Jump to content

Milashkaborzoi

Just Whelped
  • Posts

    2
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Milashkaborzoi's Achievements

Newbie, be gentle

Newbie, be gentle (2/9)

  1. Im very late reply, but we have a borzoi puppy. His names Milashka and hes only 9 months. We live in an apartment so hes essentially litter trained. And i work from home so i cant help in that department. But the shedding in the summer is ridiculous. It gets everywhere. With brushing its tough, they are very dramatic and thin skinned dogs and dont tend to take well to certain types of brushes. Milashka will scream and bite the brush since it seems too painful for him. Hes just starting to hit his rebellious teenage years to say. But its just a case of being more careful and keeping an eye on him more. They are very stubborn but training is definitely possible with a lot of treats! Milashka will pretend you dont exist unless theres treats involved. He can sit, stay, wait, lay down, paw, high five, spin, up, down and he sits and waits to cross the road and the same before he get his food. If you drop food he wont get unless you tell him to. We put treats on his paws when hes laying down and we can leave the room and come back and still wouldnt have eaten it unless we said to. But all of this came with time and effort. I can only imagine how difficult this would be if i was out of the house for more than 4/5 hours of the day. We've found that teeth will be fine if kept on top of! We started brushing and training ours when we git gim him home and we can brush his teeth fine. A vet told us once that a dogs teeth should be brushed at least once a week since 70% of dogs will have some sort of gum/teeth disease by the time theyre 2 yo. If brushing is bad we put dog toothpaste on chew toys, and regularly give him Whimzees. Again we started training ours from the day we bought him home and worked hard on recall. We even bought a 30ft long lead to work on recall from a long distance. At 9 months we can now have him off lead regularly. He plays fetch and runs and walks next to us nicely off lead for at least 30 mins. He recalls better off lead sometimes and is better at meeting other dogs off lead since he tends to freak out at the lead when he gets scared. It took a lot of work but we let him off lead from around 12 weeks old so he was used to it. At that age he was too scared to leave our side too far so has always learnt to stick near us most of the time anyway. Now he is in his teenage phase he doesnt wonder off more so i have had him on lead more recently. Our bigeest off lead battle with him was actually people! Milashka is very smart and can pick up energy very quickly. People often mistake him for an adult dog since he is so big, (29" at the shoulder, 9months old) so when he barks or is running around, people often judge and put their dogs on lead or even walk the other way! Since milashka picks up on this it puts him on edge and he tends to misbehave more. When people arent familiar with sighthounds, or borzois in general, they can be quite uncomfortable to see due to there size and stubborness and mind of their own. So we put Milashka on lead when people are around to make things simple and keep everyones minds at ease. Until we have said hello and explained that hes a pup, and made sure their dogs are friendly then we let him off again. He is regularly off in non fenced areas but we find that if he runs off, and you walk towards him, he takes that as a go ahead to keep going. If we walk away and call him from a distance he soon learns we are leaving, and that we arent interested in what he is, and oftwn comes back quite quickly. Obviously all dogs are different as are situations, but this has worked for us. He is quite well trained and other sighthound owners have often complimented us on how well he is doing. But no sighthound owners often dont get it and he looks unruly. We found crate training didnt work since milashka absolutly hates being restrained. He is a very free spirit and loves to be free and relaxed, however when over excited, for example when we take him to the vets. We must take the most interesting treats we have to keep him focused otherwise training goes out the window and he is too excited. We have had issues puppy proofing, we covered bookshelves with blankets and put everything in the kitchen we he isnt aloud. But he grows so quickly before we knew it hes as tall as me. When on his hind legs his head it 5"8. When outstretched laying down, front paw to back paw he is bigger than our bed. So over 6 foot. As a rule of thumb we say if we can reach it so can he. So loose items go in cupboards now. He is big for a 9 month old and still has more to go so be wary. Milashkas is very good with food. Will never take food unless you tell him to. If you drop a peice of food he wont touch it unless you say. If he has a bone to chew on, you can take it off him no problems. Same with toys. He will sit and wait until you put his bowl down and will wait even still until you tell him to go and get it. He will however eat anything that isnt edible if its on the floor. Hes eaten tennis balls whole, sticks, poo bags, just general balls of his own hair. He will lap up anything off the ground so thats one thing we have to watch when out and about with him since he has eaten sweets and chocolates that kids have thrown on the ground outside on walks. All in all borzois are lovely companions and great cuddle buddies. But in my opinion you have to have the time when they are young to break bad habits esrly. I cant imagine whay Milashka would be like if i was out of the house regularly.
  2. @weebird I know i am very late on this topic, probably too late by now. But i just thought id chime in here. Im currently raising a borzoi puppy in an apartment. He is about to hit 9 months old and in our opinion is doing very well. I work from home so our biggest problem has been with being alone. Our puppy seems to have formed some seperation anxiety, but we luckily have some understanding neighbours who have two dogs of their own. We found with toilet training a litter tray was quite successful. We dont have a balcony but we do have a spare room. Our puppy has a large tray about the size of a coffee table, and reusable puppy pads. Artificial grass smells very quickly and cleaners dont work very well at all. The tray is raised slightly and the pads are patterned. He seems to know the difference about where to go and when to go. He holds it in the car and he has been to a couple of pubs for lunch and holds it and waits until we go outside. Its on your half too to watch for signals. If your inside somewhere and he is sniffing around then just nip him outside for a wee. The pads are changed daily and the tray cleaned with industrial strength kennel cleaners. We hose the pads down and put them in the washer on the highest setting with the kennel cleaners. However we've found that sometimes he waits to go outside anyway. We had a few issues with puppy proofing since before we know it, he can reach stuff anywhere we put it. We found that putting blankets over bookshelves and putting things in the kitchen where our dog isnt aloud worked out best. We also got a cheap pet camera since he likes to eat things. Not just chew them. No matter what it is he will swallow it whole. So we like to keep an eye on him just in case. We trained him from the minute we bought him home and he picked things up very quickly. They are a very smart ver quick breed to learn,but incredibly stubborn. For example our boy knows, sit, stay, wait, laydown, up, spin, paw, high five. He sits and waits to cross the road, and the same before he gets his food. However he often wont do them unless there are treats involved. We find keeping a pocket full of treats at all times when raising them helps correct them quickly. Our boy is unfortunatly so stubborn that sometimes he will not listen no mattee what even with a treat unless you shout. We know borzois are sensitive and dont like shouting but its like we dont exist unless we shout sometimes. He also isnt so sensitive and has always loved rough play. But not all borzois are the same. When it came to exercise, our boy loves it. We started off small and gradually built up his walks. When it say 20mins twice a day is enough. Its never enough. A big risk is over exercising borzoi puppies but ive discovered our boy will let us know when hes done since if we only go out for half hour its seems like hes just got started and its worked him up more than its worth. He comes home full of energy and bouncing off the walls. We either go for a slow walk on lead for about an hour. Or we do a 45 minute walk and a 15 minute of crazy run arounds off lead. We worked on recall with him the second we got him and now can have him off lead in places that arent fenced in. But we find that if he goes to run off, and you go towards him, it gives him the go ahead to keep going. And then he will ignore you. Its best to just keep walking or stand still and call him from where you are. When he realises youre leaving or not 'accepting' whatevers taken his fancy, he soon runs back. Its different for every dog and is a big risk with borzois, but he has picked it up well overtime. Dont expect them to be as laid back as everywhere states inside the house. As a puppy they are very hyper when the want to be and it is always at the wrong times we find. He will sleep fine all the way through the night. From about 11pm until 11am he is completely out of it. But we need to be asleep by about 8pm since my OH gets up for work at 3am. But he is very hyper at about 9/10 pm and will bark until you play. This is just a case of us changing our routine and doing some training to get him out of this habit, but it is one thing to keep in mind. Our pup also does like his space and loves to sleep in his bed, but when given the opportunity is straight into our bed and will not budge. He got a little food aggressive for a few weeks but we trained it out of him by holding treats and food near his bowl when he eats so that our hands were exciting not scary. Other than that, he has never shown any signs of protectivness or aggression or anything towards toys or food. Unless he has got hold of some food that he shouldnt and then he will growl. He has got hold of pizza when he was 5 months old and gave us a quick bite when we tried to take it out of his mouth. He can bit a bit akward around other dogs, he has always been introduced them and never held back from them but still is a little shy. He will bark and pull when theyre from a distance but as soon as they get close he runs the other way. He will say hello but often cowars, and doesnt quite understand play unless its another sighthound. They are very over dramatic. Be prepared for screams and cries over nothing. Sometimes if our boy cant get up cos hes been laying on his legs so its all akward, he will just lay and cry at us. If we stand still for too long he will cry cos he wants to go an explore. It is a breed thing and it is normal. If you step on a paw by accident and he screams for a long time, it probably wasnt that bad, but he will scream anyway. Our boy is okay being in the car once hes in it. But he cant get in. We have to lift him in since he will refuse. We also have pet rats and birds so he has grown up with them so isnt too bothered about chasing them outside sometimes, but given the opportunity outdoors he will give it a go. All in all, id say its possible. They are amazing companions! So loving and cuddly and happy to be around you no matter what. They love being outdoors and indoors. A good run and a good cuddle they will be fine. Mines a big explorer so some interesting walks keep him active. I will say just keep in mind, anyone unfamiliar with the breed will not understand! They are big dogs and people often think he is a fully grown lurcher. So when he gets excited or puppy plays people are alarmed quickly that he may be aggressive. We have people put theyre dogs on a lead when they see him coming because he looks like and uncontrollable adult dog. In fact we have complete control of him and hes only a pup. But people will not understand. We often explain and say "oh no hes only 8 months old hes just very excitable...." etc and they relax then. They are a peculiar breed with a mind of their own, and some people wont like him. So be prepared for judgement, confusion and a lot of misunderstanding. We keep him on lead around other dogs and people just incase since its normally people that are weary of him. But otherwise,raising a puppy in an apartment is definitely do able if you have the time to commit. We have other sighthound owners compliment us on him regularly because we put the time in. If you work full time a borzoi may not be best since they are so stubborn and free minded.
×
×
  • Create New...