Are borzoi more like the greyhound in that they're built for sprinting (and then serious sleeping!! 40 mph couch potatoes!) or more akin to saluki's etc which have so much more endurance? I have two greyhound and am expecting a third but one day in the very distant future I do think I would love a borzoi, I have met a lot of them at shows and think they are just stunning. I'm just curious about their exercise requirements/temperaments, even though IF I ever get one it'll probably be a decade away!! :)

I've owned 15 borzois over the last 24 years but I won't have another, I've moved onto the easier, smaller version the Silken Windhound.

Anyway, borzois - although they were bred for endurance and speed, trotting along beside the huntsmans horse waiting for wolves to be flushed out then with enough speed (and courage) to catch and hold the wolf, most are quite happy with a quick top speed blast around a field. They must run free, they get so much enjoyment out of it and that's where the enjoyment for the owner comes in too, the sheer thrill of seeing them race around :-)  Once adult they'll walk any distance with you but a spin round the field is the only thing that tires them out. Even my last old boy who was almost 11 and had CDRM was still walking for an hour the week before he went to the bridge, albeit it slowly with much stopping to admire the grass growing :-)

Borzois are wonderful dogs in the house and if you own your own land, they are loyal, unassuming, affectionate in a gentle way with their owners and just tend to ignore other people. They always know when you're sad and will come and lean a head in your lap, they are very sensitive to their owner moods. You never need to shout at a borzoi, a disappointed tone is enough. They are extremely clean and easy to house train, even as pups mine very rarely ever had an accident in the house. They don't really need training, they tend not to pull on the lead, they love to wander along beside you off lead and they will always come back - unless they are chasing, then there's no point wasting your breath :-) They will happily spend 23 hours a day sleeping. They will squeal like they're dying if they stub their toes, but would run with a broken leg after a rabbit.

So that's the positive, now the negative. As with any sighthound they have a strong prey instinct, male borzois can sometimes transfer this to other dogs. They're not aggressive as such but will hunt. They need off lead running so the owner needs to provide a safe (for the dog and society) place for this. A borzoi can very quickly cover a field after something it sees in the distance so fenced off lead areas are best and the borzoi owner learns to constantly scan the horizon looking for hazards. I don't own my own land, and I enjoy walking in different places but it was never completely relaxing with a borzoi, even the ones with really superb temperaments did sometimes get themselves into bother.

I have many tales of times when a young zoi ran off after something it shouldn't. All in all though this in itself wouldn't put me off having another as that's just a fact of owning a sighthound. My last boy did not have a great temperament, or rather he probably had the typical temperament of a borzoi in the Czars day, brave enough to take down a wolf and with a very strong prey drive. Mr Beastly as most people on here would know him had me in tears on many occasions and was threatened with the bullet more times than any dog should ever be. He would hunt anything that moved, which made walking extremely difficult and not at all fun. He always wore a muzzle, even in his last weeks, as he could never be completely trusted with other dogs.

Of course you can get a dog with a dodgy temperament in any breed, but when that dog is 35" at the shoulder and 45kg of solid muscle with a huge teeth it becomes a problem and that's why I won't have another :-(

Our first dog over 40 years ago was a borzoi! She was a Falconcrag bitch.  I would agree with all the comments made by the previous poster. Blink and she was gone over the horizon.
However I did some elementary obedience with her and she was surprisingly good at the basic stuff. Retrieving was a bit of a forced exercise but she was keen to please. Heel work and stays were great and she was on the local team. I kept Siamese cats at the time and she was fine with them although she did kill a kitten once. MY FAULT-- it stepped under her nose while she was eating.
She got very grumpy as she aged and did not like being disturbed on her bed. The kids knew they must not pester her.
Sadly we made the mistake of getting a second bitch --a Great Dane --when she was about 8 or 9. They fought after a year or two. There was no reconciliation, as is commonly found with bitches and sadly the old borzoi was PTS from her injuries.

Ah, sounds like a lot of the same issues we have with greyhounds are present in the borzoi! That's fine by me. We do a lot of lure coursing, live coursing and showing so any hound that lives here gets tired out...and spends the evening on the sofa :) Every 'zoi I see here seems to only show, I would personaly like to see them given more of an outlet to exercise their instincts and do what they were bred to do (within reason, I have no wolves LOL). We have the use of a number of enclosed fields and live beside a cove where our greyhounds are allowed to be off lead nowadays after good recall training. I still couldn't trust them if a cat appeared but you just have to lean to be vigilant always!

Oh well, it's only a distant dream at the moment, I'm a greyhound girl forever but maybe a borzoi might join the pack in years to come! Thanks for your comments! :)

Ah yes, I should have mentioned that too, they can react amazingly quickly with their teeth and think afterwards, they tend not to like being woken up suddenly and definitely not being stood on. If you do step over one and catch their feathers they will most likely wake up with their teeth snapping but will regret it a second later.

I will join your club of wanting a borzoi,we have salukis so I think its a sighthound love affair that doesn't go away.
We did take ours on a  lure course meet several times but I only ever saw 1 borzoi and I dont think he ran,i dont know if that means they wont or there just weren't enough of them.

there are lures organised , especially with the borzois/afgans , one of my bitches did 100 metres in 9 secs. All mine were obedience trained and excellent off leads . Two together though and they may do what comes naturally and course prey . I too have had one needing a muzzle in public , a big strong boy , not his fault ,,had been mistreated in kennels . If you wake them suddenly and they are not in focus properly they can object , but clean ,can fit in small spaces ,curl up on a sixpence (half a coach seat all the way to a champ show in Scotland)I took a pair on the circuit in Ireland and it took me an hour to walk down the village High Street , as they were fascinated with these big hounds and I had to stop and let them be patted  etc.

> i dont know if that means they wont

I've never known a borzoi that didn't love racing, lure coursing or just coursing their friends :-)

oooh don't tell me that! I love to lure course with my greys! I just adore borzoi's wise faces.

PS Chaumsong - check your pm's for pup pics!

> PS Chaumsong - check your pm's for pup pics!

I did and they are gorgeous :-)