Borzoi

The Borzoi is a breed of dog also called the Russian Wolfhound. They have medium-length, slightly curly hair and are similar in shape to Greyhounds. They are a member of the sight hound family.

Appearance

Borzoi can come in any colour or colour combination. As a general approximation, "long haired greyhound" is a useful description. The long top-coat is silky and quite flat, with varying degrees of waviness or curling. The soft undercoat thickens in winter or cold climates but is shed in hot weather to prevent overheating. In its texture and distribution over the body, the Borzoi coat is unique.

The Borzoi is a large variety of sight hound, with males frequently reaching in excess of 100 pounds (45 kg). Males should stand at least 28 inches (about 70 centimetres) at the shoulder, while females shouldn't be less than 26 inches (about 66 centimetres). Despite their size the overall impression is of streamlining and grace, with a curvy shapeliness and compact strength. The Borzoi might be said to be the Porsche of sight hounds, if the Irish Wolfhound is the Range Rover.

Temperament

The Borzoi is a quiet, intelligent, moderately active, independent dog. They adapt very well to suburban living, provided they have a spacious yard and regular opportunities for free exercise.

Most adult Borzoi are almost mute, barking only very rarely. They are gentle, sensitive dogs with gracious house-manners and a natural respect for humans. Borzoi should never display dominance over people. However they are sometimes nervous around children and need to be introduced to them at an early age if they are to be the pet in a young family.

Many Borzoi do well in competitive obedience and agility trials with the right kind of training, but it is not an activity that comes naturally to them. They are fast learners who quickly become bored with repetitive, apparently pointless, activity, and they can be very stubborn when they are not properly motivated. Like other sight hounds they cannot understand or tolerate harsh treatment or training based on punishment, and will be extremely unhappy if raised voices and threats are a part of their daily life.

These are dogs used to pursue, or "course," game and they have a strong instinct to chase things that run from them. Borzoi are built for speed and can cover incredible distances in a very short time. They need a fully-fenced yard if automobile traffic is present within several miles of their home. For off-lead exercise they need a very large field or park, either fully fenced or well away from any traffic, to ensure their safety.

Borzoi do not have strong territorial drives compared to breeds such as Mastiffs and German Shepherds, and they are definitely not to be thought of as a "fighting" or "guard dog". They cannot be relied on to raise the alarm upon sighting a human intruder.

Generally, Borzoi should not be territorially aggressive to other domestic dogs. Against wolves and other wild canids, they are born with specialized skills, but these are quite different from the dog-fighting instincts seen in some breeds. It is quite common for Borzoi at play to course (run down) another dog, seizing it by the neck and holding it immobile. Young pups do this with their littermates, trading off as to who is the prey. It is a specific hunting behaviour, not a fighting or territorial domination behaviour.

Borzoi can be raised very successfully to live with cats and other small animals provided they are introduced to them at a young age. Some, however, will possess the hunting instinct to such a degree that they find it impossible not to chase a cat that is moving quickly. The instinct is triggered by movement and much depends on how the cat behaves.

History

Tradition says that Saluki type sight hounds were originally brought to Russia from Byzantium in the south about the 9th and 10th centuries and again later by the Mongol invaders from the East. Although this might be true, the imported sight hound stock was crossed with different Russian spitz type hunting dogs to increase their speed and gain an ability to catch wolves. This was an important part of a hunting dog's work in the past, when wolves were more common.

"Borzaya" ("quick dog") is a Russian term for various types of native sight hound. The Russkaya Psovaya Borzaya (Psovoi - the longhaired borzoi) is the dog we know as Borzoi. The Psovoi was popular with the Tsars before the 1917 revolution. For centuries, Psovoi could not be purchased but only given as gifts from the Tsar. The most famous breeder was Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich of Russia, who bred hundreds of Psovoi at Perchino, his private kennel.

During the era of the Tsars, the Russians performed hunting tests. As well as providing exciting sport, the tests were used for selecting borzoi breeding stock; only the quickest and most intelligent hunting dogs went on to produce progeny. These hunts were a well-organized ceremony, sometimes going on for days, with the borzoi accompanied by mounted hunters and Foxhounds on the Russian steppe. Hares and other small game were by far the most numerous kills, but the hunters especially loved to test their dogs on wolf. If a wolf was sighted, the hunter would release a team of two or three borzoi. The dogs would pursue the wolf, attack its neck from both sides, and hold it until the hunter arrived. The classical killing was by the human hunter with a knife.

In the 1917 Revolution, hundreds of native Psovoi were destroyed by the revolutionaries. The Tsars had turned them into a symbol of affluence and tyranny, and they were not welcomed into the new world of the Soviet Union. Some noblemen took it upon themselves to shoot their own dogs rather than allow them to fall into the hands of militants and be cruelly tortured. However, the Psovoi survived along with other borzaya variants in the Russian countryside (Hortaya Borzaya, or Chortaj, the short-haired borzaya; and Stepnoy, a lop-eared borzaya with feathering, similar to the Saluki) .

In the late 1940s a Soviet soldier named Constantin Esmont made detailed records of the various types of borzoi dogs he found in the Cossack villages. Esmont was concerned that the distinct types of borzaya were in danger of degenerating without a controlled system of breeding. He convinced the Soviet government that borzoi were a valuable asset to the hunters who supported the fur industry and henceforth, their breeding was officially regulated. To this day short-haired Hortaya Borzaya are highly valued hunting dogs on the steppes, while the long-haired Psovaya Borzaya, still carrying some of the stigma of its association with the old White Russia, has become more common as a decorative companion.

Exports of Borzoi to other countries were extremely rare during the Soviet era. However enough had been taken to England, Scandinavia, Western Europe and America in the late 19th century for the breed to establish itself outside its native country.