Borzoi

General Appearance
Well balanced, graceful, aristocratic, dignified and elegant.

Characteristics
A coursing hound which must be courageous, powerful and of great speed.

Temperament
Sensitive, alert and aloof.

Head and Skull
Head long, lean and in proportion to dog’s size and substance. In bitches head finer than in dogs. Well filled in below eyes. Measurement equal from occiput to inner corner of eye and from inner corner of eye to tip of nose. Skull very slightly domed and narrow, stop imperceptible. Head fine so that bones and principal veins can be clearly seen. Viewed from side, forehead and upper line of muzzle form an almost straight, slightly convex line. Jaws long, deep and powerful; nose large and black, nicely rounded, neither cornered nor sharp. Viewed from above skull should look narrow, converging very gradually to tip of nose. Occipital process very accentuated.

Eyes
Dark with intelligent, keen and alert expression. Almond-shaped, set obliquely and placed well back but not too wide apart. Eye rims dark. Eyes not light, round, bulbous or staring.

Ears
Small, pointed and delicate. Set high but not too far apart. Nearly touching at occiput; when in repose folded back along neck. Should be active and responsive, may be erect when alert, tips sometimes falling over.

Mouth
Jaws strong with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws. Full, strong dentition desirable.

Neck
Slightly arched; reasonably long and well muscled. Free from throatiness, flattened laterally, set at an angle of 50-60 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the body.

Forequarters
Shoulders clean, sloping well back. Muscular but not loaded. Fine at withers but not accentuated. Forelegs clean and straight. Seen from front, narrow like blades; from side, wider at elbows narrowing down to foot. Elbows directed backwards, neither turning in nor out. Pasterns slightly sloping, strong and flexible. Length of forearm nearly equal to half total height at withers.

Body
Chest, ribs of narrow oval cut, great depth of brisket reaching to elbows, giving great heart and lung room, especially in mature dogs. Breastbone slightly pronounced with adequate width between elbows and abdomen very tucked up. Back rather bony, muscular and free from any cavity, rising in a graceful curve with well balanced fallaway. Highest point of curve is situated over last rib. Curve is more pronounced in dogs than bitches. Loins broad and very powerful with plenty of muscular development. Fallaway long and well muscled. Width between hip bones at least 8 cm (3 ins).

Hindquarters
Quarters wider than shoulders, ensuring stability of stance. Thighs long, well developed with good second thigh; hindlegs long and muscular; stifles well angulated, hocks broad, clean and well let down. Posterior line of hock vertical. Seen from side, legs slightly set back.

Feet
Front feet oval, toes close together, well arched over strong, thick pads, turning neither in nor out. Hind feet hare-like, i.e. longer and less arched.

Tail
Long, rather low set, when measured between thighs reaches up to top of nearest hip bone. Well feathered, carried low in a graceful curve. From level of hocks may be sabre- or slightly sickle-shaped but not ringed. In A not rising above level of back.

Gait/Movement
Front, straight with long reach, pasterns springy. Hind, straight with powerful driving hocks. Moving wider than front. Viewed from side, appearance in action should be that of effortless power.

Coat
Silky, flat, wavy or rather curly (but never woolly). Short and smooth on head, ears and front of legs; much longer on body with heavy feathering on backs of legs and hindquarters, tail and chest. Neck carries a large curly frill. More profuse in dogs than bitches.

Colour
Any colour acceptable.

Size
Minimum height at withers: dogs: 74 cms (29 ins); bitches: 68 cms (27 ins).

Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog.

Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum

I like this dog Good length of head and loads of chiseling. Correct eye shape and colour. Possibly a little too much stop? Difficult to tell from photos as, in the head shot, it's not noticable at all. Maybe the neck could be a little more arched. Very balanced throughout and in the bottom photo you can really see the lay back of shoulder coupled with a really good return of upper arm. Beautiful topline and underline to match and strong hindquarters.

Overall a very nice hound indeed! Nothing to say that the movement wouldn't be anything but sound.

Debs

Well I wasn't going to comment on your critique 'out loud' as it were Debs, as I didn't want to influence anyone else...but as nobody else has written anything I can

You're spot on

The dog pictured was a champion, he was made up very easily as he was an ultra sound mover. He had a wonderful front (his dam was one of the Swedish imports brought in to improve fronts) and good hind angulation to match. You're correct in your comment about his head though, he did have a pronounced stop. When looking at him I always kept the phrase 'a dog doesn't run on it's head' in mind...lol... but still it did (in my opinion) detract from what should be an elegant hound.

He was used a bit at stud and thankfully heads improved in the next generations. My current boy is a grandson of his and is much more pleasing to the eye.

Well done judge, I'd enter under you

Just wanted to say, just because others haven't commented, doesn't mean we're disinsterested.

I love lurking on these critique threads to get a better understanding of how the breed standards are 'translated' in real life, so thank you for posting him

Must agree with Hali there. I don't fully understand what goes into judging a dog so don't feel confident enough to comment.

What I can say if you've got a stunning dog.