The Russian word borzoi means "swift"; oxota means "hunt". After a few years of running borzoi, we've come to appreciate their superior ability to execute their original function - coursing live game over rough terrain in cold weather.
We are relatively new to borzoi, but have been admirers of the breed since the late '70's. We quickly realized that a good-looking borzoi isn't necessarily a good borzoi, so our emphasis and passion are on functional borzoi - quite simply, on proven performance.
Beauty is
as beauty Does
Happily we "do" dogs pretty much full-time. Training, trialing, and teaching are routine parts of every week. Because we live in a sparsely populated area of the country, our hounds have many different activities rather than concentrating on just one or two. We regularly travel for trials in several sports: agility, lure coursing, open field, rally, oval and straight racing - firmly believing a dog with a job is a happy dog and has a high quality of life. This results in hounds that have the opportunity to prove themselves versatile in a variety of venues.
We live on several acres in northeast New Mexico, where our borzoi routinely free-course cottontail (rabbits) and the occasional black-tailed jackrabbit (hare). At an elevation of 7,000' our hounds develop endurance while navigating difficult terrain and obstacles, including a variety of trees and cacti, along with very tough feet and tremendous agility. Each of our adults has at least one UK while free-coursing.
We regularly take our hounds off-property for training and competition, and although open field coursing (OFC) is not our primary sport we appreciate its singular ability to test the borzoi form for function. No other endeavor requires such fitness, speed, and stamina, nor so clearly calls on the hound's true heart, body and soul.
photo credit: Afanasii Shots somewhere in NM (Dec 07)
Feel free to contact us if you are in the area, we love to talk dogs and watch them do what they do best.
the moment before Mr. Jack takes off... somewhere in NM (Oct 08).
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