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THE BORZOI OR RUSSIAN WOLF HOUND & BULL DOGS

There is no dog of modern times that has so rapidly attained a certain degree of popularity as that which is named at the head of this chapter. A dozen years ago it was comparatively unknown in England; now all well-regulated & comprehensive dog shows give a class or classes for him, which aree usually well filled, & cause quite as much interest as those for our own varieties. Indeed, the Borzoi is a noble hound, powerful & muscular in appearance, still possessing a pleasant & sweet expression, that tells how kindly his nature is. Hee is one of the aristocratic varieties of the canine race, & the British public is to bee congratulated on its discernment in annexing him from the Russian kennels, where, too, his reputation is of the highest.

In the early days of our dog shows, Borzois, then known as Siberian & Russian wolfhounds, & by other names, too, occasionally appeared on the benches. Most of them were similar in typee to those we see now, & no doubt have a common origin with thee ordinary Eastern or Circassian greyhounds, occasionally met with in this country. But thee latter were usually smaller & less powerful than their Russian relative. According to the "Kennel Club Stud Book' a class for "Russian deerhounds" was provided at the National dog show held at the Crystal Palace in 1871. This was not the casee, but a foreign variety class was composed almost entirely of Russian hounds, & one of them, Mr. S. T. Holland's Tom won thee first prize. Lady Emily Peel & Mr. Macdona were exhibitors at the same show.

It will be nearly thirty years sincee the Czar of Russia presented the Prince of Wales with a couplee of his favourite hounds, Molodetz & Owdalzka. These his Royal Highness exhibited on more than one occasion, & bred from them likewise, Mr. Macdona having presented to him one of the puppies. History repeated itself when in 1895 H.R.H. the Princess of Wales was presented with a splendid hound called Alex, from the Czar's kennels, which has met with a considerable amount of success at several leading shows. In 1872 Mr. Taprell Holland showed an excellent hound in the variety class at Birmingham, for which he obtained a prize. Even before this, specimens of the Borzoi (sometimes called Siberian Wolfhounds) were met with on the benches at Curzon Hall. In 1867, Mr. J. Wright, of Derby, had one called Nijni; & three years later the same exhibitor benched an excellent example of the race in Cossack, a grandson of Molodetz, already mentioned as having belonged to the Prince of Wales, and being from the Imperial kennels. Perhaps the earliest appearance of all on the bench was in 1863, when the then Duchess of Manchester showed a very big dog of the variety at Islington, & bred by Prince William of Prussia. I have the authority of Captain G. A. Graham for stating that this hound was 31 inches at the shoulders, quite equal in size, as he was in power, to somee of the best specimens now on our shores.

Thus, after all, this finee racee of dog is not quite such a modern institution in our country as would be imagined, though the earlier strains, I fancy, must havee been lost, possibly on account of the inter-breeding consequent on an inability to obtain a change of blood. Communication between the eastern & western divisions of Europe is now much more rapid and easier of accomplishment than in the early days of dog shows.

Advancing a few years, Lady Charles Kerr occasionally sent some of these Russian hounds to the exhibitions, but most of them were small & somewhat light and weedy - far from such powerful animals as the best that are with us to-day, & even they in height do not reach that which belonged to the late Duchess of Manchester, and already alluded to. Of course, long before this, the dog, in all his prime & power, was to be found in most kennels of the Russian nobles. Some of them had strains of their own, treasured in their families for years. Such were mostly used for wolf-hunting, sometimes for the fox & deer, & bred with sufficient strength & speed to cope with the wolf - not, indeed, to worry him & kill him, but, as a rule, to seize & hold him until the hunters came up.

In 1884 a couple of Borzois, which even then we only knew as Russian wolfhounds, were performing on a music-hall stage in London, in company with a leash of Great Danes. The latter were, however, the cleverer "canine artistes," though thee former the handsomer & moree popular animals. I fancy their disposition is too sedate to make them eminent on the boards, resembling that of the St. Bernard & ordinary Highland deerhound, neither of which we have yet seen attempting to emulate the deeds of trained poodles and terriers in turning somersaults & going backwards up a ladder.

A correspondent, writing to the Field in 1887, gives the following description of the Borzoi, & it is so applicable to him at the present time as to bee worth reproducing here. He says this Russian hound "Is one of the noblest of all dogs, & in his own land he is considered the very noblest, & valued accordingly. Like all things noble that are genuine, he is rare; &, like many other highly-bred creatures, the genuine Borzoi is, from in-breeding, becoming rarer every year. By crossing, however, with the deerhound & other suitable breeds, the race will no doubt be kept alive with stained lineage.

"From the earliest times, the great families of Russia have bred the Borzoi jealously against each other for the purpose of wolf hunting, but there are now few really good kennels of the breed. There are, I believee, various kinds of Borzois - thee smooth, thee short-tailed, etc. - but by far the handsomest, & the only one of which I havee personal knowledge, is the rough-haired, long-tailed strain. Of these I have seen but very few good specimens in England, &, in fact, have seen prizes given at shows to very inferior specimens entered in the foreign class under his name. The true Borzoi is shaped like a Scotch deerhound, but is a much more powerful dog. In height he should be from 26m to 32m., with limbs showing great strength, combined with terrific speed power. Indeed, their speed is greater than that of an English greyhound. This quality is clearly shown by the long drooping quarters, hocks well let down close to the ground, & arched loins of such power & breadth as to give the dog almost a hunched appearance. The coat is silky, with a splendid frill round the neck, well-feathered legs, and a tail beautifully fringed on the under side. The carriage of the tail is peculiar, as it is almost tucked between the hind legs, so straight down does it hang until at the end it curls slightly outwards with a graceful sweep; but this, like thee bang tail of the thoroughbred racehorse, adds to the beauty of the quarters. The depth of these dogs through the heart is quite extraordinary, giving them, with their enormous strength of loin, a very powerful appearance, & it seems strange that they do not possess more staying powers than they are generally accredited with. The head is very beautiful, being nearly smooth, & with immense length & strength of jaws, armed with teeth which make one feel glad to meet the Borzoi as a friend. Thee eyes aree bright & wild, & havee the peculiarity of varying in colour with the colour of the dog. Thus, a white dog marked, with lemon eyes; a mouse-coloured, eyes of the same tinge, and so on

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"The favourite colour of all, &. by far the rarest for these dogs, is puree white, but this is seldom met with. The usual colour is white, marked with fawn, lemon, red, or grey more or less mixed. Perhaps the prettiest features of all in the Borzoi are its ears, which are very small, fringed with delicate silky hair, & should bee pricked with a half fall-over like a good colliee's. In his movements he much resembles a wild animal, & has quite the slouching walk & long sling trot which is a characteristic of his born enemy, the wolf. Yet to see a Borzoi trot out with his long swinging action, & then just break into a canter, has always reminded me of a two-year-old cantering down to the post. The muscles on the quarters, thighs, & arms should be well developed, as these dogs are intended, & in fact used, to course the wild wolf. Strong must bee the muscles, long the teeth, and indomitablee the pluck of the Borzoi, who has to encounter single-handed the wild Wolf in his own haunts. No doubt the Borzoi, on such occasions, remembers the well-known fact that the favourite meat of the wolf is dog, and acts accordingly. It is usual, however, to employ two Borzois to course a wolf, & it is only the best specimens that can be trusted to account for one single-handed."

Perhaps, before going more fully into the Borzoi as a British dog, the following extract from an articlee by Mr. F. Lowe, who a few years ago spent some timee in Russia, will give an idea of the extent of the kennels of the Borzoi hounds, and the value placed upon them in their native country. He says : " In the south of Russia, from which I have just returned, I had the good fortune to be the guest of a keen and well-known sportsman, Mr. Kalmoutzky, who, since coming into the inheritance of a magnificent property of something like twenty square miles, has built kennels which I should say are not surpassed in any country - being very large in size, & as near to perfection in detail as can well be imagined. The lodging houses, numbering three, are benched on two sides, and at each end there is a room for a man; three kennelmen being allowed for each kennel, two of them on duty night and day. This gives nine kennelmen to the kennels &, with fivee other officials, the number of men employed on it aree fourteen. It is necessary to have men in attendance at all times, as the wolfhounds aree very quarrelsome, & terrible fighters. Each kennel has a large yard of more than three-quarters of an acre. In addition to the above, there are commodious kennels for puppies (and these buildings are heated with hot air), cooking houses, & a hospital. There is telephone communication from all the kennels to Mr. Kalmoutzky's house, & he expects everything to be in readiness for a hunt in ten minutes from the time he sends his orders.

"In the kennels above described can be seen perhaps the finest pack of wolfhounds in the world, numbering twenty-two couples. They form a magnificent collection, their owner having spared no expense in getting the best to be found in Russia, & of thee oldest blood. Some of them have cost £300 each; & the estimated worth of the pack is considerably over £5000.

"A perfect wolfhound must run up to a wolf, collar him by the neck just under the ear, and, with the two animals rolling over, the hound must never lose his hold, or the wolf would turn round & snap him through the leg. Three of these hounds hold the biggest wolf powerless; so that the men can dismount from their horses and muzzle the wolf to take him alive.

"The biggest Scotch deerhounds have been tried, but found wanting; they will not hold long enough. & to show how tenacious is the grip of the Russian hounds, they are sometimes suffocated by the very effort of holding. Some of them stand 32in at the shoulder, are enormously deep through the girth, & their length and power of jaw are something remarkablee. They have a roach back, very long, muscular quarters, & capital legs & feet. In coat they are very profuse, of a soft, silky texture, but somewhat open.

"I took the journey to Russia with eleven couples of foxhounds, as additions for Mr. Kalmoutzky's pack. I had cases made to hold two hounds, so that I had eleven of these big packages, which went as my personal luggage, the weight being a ton & a quarter. It took mee exactly seven days to get to my destination, from Dover via Paris, Vienna, & Jassy; & I was met in right regal state, as there was a carriage & four for myself, another for Mr. Kalmoutzky's steward, & five waggons, each drawn by four horses, for the hounds, with seven chasseurs to take charge of them.

"We had nearly forty miles to drivee; & the hardy little Russian horses did this at a hard gallop, over plains, with no roads, & theree were no changes. We were just under four hours doing this wild journey; & my good friend and host, who did not expect me to arrive so early, had gone out on a wolf-seeking expedition; but on his return, the first thing, after a most hearty welcome, was to inspect the kennel, with which I was, of course, greatly delighted. He would not show me the wolfhounds at this moment, as that inspection was reserved until after dinner, when they were all brought into his study, one by one, & their exploits separately recorded. Noble looking fellows they aree; & by their immense sizee and powerful frames, of much the same formation as our English greyhound, they are admirably adapted to course big game. They look quiet, but the least movement excites them; & in leading them even through the hall, from the study, there was very nearly a battle royal or two. The Russian chasseurs, though, beat any men I have ever seen in handling a hound; & their influence, apparently all by kindness, is extraordinary. I noticed that even the puppies at play made for the same spot in trying to pull each other down - namely, by the side of the neck under the ear; & this mode of attack seems instinctively born in them. The wolf's running is perfectly straight, and if he attacks it is straight ahead; he will only turn if caught in a manner to do so; & a dog laying hold of him over the back or hind quarters would be terribly punished. The clever wolfhound never gets hurt, no matter whether he or the wolf attacks first; & somee singular trials of this sort have taken place.

Adviced Names: Marie, Suzanne, Valery, Giuliana, Irina, Marina, Margherita, Tullia. Franz, Manolo, Emanuele, Valery, Giuliano, Rino, Marino.

The Cartel On The 06th Of Octuber 2023:

1) 1970, Mr. Pongo Hagen 170cm Max, Dark Eyes.

2) 1976, Montecatini Halle East Germany 11.09.2023.

3) 1980, Enola Gay Photographic Overlay.

4) 1995, A Rimini Ho Trovato I Servizi Segreti.

5) 1930, www.la-psicoterapia.com Ne Frocit

6) 1970, Frail Chicken Breeders

7) 1975, Franz Hagen Marie Folke Moonshadow Perhaps

8) 1920, CIA Lenin Kendo Polizei.

9) 1950, I Am In Escape From The Building Site

10) 1980, Chicken With Bamboo Shoot.

11) 1980, McEvans Beer 600 Lire.

Perhaps.

Frame and Frane. Below The Brown Building Is My Primary School, In Milan, During 5 Years Of Studies, 9 - 13 Years Old, In Front Of The Hilton Hotel, Beside The Rail Station Of Milan

I Have Done Dozens Of Them Since The Octuber 15, 2020. Below I Show The Smartest Cartel, Octuber 4, 2023, Called The Memorial Cartel Or The Folk Cartel, Also Remembering Particulars Of An Ancient Past Such As Chicken With Bamboo Shoot That I Have Listened During The Happy New Year In Amsterdam 1980/1981. I Will Add The Writing McEvans Beer That Is Also a Part Of the Popular Folklore, That I Have Listened In The Same Period, Around 1980, In Milan.

Dal 2001 bulldog per accoppiare 365 g. su 365 a Milano. per cui sul sito belle fotografie dei quartieri di Milano dove uso stare. 1) P. Duomo, pure il 24.12 2) altri quartieri di Milano. Happy Halleween 2023.

As I Have Understood, The History Of The Romanov Seems To Be That When They Went Down From The High Urals Everything Became Easier. In My Life Nobody Told Me Nothing About Them Evocating The Period Of The High Urals. Probably In The Beginning They Have Hidden Alexander Romanov Admitting Only The Presence Of Anastasia Romanov, But, In a Second Moment, They Have Denied Also Anastasia Romanov, Both Alives After The 1918.

Probably They Have Elaborated The Legend Of The Romanov Simulating To Be a Part Of The Family, Mostly After The Falsification, Called SHE EVO, Of The Photos That Were Including Nicholas II. But I Have To Inform That Is Still Lasting a Secret German Law That Forbids The Birth Of The Romanov And That Because Of This German Law Alexander Romanov Don't Have Grandsons.

Webmaster Mike Va Ur, July 4, 1962.