By Wadim Gurilev
I'd like to tell some words about borzoi hunt and about borzoi in connection with it.
1. Appearance, behavior, character of a Borzoi are caused by that the breed was deduced for a hunt. Use of a Borzoi (as breeds) only for shows, lure coursing can result in degeneration of breed, as such. For example: excellent, long, almost to ground fur - it's nice at the show, and even not so terrible for lure coursing on an artificial line, but it's not functional at all in real fields. The large and high borzoi looks very effective, but could those dog be good in fast turns at changes of a direction of movement. Moreover, one of the main abilities of borzoi is the last, desperate rush to game, could not be imitated in artificial conditions of lure coursing, where we can see only race, depending only on muscles, but without this last rush, which depends mainly on borzoi's fiery heart.
Believe me, I saw excellent racing dogs, which were helpless in a field. And what about different kinds of soil? It's, of course, unnecessary and impossible to imitate ground conditions, which occurs in real life: frozen snow, ploughed field (sometimes frozen) - where only the best, daring borzoi could hunt, high rubbish grass, hillocks and ravine - where true borzoi never lost the beast. Imagine all the pride of hunter, which dog did work in such difficult conditions! Of course, nobody seeks specially hard conditions, but if your dog can work this way - where to find words to express owner's feelings to his dog!
2. Hunting and killing are two big differences. From the very beginning of borzoi breeding in Russia all the aggression to home animals was considered as awful defect. Now, according to rules of field test on wild game in Russia, borzoi, aggressive to home animals could not take part in field tests. And wild hare, or fox, is not the same, as rabbit, or cat. Really it has advantage before a dog and not every, but only the very best borzoi can catch it. Also, under control must be (and it is) hunting season, age of the game, distance, with which is possible to free a dog from the lead.
Of course, I do not want to say, that everybody borzoi fan must hunt, at the first place is devotion to borzoi as a breed, and everybody has his own ideas about borzoi hunt as itself , though I think it's more honest, than hunt with guns, but if we talk about borzoi as itself, we must agree, that only hunt can protect and test purebred of borzoi, because, historically only the best hunting borzoi were allowed to breed and thanks to this and only this fact we have now this borzoi, which lives now.
Wadim Gurylev
Moscow, Russia
16 May 2000 http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Farm/5304/ The tour makes one more stop back in Dairyville... Related Links |
