

CERF: Normal SWH-114/2005--83