My close-up

I'm Bally.� I live in Greenville, SC with my three humans and two salukis, Eris and Mari.� They say Eris is my aunt, so I'll go along with that.� Mari is my nutsy red headed sister. The three of us used to live together on my breeders' farm. Then Eris went to live with Ingrid and her family.� They decided I HAD come live with them too in August.� Mari arrived in January 2001. I like my new house.� At first I really missed the farm because I could run around all day and play with the other dogs.� I always used to play with Ares, he's Eris's brother.� I used to like to play "jump the fence".

"Jump the fence" is easy to play.� I never ran off anywhere like some dogs do when they jump the fence.� Dogs that run off are dumb.� No, I jumped the fence so I could fence fight with Ares.� That is fun.� Do you know what fence fighting is?� It is when two or more dogs on opposite sides of the fence run along and yell insults at each other.� So much fun and great exercise too.

I live in an apartment now, so I don't have any fences to jump.� However, the apartment we live in has a lake with a big track around it.� I love walking around the track.� I usually walk anywhere from 3 to 5 miles a day.� I need to keep in shape.

That's me, Bally, in front of the recycling.� Why did mom take my picture in front of the recycling?� She is really weird some times. Speaking of weird, mom decided for a while that I had to show. I am not too sure about showing. Sometimes it is okay, but I hate it when it is cold and windy and mom is a pretty lousy handler. One thing I do like is all the neat places we visit when we go to shows, I've been to the beach, to a national park and along a river walk so far. I wonder where I am going next? Right now mom says I am "semi-retired". This means we aren't entered in any shows, but mom keeps talking about things called "Stud Dog Class" and "Veterans Class". I'm not sure I like the sound of that. In November of 2002 I went out to visit a lady named Gail who lives in Arizona. She has two really cute saluki girls, Nadira and Ona, who are my girlfriends. I now have 11 kids! Click here to see my kids

Mom was going through some saluki magazines and found some photos of me as a younger dog, before I came to live with her. Check me out on the left as such a cute young puppy. I used to love to play in mud puddles as a puppy, see my muddy paws? On the right I am a bit older and starting to look a bit questioning. It is good to ask questions. Too many dogs fail to ask questions, I think that is a character flaw. These lovely photos of me can also be found in the Summer 1998 issue of The Classic Saluki.

Most of the time I stay at home with my family. I have my favorite spots I like to be, on the couch, in my green chair and in the middle of the living room floor. I spend most of my time in one of these three places. One thing I really like to do (besides nap and walk) is play with my stuff toys. When I first came to live with mom and grandma, I didn't have any stuffed toys. Eris thinks they are stupid, so they didn't get any for me. Then one day I was playing with Grandma's hat. The next day they got me elephant, who I like a lot. Then one day I was poking around in Mom's room and found CARROT!!!!

Carrot is a toy mom bought for Eris, but Eris wouldn't play with. Stupid Eris. Carrot is the best. I love carrot so much. I really like biting carrot and making it squeek. One day I was playing with carrot and chewed a hole in the side and took out all the stuffing. Then mom threw out carrot. But, several days later we went to Petsmart and got a NEW carrot. Now I have a carrot to play with again. That makes me happy!

Now my sister Mari has come to live with us. That is fine. I am slowing building my harem. I am a good provider. I can take care of my family. If only mom would let me off leash, I could even provide food for us. I just know I could.

looking good at 8