Borzoi Breed Standard
Hound Group
General Appearance
The Borzoi was originally bred for the coursing of wild game on more or less open terrain, relying on sight rather than scent. To accomplish this purpose, the Borzoi needed particular structural qualities to chase, catch and hold his quarry. Special emphasis is placed on sound running gear, strong neck and jaws, courage and agility, combined with proper condition. The Borzoi should always possess unmistakable elegance, with flowing lines, graceful in motion or repose. Males, masculine without coarseness; bitches, feminine and refined.
Head
Skull slightly domed, long and narrow, with scarcely any perceptible stop, inclined to be Roman-nosed. Jaws long, powerful and deep, somewhat finer in bitches but not snipy. Teeth strong and clean with either an even or a scissors bite. Missing teeth should be penalized. Nose large and black.
Ears
Small and fine in quality, lying back on the neck when in repose with the tips when thrown back almost touching behind occiput; raised when at attention.
Eyes
Set somewhat obliquely, dark in color, intelligent but rather soft in expression; never round, full nor staring, nor light in color; eye rims dark; inner corner midway between tip of nose and occiput.
Neck
Clean, free from throatiness; slightly arched, very powerful and well set on.
Shoulders
Sloping, fine at the withers and free from coarseness or lumber.
Chest
Rather narrow, with great depth of brisket.
Ribs
Only slightly sprung, but very deep giving room for heart and lung play.
Back
Rising a little at the loins in a graceful curve.
Loins
Extremely muscular, but rather tucked up, owing to the great depth of chest and comparative shortness of back and ribs.
Forelegs
Bones straight and somewhat flattened like blades, with the narrower edge forward. The elbows have free play and are turned neither in nor out. Pasterns strong.
Feet
Hare-shaped, with well-arched knuckles, toes close and well padded.
Hindquarters
Long, very muscular and powerful with well bent stifles; somewhat wider than the forequarters; strong first and second thighs; hocks clean and well let down; legs parallel when viewed from the rear.
Dewclaws
Dewclaws, if any, on the hind legs are generally removed; dewclaws on the forelegs may be removed.
Tail
Long, set on and carried low in a graceful curve.
Coat
Long, silky (not woolly), either flat, wavy or rather curly. On the head, ears and front of legs it should be short and smooth; on the neck the frill should be profuse and rather curly. Feather on hindquarters and tail, long and profuse, less so on chest and back of forelegs.
Color
Any color, or combination of colors, is acceptable.
Size
Mature males should be at least 28 inches at the withers and mature bitches at least 26 inches at the withers. Dogs and bitches below these respective limits should be severely penalized; dogs and bitches above the respective limits should not be penalized as long as extra size is not acquired at the expense of symmetry, speed and staying quality. Range in weight for males from 75 to 105 pounds and for bitches from 15 to 20 pounds less.
Gait
Front legs must reach well out in front with pasterns strong and springy. Hackneyed motion with mincing gait is not desired nor is weaving and crossing. However, while the hind legs are wider apart than the front, the feet tend to move closer to the center line when the dog moves at a fast trot. When viewed from the side there should be a noticeable drive with a ground-covering stride from well-angulated stifles and hocks. The over-all appearance in motion should be that of effortless power, endurance, speed, agility, smoothness and grace.
Faults
The foregoing description is that of the ideal Borzoi. Any deviation from the above described dog must be penalized to the extent of the deviation keeping in mind the importance of the contribution of the various features toward the basic original purpose of the breed.
Borzoi History
The Russian aristocracy bred the Borzoi, also known as the Russian Wolfhound in America prior to 1936, for hundreds of years. There are accounts of hunting expeditions of several Mongol rulers from the time of the conqueror, Genghis Khan, in the 13th century, in which long hounds were mentioned as principal coursing dogs. In Russia, the precursors of the Borzoi were thought to be of several different types including the long-coated, smooth-faced bearhound of early Russia, the Southern coursing hounds of the Tatars, the Owtcher-a tall Russian Sheepdog, as well as other ancient sight-hound types. By 1260, the coursing of hare for sport is mentioned in connection with the Court of the Grand Duke of Novgorod, and in 1650 the first Borzoi standard was written (which did not differ greatly from the modern standard).
By 1861, hunting with Borzoi reached the level of the national sport of the aristocracy, and development of the breed was unequaled. Hunting parties would consist of over one hundred Borzoi representing several kennels, with many kennels breeding their dogs for a specific coat color. When a wolf was spotted, a trio of dogs, normally a dog and two bitches, were slipped to pursue the wolf and capture, pin it and hold the creature until the hunter on horseback arrived to finish the kill.
In 1889, the first Borzoi arrived in America from England. In 1903, Joseph B. Thomas (representing the Valley Farm Kennel) went to Russia 3 times to import dogs from the Perchino & Woronzova kennels that became part of the establishment of the breed in this country. Today the Borzoi is highly prized for its beauty, intelligence and gentle nature, making it a wonderful companion. In Western states it is still used by farmers to control coyote populations, tapping in to the breed's original heritage.
Approved June 13, 1972
History of Lure Coursing
What is this sport that causes otherwise rational dogs and their owners to travel for hours through the pre-dawn gloom and stand around in fields miles from a source of hot coffee so the dogs may spend 45 seconds to 3 minutes running at full speed?
Lure coursing is a humane, modern sport based upon the ancient sport of live game coursing, or the pursuit of game by dogs that hunt by sight rather than scent. Coursing is one of the oldest of the hunting-dog sports; murals from 4,000-year-old Egyptian tombs illustrate coursing with long-legged hounds of two types, prick-eared and drop-eared. Wherever people have had access to horses, open grasslands and swift game, hunters have considered coursing an important sport. The sources of our modern sighthound breeds reflect this union of geography and horsemanship. In the Middle Ages, coursing was a sport reserved for royalty; for some time in England, commoners could not own a Greyhound.
Lure Coursing in America
In the United States, the spread of farming to the great grasslands of the West was accompanied by the coursing of jack rabbits and coyotes. Some of the earliest AKC-registered Borzoi were located in Kansas. In the late 1800s, coursing changed from hunting events to competitive coursing events using live game, which became very popular with the public. This sort of coursing, where sighthounds were let loose to chase live game in an enclosed area, was called "closed park coursing." It is no longer practiced in the United States by any organized sports groups.
In the 1920s, a mechanical system that ran along a racetrack rail replaced most live-game track coursing of Greyhounds and Whippets in the United States, Great Britain and Europe. While that system provides a great test of speed and is still in use, especially in Europe, the tracks eliminate the spectacular turns executed by a hound in pursuit of live game.
In the early 1970s, Lyle Gillette, a California breeder of Borzoi and Salukis, envisioned a coursing system that would be portable, could be set up in a five- to seven-acre open area and was not dependent on the availability of live prey. After much trial and error, he designed and perfected the mechanical lure, where the "prey" is a plastic bag or piece of artificial fur. Run by a lure operator, the mechanical lure consists of a string run through a set of pullies planted in a field to form a course of 600 to 1,000 yards. The arrangement of the pullies allows the path of the plastic lure to simulate the running and turning actions of live prey.
Hounds are brought by their owners to the starting line wearing coursing blankets (bright pink, yellow or blue) and slip leads (quick-release collars). The lure is started and, at the huntmaster's cry of "Tally-Ho!," the hounds are released and the chase begins. By 1973, Gillette and other California sighthound enthusiasts had organized lure coursing under the American Sighthound Field Association (ASFA), but he hoped the AKC would eventually recognize this testing method and institute coursing events, complete with AKC certificates and titles.
In July 1991, his vision became a reality when the AKC Board of Directors voted to approve lure coursing regulations and sanction the sport.
Gazette Articles on Lure Coursing
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