Welcome to Du Ciel Pharaoh Hounds! I first noticed Pharaoh Hounds at a dog show in about 2005. I was immediately attracted to their elegant and graceful appearance, but I also noticed one of them in the ring “smiling” at her owner on command…so I figured there was probably more to them than just good looks! After researching everything I could find about the breed, visiting with some in person (both at shows and in their home environment), I decided that a Pharaoh Hound puppy would be a good match for me! I brought Rory home in June 2008 – and continue to fall more in love with the breed every day!
I was blessed with a lovely litter of four puppies out of Rory in January 2014 – all four became AKC champions, and three of the four are also field champions (in lure coursing) which earned them the DC (dual champion) title. All four puppies are still happy and healthy and living their lives to the fullest! You can see more about each of them on the My Dogs page.
I don’t breed very often, as I choose my breeding pairs carefully and spend a lot of time introducing the pups to people and things that they are likely to encounter in their adult lives. I implement the “Bio Sensor” (also known as “Super Dog”) program during the pups’ early days, and I use many of the techniques described in the “Puppy Culture” program. I stay in close contact with all of my puppy owners throughout their dogs’ lives (and beyond sometimes!) and consider them to be my extended family. Therefore, I carefully screen potential owners before placing pups in their homes. Not only do I want my puppies to go to safe and loving homes, I want to make sure that you are happy with your puppy and that you and the pup are truly a good match for each other!
I strongly encourage you to do your research, and to spend some time with several Pharaoh Hounds in person before purchasing a puppy. They are a very intelligent breed, but I always tell people “intelligence and obedience are NOT synonyms!” Training can be a bit of a challenge for some people, as Pharaoh Hounds often respond with “why?” when you tell them to do something. That being said, so long as you can be fair, consistent, and keep training fun and exciting, you can train your Pharaoh Hound to do just about anything! Between my two girls, I’ve earned qualifying scores and titles in just about every event available to dogs including conformation, obedience, rally, lure coursing, agility, trick dog, barn hunt, carting, dock diving, and herding! Pharaoh Hounds are an active breed – they LOVE to run, and as a general rule are not a breed that can be taken off leash in an unfenced area. They also are NOT a quiet breed – while I would never describe them as yappy, they do like to speak their mind when they want something or when they feel you need to be alerted to something in their environment.
The Pharaoh Hound Club of America as well as the American Kennel Club both have lots of great information about the breed on their websites. And, there are several very active Facebook groups about the breed where you can see photos and hear stories of the daily antics of Pharaoh Hounds around the world.
If you have any questions about my breeding program, upcoming litters, or just Pharaoh Hounds in general, please feel free to reach out to me by telephone (623-694-9094) or email (Mavides@aol.com).