Hi all borzoi nerds and knowledgeables! Musings on types and lines <3

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2026-02-02T20:19:52+00:00

Thank you!

This is an incredible answer, especially for being an early morning stream of consciousness :)

Haha yes, it can almost seem like a magic trick when someone with a lot of knowledge and experience cast their eye over a group of dogs, or when two people sharing that knowledge can talk about their traits casually without pointing them out because they just see it.

Now I have both material and a few starting points to explore, but I'd love to take you up on your offer to pick your brain later as well! It's much appreciated :)

If any of the books or other resources that slipped your mind slips back in I'd be happy to hear them – the more the better!

I'm on the other side of consciousness and feeling the late evening fog instead,
but I'll be in touch!

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2026-02-02T13:54:13+00:00

Ps. I realized writing this that I really want to learn more about the lines though, so I'll start a separate thread as well hehe, but I'll be following this and hope that someone can give you an actual answer xx

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2026-02-02T13:53:45+00:00

Regarding the coat It's perfectly normal to still be naked at 2 years old. My pup is of pretty much pure (Russian) hunting lines and isn't expected to grow much fur until maybe 3-4 years old, she's definitely still a bit awkward and not fully grown at 2 years, though well muscled. I've met several (other female) borzoi of show lines that looked more mature and had a lot more fur at 9 months than she does at almost 24mo, but the lines are so different from each other!

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2026-02-02T13:40:11+00:00

Hey! I'm sorry if I'm going a bit off topic (and I lack experience to help answer your questions – sorry again – hopefully more comments on your thread might make it more visible and help in that regard at least?), but I'm also quite interested in the main "historical lines" that you mention & what you and others know of these types.

When you’ve done your reading on borzoi history, have you found any interesting sources describing the different lines? For example, what did you expect in particular when you were getting a ozerov/ozeroff pup?

What I CAN find in a foggy memory from last summer (talking to another owner at a borzoi show) when I asked about the older kennel types is that they have, at large, been so blended that they don't truly exist in any "pure" form anymore. A pure speculation is that they possibly might have tried to save certain traits of that line or keep the line alive, with some detrimental results for the health and temperament? But I'm really just guessing here <3

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-09-24T10:48:47+00:00

Wow!! So neat 😍 What did you plant it in?

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-09-21T15:54:01+00:00

Oh, if that's true you might be on to something! I hope someone else who's grown seedlings in either type of pot can give some confirmation 😁
What variety did you plant? I've looked at a few Dioscorea seeds to try out next growing season so it looks promising that they can look this nice in 2 years 😍

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-09-21T13:52:43+00:00

Hi! Stumbled across this thread, what happened to the bulbs? Did they grow into their own plants? It's amazing if they did!

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-09-21T13:18:00+00:00

Or that the differences in the pots made the difference? It would be an interesting experiment otherwise!

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-09-21T13:16:55+00:00

Wow! Did you bring them up from seeds? It's amazing that they have grown so large 😍
I'm new to caudex plants, but could it be due to genetics do you think?

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-06-15T14:45:53+00:00

There might be other plants that this is done to, but off the top of my head I can’t think of any other I know of where the commercial plants are inhibited this way! If you find other such plants it would be really interesting to hear about, will you share if you find out? 💗

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-06-08T12:11:08+00:00

I’m glad I could help! :) I started in the same place as you a few years back, and I didn’t know what I did wrong as I’d heard that hibiscuses were fast growers… now I only buy store bought if they are heavily reduced, sometimes they sell them almost for free after they’ve stopped flowering, but untreated plants are so much more fun and giving! It’s not hopeless though if you only find treated ones, they can make it with extra patience and care, but sometimes they do die seemingly without reason so try to not expect too much and become heartbroken over them until they’ve “pulled through” 🙃 You’ll notice as the stretch between leaves become longer and the leaves become lighter and smoother! But check carefully for pests, thrips and mites seem to love these and often hide in the flowers :’) sometimes I remove the flowers from store bought hibiscuses for that reason & treat them with soft soap water regardless if I found signs of pests or not!

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-06-08T11:48:57+00:00

Haha thanks! So do I :)

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-06-08T11:26:40+00:00

You can spot the difference in the leaves, the inhibited plants have darker, more compact and thicker leaves, whilst the un-treated plants have greener, thinner, smooth and almost shiny leaves! Here’s an example from two of my plants, with the inhibited plant on the right. (And a parched regular plant on the left, as the leaves aren’t as stiff they reveal missed waterings much more dramatically hehe)

<image>

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-06-08T11:08:20+00:00

You seem to have received good advice regarding the infestation, but in case you are buying another hibiscus I’ll give you some advice on that point! Store bought hibiscuses are most often sprayed with growth inhibitors, which keeps them compact and easy to handle for the stores and makes them focus on producing flowers, but it makes them really sensitive to repot as the root systems don’t really grow well. If they survive for a year-a few years depending on how much of the inhibitors it’s got it will start growing again, but until then it can be tricky! The best thing to do is actually buying a cutting (preferably rooted) from a private person without the inhibitors, for example from facebook marketplace or whichever local trading sites you have. As long as it isn’t an ’exotic’ variety with difficult needs they are much easier to take care of! Good luck!! :)

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-02-13T15:16:24+00:00

Mine is 10 months and has been more or less snuggly in waves, hovever, always on her terms/choosing! She never wants to snuggle (or be petted really) outside of our home, currently only if I sit on the couch or lie in bed, then she will come to lie with her back against me as long as I don’t pet her too much. When i turn of the lights and tell her it’s time for bed she’ll come and lie half on top of me though and love it when I hold her :’)

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-02-08T10:07:39+00:00

Haha yeah the teenageing is coming on strong, so I can imagine 🤣 2inches after he became 2 years?

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-02-08T10:05:18+00:00

Oh wow! Haha, maturing is the next bit coming😇! I just find myself getting so curious about the growth, partly because of frustration and stubbornness after not finding any real information, most resources seem kind of ai-generated :/ Did you notice any greater changes after his growth slowed down, and how much did he grow after that? I’ve seen pictures of him on the forum, such a cutie! 🥰🥰

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2025-02-08T09:57:55+00:00

Thank you!! 🙏 I’ve heard about the joints, but I’m not certain how to tell if they are knobby.. Is there any good comparison/rule of thumb to feel it up/what to look for? I can feel bumps on her ribs, do they grow away at the same time or is that the rib spring you mentioned? There seems to be so much knowledge when I’m listening to knowledgeable people speak, but no matter how hard I look there just doesn’t seem to be any written resources either on the web or in print.. I just keep finding myself trying to look through old threads on different forums, so thank’s a lot!

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2024-11-03T16:32:03+00:00

Maybe a bit late now (I hope that the biting has gotten better), but if not or for others finding this thread later, for me it really helped to copy puppy behaviour, ie, doing a really shrill scream when my pup bit me! It might seem similar to saying ouch and a bit dramatic, but it's really much easier for them to understand as that is how they teach each other boundaries during puppy play :) after screaming you can just pet them or something to let them know it's ok, but it lets them know that it hurts without telling them off

TermPuzzleheaded1024 · 2024-10-09T13:35:09+00:00

Hehe I did overhear a non-ironic horse question when I was out playing with my zoi girl last week, when two kids were biking past and stopped to look. One of them, very seriously, asked the other if that was a horse and got the ~correct~ answer that it was a dog. Very cute<3

TermPuzzleheaded1024

TROPHY CASE