Borzoi Dog - Information on Health Problems, Training, History, Food and Diet For Borzoi

The Borzoi dog is a breed that hails its ancestry from Russia and is closely related to the greyhound and other sighthounds.



Consequently, the dog looks a lot like a greyhound and shares its passion for running and chasing prey. It is because of this attribute that it became very popular in the hunting practices of Russian Cossacks.



Borzoi history through the ages have been quite peculiar with the Cossacks using them for wolf hunts because of the animal,s instinctive urge to chase and run. After the Bolshevik revolution, the image of the dog came under much flak because it was perceived to be bourgeois to possess this breed of dogs, which led to their mass slaughter.



Years later, in the 1940s, they were resurrected as an important breed because of their contribution to the fur industry in Siberia. The Borzoi is now quite common outside the Russian region and is quite prevalent throughout the world.

Borzoi puppies are quick growers and are quite docile. This is a specific oddity among this breed of dog because they are so docile that they do not face any territory issues, rarely bark, and are quite difficult to train because of their inability to comprehend instructions immediately. In fact the dog would seem to be lacking in some basic intelligence because it will dart out at anything that is running or moving away from it. This is the reason for many accidental deaths because of the dog's seeming disregard for moving cars. The dog is also of no use as a guard dog because it has hardly any territorial instincts. It is, in fact, quite a couch potato. Some of the points of borzoi information to note on health include the fact that the borzoi is quite a sturdy breed that is resistant to most diseases because it is not exactly a bred dog; however, modern methods to create a borzoi mix have introduced some types of health problems like osteochondritis and retinal atrophy, which eventually leads to dog blindness.

One of the biggest mistakes that people tend to make with this breed is to try and overfeed it. The dog is naturally lean, and is genetically predisposed to being in a certain shape. Additionally, trying to feed it a high energy, high-growth diet can cause significant skeletal problems. Adequate exercise is also something to bear in mind for this breed of dog, which can sometimes live as long as 14 years.