Where the Wild Things Are: Silken Windhounds in the Smokies

Sep 22 2026 | By: Stephanie Richer Photography

Silken Windhound with a silver and white coat running through a mossy forest in the Great Smoky Mountains, surrounded by lush green foliage and exposed tree roots.

Some dogs look like dogs.

Silken Windhounds look as though they have just stepped out of an enchanted forest, paused on a moss-covered rock, and are waiting for you to come along, unawares, so they can give you a quest.

And then there are those eyes.

Those enormous, dark, soulful boba eyes.

Multicolored Silken Windhound perched on a fallen log in the lush green forest of the Great Smoky Mountains.

How I Fell for the Silken Windhound

My introduction to Silkens came courtesy of Instagram, where I started following the adventures of a Silken Windhound and her two Borzoi “sisters” on Cleolonlegs. I was fascinated.

They had the elegance of the larger sighthounds, but there was something almost otherworldly about them: long legs, flowing coats, delicate faces, and those wonderfully expressive eyes.

Naturally, the pet photographer in me started thinking: I need one of these in front of my camera.

Then I heard about Ami, who didn't merely have a Silken Windhound. She had a trio, through her kennel, The Clacky Noodle Silkens.

And around the same time, another woman named Stephanie posted that she was searching for a photographer who could create something with a slightly fantasy-inspired feeling for her own Silken, Zuko.

Well.

Whaddaya know?

Ami and Stephanie were friends.

Suddenly, I had Silkens coming out of my ears.

White Silken Windhound standing on a moss-covered rock among the trees in a lush Great Smoky Mountains forest
Tan and white Silken Windhound standing gracefully among mossy rocks and tree roots in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Silver and white Silken Windhound leaping over exposed tree roots along a green forest path in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Three Silken Windhounds sitting together on a fallen log in the lush forest of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Tan and white Silken Windhound bounding through a mossy woodland surrounded by exposed roots and soft green foliage.

Into the Enchanted Forest We Go

If you're going to photograph a dog that looks like it belongs in a fantasy novel, you need a setting worthy of it.

So off we went to Greenbrier Road in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Greenbrier gave me exactly what I wanted: towering trees, enormous moss-covered rocks, fallen logs and deep green forest. In places, the light filters through the canopy just enough to make the woods seem downright magical.

And the Silkens fit into it as though we'd discovered their natural habitat.

Kisch and her daughter Fret were joined by Vydra to make up Ami's lovely trio. Stephanie brought Zuko, her handsome multicolored boy.

Four dogs. Four completely different looks.

And not one of them appeared remotely out of place standing on a mossy boulder like some mysterious woodland creature.

Multicolored Silken Windhound standing on a moss-covered rock among tall trees in the lush Great Smoky Mountains forest
Multicolored Silken Windhound standing in a shallow mountain stream, reflected in the still water and surrounded by river rocks.
Silken Windhound standing among rocks in a quiet mountain stream with its reflection visible in the water.
Multicolored Silken Windhound posed on mossy rocks beneath the trees in the green forest of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Together, they gave me exactly what I'd imagined when I first became fascinated with the breed: elegance, movement, expression and just enough woodland magic to make you wonder whether you really saw a dog...

...or something very, very fae.

And now I have an important question.

Multicolored Silken Windhound standing in a shallow mountain stream, perfectly reflected in the calm water and surrounded by smooth river rocks in the Great Smoky Mountains.

What Do You Call a Group of Silken Windhounds?

We have a murder of crows.
A parliament of owls.
A crash of rhinoceroses.

Surely dogs this magical deserve something better than “a group of Silkens.”

So I'm taking nominations.

A breeze of Silken Windhounds?

A shimmer of Silken Windhounds?

Maybe a wisp of Silkens?

Or, considering those enormous eyes, perhaps a boba of Silkens.

What would YOU call them?

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