Borzois- Looking For First-Hand Advice

[weebird]

Hello everyone ,

 

I know that this is a greyhound forum, but I couldn't find a forum dedicated to borzois so I'm hoping some borzoi owners will read this.

We are thinking about getting a borzoi and would like to get some info from people who own these wonderful dogs. I read everything I could find about them and my head is full of information, but there are still some questions, that I wasn't able to find an answer to.

 

- How did you arrange your time when you got a borzoi puppy? How long did it take for you to be able to leave them alone when going to work? Do they tend to have separation anxiety or tend to be destructive when alone? We are planning to take time of from work but we cannot be off work for months.

 

- How did you find raising and training the borzoi puppy? I heard that they can be a handful when they become adolescent, do you find this true? In what sense? And how long does this period last?

 

- How do you find the shedding? Is the fur going to 'destroy' a robotic vacuum? I believe that the fur cannot be that bad. I mean, if one brushes them regularly I would think it would be under control. I mean, I'm thinking it might even be easier to manage than greyhound hair cause those hair are like little needles, would get stuck in anything, sometimes very hard to remove...

 

- How are borzoi teeth? we all know how greyhounds teeth are so I'm just wondering

 

- Were you able to achieve good recall and do you let them off-leash? I know there are mixed opinions on sighthounds and off-leash situation, but our greyhound baby was an off-leash dog and he never ever ran away from us, always stayed within sight, and would never ran across the street.

 

- Any other information you want to share and of course I would love to see some PICTURES

 

THANK YOU

Edited April 29, 2017 by weebird

[kronckew]

...

- How do you find the shedding? Is the fur going to 'destroy' a robotic vacuum? I believe that the fur cannot be that bad. I mean, if one brushes them regularly I would think it would be under control. I mean, I'm thinking it might even be easier to manage than greyhound hair cause those hair are like little needles, would get stuck in anything, sometimes very hard to remove...

...

 

can't say for borzoi )they're gorgeous tho), but my longish haired saluki/lucher cross', her imperial highness Poppy I, hair has killed a dyson, clogs anything spinning. it get's in everywhere. gets on everything. sticks to anything. i have a new dyson animal model & dog attachments and it barely copes. my ex racer greyhound millie also had shed a surprising volume of hair at this time of year especially, but the old dyson coped.

 

Poppy photos for reference:

 

yes, poppie, it does, it's the perspective

 

 

side view

 

gratuitous borzoi picture for those who haven't seen one - not mine of course:

[JohnF]

My two didn't shed too badly at all, just the very fine undercoat. This caused problems in wet snow as it allowed iceballs to form under their toes! But don't get near them if they're ll wet and muddy... they carry a ton of water and will soak you in an instant.

 

Recall? Selective and just like a grey if anything interesting is seen. One of them was OK off leash with sheep, the other not.

 

Teeth... fine.

 

Health: both mine died from kidney disease, one at 5 the other at 8. (They had the same grandfather)

 

Puppy phase? Just like any other sight hound puppy only they grow big quickly and that means dog-proofing at height. Totally full of character and exuberance...

 

Here's sweet little puppy Misha with our old Great Dane

 

And Misha's teenage fun in the long-grass

 

and jumping a log

 

and in a chair where not allowed

[weebird]

 

can't say for borzoi )they're gorgeous tho), but my longish haired saluki/lucher cross', her imperial highness Poppy I, hair has killed a dyson, clogs anything spinning. it get's in everywhere. gets on everything. sticks to anything. i have a new dyson animal model & dog attachments and it barely copes. my ex racer greyhound millie also had shed a surprising volume of hair at this time of year especially, but the old dyson coped.

 

 

Your Poppy is absolutely adorable! <3 But oh no, killed the dyson? we have a dyson

 

Health: both mine died from kidney disease, one at 5 the other at 8. (They had the same grandfather)

 

Puppy phase? Just like any other sight hound puppy only they grow big quickly and that means dog-proofing at height. Totally full of character and exuberance...

 

 

Thank you for the information John, I'm really sorry to hear your furbabies died that young =( (Is kidney disease common in borzois?) I loved the pictures, Misha was beautiful, the last picture made me laugh.

 

Well we've never had a sighthound puppy before that's the thing. Our rescue grey was almost for when we adopted him. That's why I don't know what to expect. There is not a lot of info about this...

Edited April 29, 2017 by weebird

[JohnF]

I'm really sorry to hear your furbabies died that young =( (Is kidney disease common in borzois?)>>

 

It was horrible to lose Misha at only 5 - the vet reckoned it was congenital.

 

No Predisposition to CRF that I know of, so it must have been that particular familial genetic link. I know others that lived to 11 or so without any issues at all. The wider the breeding the better as with most dogs.

 

They are such beautiful dogs in their prime:

 

The 'calico' Mona Lisa... my second one at about 7.

 

They can be more aloof and independent than you might be prepared for... not as bad as those adorable Malamutes. Heart-dog fur babies can never be guaranteed in any breed though.

 

I've still got the Borzoi bible... Lorraine Groshan's "The Complete Borzoi" on the shelf.

[weebird]

 

They can be more aloof and independent than you might be prepared for... not as bad as those adorable Malamutes. Heart-dog fur babies can never be guaranteed in any breed though.

 

I've still got the Borzoi bible... Lorraine Groshan's "The Complete Borzoi" on the shelf.

 

Mona Lisa looks so content on the picture! things can change so quickly. Our dear grey left us very suddenly and I still cannot get over it =(

 

I thought that they are aloof with strangers but devoted to their family, like greyhounds. Do you find this not true from your experience?

 

Thanks for the book recommendation. I looked at so many books but since they are available online I had no idea which one is actually worth buying. Some books on dogs are so superficial in their information containing nothing else but what you can already find browsing an internet. Since you're calling it a bible, is this a book that has everything I need to raise a borzoi?

[greysmom]

Like all puppies, sighthound puppies are active little buggers! All teeth and they never stop moving! Our greyound puppy Lilly, would play flat out - run, wrestle, annoy the other dogs, chase a call, run, run, run - and they flop down unconscious for an hour or two and be right back up and do it all again! She followed this pattern until she was 6-8 months old, when the nap sessions began to get longer.

 

Fortunately we were both home with her all the time, and we had other greyhounds for her to play with and use up her energy on. If we had been working, I would have seriously investigated day care or a sitter situation. I don't think she would have been able to be crated for normal workday hours at all. And she needed to go out for potties every 2-3 hours. I don't think Zoi puppies would be much different.

 

When I asked this same question a couple months or so ago, the shedding was a bg issue for most owners.

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/320049-research-borzoi/

Edited April 29, 2017 by greysmom

[weebird]

 

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/320049-research-borzoi/

 

Thank you for the info and for the link. She needed to go potty every 2-3 hours until she was 6-8 months? I only had a dog from puppyhood once, when I was still a kid myself. And it was not a sightound. I remember that because it was summer and no school, I was able to spend the time with her and then when school started again, my mom would run from work everyday to take her out during lunch break. But I don't remember how long it was until she was okay to stay home alone longer.

[Saharasmom]

I also responded in the linked thread. My Borzoi is about 9, adopted at 2.

 

He was silly at that age, with very little impulse control. More an issue of following me up the stairs & running into me than any sort of destruction. Obedience class helped some. Over the years he's chewed some of DD's books/toys, but nothing in the past couple years.

 

I wanted a vacuum robot, but worried the bin part would be too small to do the whole main floor. Our Dyson sucked with the long hair. It would just get caught on the roller & I had to take it apart to cut off hair regularly. We now have an Electrolux that cuts hair off the roller with the push of a button.

 

Atlas's teeth are pretty bad. He had a dental last year with many extractions; only 6 teeth left. Not sure if it's common in the breed. My greyhounds never needed a dental after adoption, so I don't think it was my care, lol.

 

The hair really is more...intense than greyhound fur. Seven years in, I'm used to the hair. We pulled some 14 inch hairs off our clothes on vacation in France, laughing that we were glad at least part of Atlas could travel with us.

 

Atlas had okay recall. He's gotten loose a few times & forgot all the lessons. We were lucky he didn't get hit by a car or hurt a chihuahua. Even if he had reliable recall, I'd never let him off leash due to his small dog prey drive.

[GreyAcresMom]

Mine sheds something terribly!!! Could be that she wants to be in the cold climate and I have her in one of the hottest!

 

She has the sweet temperament of like a grey. Not sure if that is all sighthounds or I'm just lucky so far.

 

I got Nikita from National Borzoi Rescue. She is almost 8. She has been a wonderful dog.

[greysmom]

 

Thank you for the info and for the link. She needed to go potty every 2-3 hours until she was 6-8 months? I only had a dog from puppyhood once, when I was still a kid myself. And it was not a sightound. I remember that because it was summer and no school, I was able to spend the time with her and then when school started again, my mom would run from work everyday to take her out during lunch break. But I don't remember how long it was until she was okay to stay home alone longer.

 

Oh my goodness, no!! We got her at 12 weeks old. She was (mostly) sleeping through the night by @6 months old. But playing and being rambunctious meant she had to go more often. General rule of thumb is one hour for every month of age, or something like that. Lots of times she'd get up and go outside (my husband is up most night's and he would take her) and come back to bed and go right back to sleep!

[weebird]

Atlas's teeth are pretty bad. He had a dental last year with many extractions; only 6 teeth left. Not sure if it's common in the breed. My greyhounds never needed a dental after adoption, so I don't think it was my care, lol.

 

The hair really is more...intense than greyhound fur. Seven years in, I'm used to the hair. We pulled some 14 inch hairs off our clothes on vacation in France, laughing that we were glad at least part of Atlas could travel with us.

 

you see and I thought that all greyhounds have bad teeth, ours certainly did

 

Haha so true with the hair, our dear grey's hair used to be everywhere, even in our tent, have no idea how they got there since he never went camping with us =D. and now, since he's been gone, I still find some stray hair occasionally on our things and clothes...we miss him terribly.

 

do you find that shedding is manageable if you brush him often? and if so, how often?

 

can you post a picture of your boy?

[weebird]

 

Oh my goodness, no!! We got her at 12 weeks old. She was (mostly) sleeping through the night by @6 months old. But playing and being rambunctious meant she had to go more often. General rule of thumb is one hour for every month of age, or something like that. Lots of times she'd get up and go outside (my husband is up most night's and he would take her) and come back to bed and go right back to sleep!

 

oh okay =D thank you. your greys are so cute, and our boy had the same colouring as your Lilly. I love the black and white combination, especially when they have 'freckles' <3

my hubby and I will really have to plan well how to deal with raising a puppy and having a full time job. I would not want to jeopardize the baby's wellbeing. We just really wanted a puppy this time to enjoy the time with her/him to the fullest.

[weebird]

Mine sheds something terribly!!! Could be that she wants to be in the cold climate and I have her in one of the hottest!

 

She has the sweet temperament of like a grey. Not sure if that is all sighthounds or I'm just lucky so far.

 

Maybe it is because of the hot climate haha. Can you post a picture? =)

[JohnF]

 

I thought that they are aloof with strangers but devoted to their family, like greyhounds. Do you find this not true from your experience?>>

 

 

Neither were devoted like a GSD or my Lurcher which I'm pretty sure had some GSD in her genes. Don't get me wrong, they were OK and showed affection sometimes, they'd share a sofa or a bed with a human for a while , but think more like a cat.

 

>> is this a book that has everything I need to raise a borzoi?>>

 

It's one of those old-style books and it does have pretty much everything people thought was needed at the time in there. It's great on history and your American breed standards etc..

 

I'm surprised so many are reporting issues with shedding. I used to give 1/4tsp of cold pressed wheatgerm oil twice a week to help keep the coat lustrous. You really musn't bath them too often, nor put their bed against a radiator, and obviously if you have a yard that's where you'd comb and brush then. There was another thing with the very long coats though.. they were wary of kids and anyone else out of 'proper' control stepping too close to them when they were lying down.

 

It was the iceballs in the feet from wet snow that really surprised me. One would scream (nearly as bad as a GSOD) and sit down. I suppose in their original country the snow was usually that light fluffy sparkly stuff.

 

And I must emphasize the importance of dog-proofing at height. Misha once took the sunday dinner roast chicken from the table and out into the back garden. We came back in from the kitchen ready to carve it and were like: 'Where's the chicken gone!". it was a huge worry in case she got the bones but luckily didn't have time to get really into it. Did we lose the dinner? No... it got doused with boiling water and went back in the still hot oven for a while ;-). But with a little bit of a jump they really can reach to 7ft!

 

Overall I'd say Borzois are a lot of fun.

[Trudy]

We have a 6 month old doberman puppy monster land shark. He came home at just over 8 weeks. Potty trained by 3 month. We have a dog door. He loves water and uses that door a lot to go out and pee. He can hold it for 5 hours in his kennel, but it takes time to get up to that long.

If you need the new dog to be in a kennel while you are not home, start kennel training from the very start and I'd do the potty training that uses the kennel. Kiska HATES his kennel. HATES IT. He happily goes in for his pb/kibble filled bone when we leave, but once that's gone, he just barks and cries. We didn't potty train using the kennel. If he was awake, he was out and about with one of us in the house. If he was asleep, we tried to move him to the kennel, but 94% of the time, he'd wake up in the process and then climb into your lap and go back to sleep.

 

He's slept through the night since early on. Every now and again, he'd cry when he woke up to go outside to potty in the middle of the night. He slept in his kennel at night (and had no issues with his kennel at night) until he was potty trained and a bit after that so we were confident he wouldn't bother the other dogs at night.

 

As mentioned above, puppies, any breed, will go full on crazy for a while and then just pass out, snooze for a bit and then right back up where they left off going insane until they crash out again. Kiska did this until around 4 months and then the crash out times got longer. Now he goes insane after dinner until he crashes out for bed. With periods of insanity throughout the day. If you wake him up from a nap, if he looks like he's going to fall over, he'll go right back to sleep. If these eyes are bright and clear and wide open, watch out!

Puppies have lots of sharp teeth. Then they all fall out of their head and bigger, slightly less sharp teeth show up. Those teeth mean they chew on everything, so if you don't keep an eye on them, they will chew on things you don't want them to. Kiska has tried to chew a few things he shouldn't, but mostly sticks to his toys and sticks/pine cones/branches/roots/etc. I guess he's a nature boy! He brought a pine branch into the house one day and had a field day before Jeff saw him!

He has destroyed every toy in the house. Seriously, EVERY toy! Tavarish is not thrilled about that. Fire hose toys - dead in less than 5 mins. Indestructible toys - dead in less than 5 mins. He now has nylabones and things like that which he loves and hold up to his chewing.

 

Abby and Tavarish have been a big help with the puppy. I could not imagine the energy of a puppy without another dog to help tire him out.

 

So while Kiska is a doberman puppy and not a borzoi puppy, a puppy is pretty much a puppy, they are all insane!

[Saharasmom]

Attempting to copy the img code from a previous post. Here's hoping it works! Atlas is a gorgeous dog; we get stopped even more with him than with our greyhounds. You'll get used to the "I didn't know greyhounds had long hair!" Comments.

 

 

I could definitely brush him more. Usually I do it every week or so to avoid tangles/mats. We also have a Great Pyrenees, who sheds much more than Atlas. Given our Pyr experience, what may help most is a bath/blowout. Unfortunately, I'd never take Atlas to a groomer due to his small dog issues.

[Saharasmom]

Wanted to add a picture from this spring. I sent it to my mother, who responded "Atlas loves his mommy!" He is very devoted to me.

 

[weebird]

..so while Kiska is a doberman puppy and not a borzoi puppy, a puppy is pretty much a puppy, they are all insane!

 

Thank you Trudy, that was very helpful, I'll keep that in mind!

I somehow always disliked the though of kennels, but I should be more rational, because most people say that if the dog gets used to it they like it, considering it their den. So I guess it's good to use it when puppy is still being trained.

I checked out your gallery, all your furbabies are adorable! Must be fun to have three dogs, we couldn't get away with that in our apartment.

 

Neither were devoted like a GSD or my Lurcher which I'm pretty sure had some GSD in her genes. Don't get me wrong, they were OK and showed affection sometimes, they'd share a sofa or a bed with a human for a while , but think more like a cat.

 

I'm surprised so many are reporting issues with shedding. I used to give 1/4tsp of cold pressed wheatgerm oil twice a week to help keep the coat lustrous...

 

It was the iceballs in the feet from wet snow that really surprised me...

 

...And I must emphasize the importance of dog-proofing at height...

 

Wheatgerm oil? I'll keep that in mind. For the grooming I was even thinking to get that special Dyson brushing tool to get rid of all the stray hair. And, yes, I could always brush them outside, we did that with our grey as well. Never inside =D And we have a dog bathing station in our apartment building which comes in very handy with a big dog. We also live in a climate where it normally snows very little, unless you go into the mountains. I remember our cockerspaniel, when I was a kid and living at different place, she would get those snow balls everywhere poor thing!

 

That's interesting. I'm sure it depends on a personality, they can be so different! everyone warned us about height proofing when we were adopting our grey, cause apparently greyhounds like to eat everything they can in general, but ours never did. He never jumped for food, he never touched your food even if you'd left it on a bed or a sofa within easy reach, he was super cuddly and always wanted to be at our side. If we moved from one room to another, 10 minutes would past and he would stand up from his bed and moved to that room to us, standing and waiting for us to move his bed as well so that he can be with us once more I wonder if one can see their basic personality when choosing from among the puppies. I'm sure that with the food stealing you never know, and I think that our pup was more of an exception than a rule , but to have a special bond with our dog is very important to me.

 

Wanted to add a picture from this spring. I sent it to my mother, who responded "Atlas loves his mommy!" He is very devoted to me.

 

He's so lovely! I'm glad you're saying he is so devoted to you, since John is saying that his were more like cats than dogs..

[weebird]

...Misha once took the sunday dinner roast chicken from the table and out into the back garden. We came back in from the kitchen ready to carve it and were like: 'Where's the chicken gone!"

 

Your chicken story made me laugh out loud

[cleptogrey]

https://www.facebook.com/MikajeBorzoi/

 

excellent dispositions, smart as a whip, humorous, eat your heart out looking at this outstanding kennel's dogs! i want to move into their kennel!

 

oh, yes....hair to share with the entire world!

[Saharasmom]

 

 

 

He's so lovely! I'm glad you're saying he is so devoted to you, since John is saying that his were more like cats than dogs..

 

He is a sighthound, so likely not as demonstrative as many breeds. My Pyr would be thrilled if I was touching her constantly. Atlas follows me from room to room, gets a few pets & then flops down on his dog bed. I work at home, and he's with me all day every day. Luckily, he doesn't bark, so no issues on conference calls.

[weebird]

 

He is a sighthound, so likely not as demonstrative as many breeds. My Pyr would be thrilled if I was touching her constantly. Atlas follows me from room to room, gets a few pets & then flops down on his dog bed. I work at home, and he's with me all day every day. Luckily, he doesn't bark, so no issues on conference calls.

yes that's exactly how our beloved grey was, they are very gentle and subtle in showing their affection

https://www.facebook.com/MikajeBorzoi/

 

thanks for the link, beautiful dogs, do you have one?

[cleptogrey]

i don't but a good friend who has had borzoi for 40+ years has a dog(s) from those lines. the Mikaje kennel is a very well respected east coast kennel whose dogs have fantastic temperaments, great confirmation and are down right wonderful. but borzoi in general are great dogs. my good friend started w/ a borzoi that i rescued in the early 70s. Nicky had the first stage of distemper, i saw an ad, went to see this really sick dog in a garage.i took her home, cancelled the check, reported the person(there were other dogs in the garage) to the ASPCA. Nicky healed, was a hoot then started shedding the new coat she finally grew. i started wheezing...my friend took her and has not been with out a borzoi since.

[weebird]

 

 

Thank you for sharing your story, it makes me so angry that some people can be so horrible, hurting other living creatures =(. I'm glad that Nicky (and hopefully other dogs in that garage) found good home.

 

I am from west coast Canada, can you recommend any respected and reputable borzoi breeders somewhere in my area? Can be US or Canada. I do have a list of breeders but I don't know where to start. I want to make sure that the puppy is bread not only for their looks but also for their temperament and their health. I've never bought a dog from a breeder before, we only had rescues, so I have zero experience with any kind of breeders.