History of the breed
The article is reprinted from the website of Elena Balakireva, "Moon Rainbow")
The Russian greyhound is a hunting dog of the forest–steppe zone. The breed is very ancient. In Russia, there is no exact information about its formation, but, as can be seen from the chronicle, it existed even in Kievan Rus. The chronicle mentions the "baiting of animals" by greyhound dogs in the XII century under Prince Vladimir Monomakh. In the prayer book of Prince Vasily III, among the illustrations of religious content, there is an image of the prince going on a pilgrimage accompanied by greyhounds. Vasily III was a passionate hunter. His son Ivan the Terrible was also fond of hunting with greyhounds. In 1519 Danish King Christian II sent Russian greyhounds to French King Francis I as a precious gift. Apparently, already at this time, Russian greyhounds were famous throughout Europe, and noble nobles sought to acquire them. The first mention of the Russian greyhound was given in a book that the author Christian von Lessing presented in 1635 to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. According to the description, the greyhound of those years was quite close to the modern one. The book indicated that the Russian greyhound was famous at that time in Western Europe for its agility and malice towards the wolf.
At the beginning of the XVII century there were records of hunting with greyhounds from under hounds. The hounds drove the beast out of the forest into clearings, roads, and the greyhounds caught it with a lightning throw. Greyhounds were brought and placed on the edge of the forest with a hunter rider. The greyhounds had extraordinary agility at a short distance.
Hunting, as in other states, performed many functions, including political ones. It was during the hunts that important state and interstate affairs were resolved. The hunt was specially arranged for foreign ambassadors with the presence of major diplomats authorized to negotiate at the highest level.
In post-Petrine times, hunting with greyhounds becomes the entertainment of nobles, landowners. Hunting with a greyhound is becoming fashionable. There are many "hunts" – the so-called kennels where greyhounds and hounds were kept. They hunted a hare, a fox, but they were especially fond of hunting a wolf. Moreover, dogs that differ in the work of the wolf, sought to breed separately, maintaining anger and passion for the predator. Other breeds of greyhounds were imported from the west at that time: smooth-haired, brudastye (wire-haired). They were mixed with Russian greyhounds, so many different types were formed. Each owner kept his breed closed.
There are so-called family breeds, called by the surname of breeders, as a rule, representatives of a large aristocracy. One of the largest complete "hunts" belonged to Count Alexey Grigoryevich Orlov, large "hunts" were owned by Prince P. V. Lopukhin, Count P. I. Panin, Count P. A. Zubov, P. M. Ermolov. At the head of the famous dog hunters were the sovereigns who kept the Imperial "hunts". So, under Peter II, the Imperial Kennel consisted of 420 greyhounds, 200 hounds, with dogs there were 70 servants. Empress Anna Ioanovna, a passionate hunter, introduces the position of chief huntsman.
Dog hunting is becoming not just the main entertainment of the Court of the highest aristocracy, the large nobility, but also a national type of hunting, firmly entering the mentality of Russian society. Fundamental works are devoted to dog hunts, specialized magazines are published. Almost every self-respecting landowner is engaged in breeding greyhounds. A special language of dog hunters is being formed. The rules for conducting complete hunts are being developed, involving a number of "ranks": greyhounds, hounds, hunters (senior dogman on the hunt), hunters (manager of the complete hunt), trough workers (a servant engaged in feeding dogs, pouring food into troughs). They are appointed mainly from the serf service of the kennels.
At the cages held in Moscow in 1818-1823, the Cordial male, who belonged to Major General P.A. Ivashkin, knew no equal. The father of the Cordial came from the mountain greyhounds ("hills"). Cages for malice were also arranged – according to a decoy wolf, released from a special box-cage in a large fenced area.
In the first half of the XIX century, in connection with the Caucasian and Polish wars, the mixing of mountain, Crimean and western smooth-haired greyhounds (meaning horty greyhounds) with the canine greyhound began again. They were dogs with great agility and endurance over long distances. As a result, two varieties of greyhounds were formed: gustopsovaya and canine. They differed not only in the density of the coat, but also in some exterior features. Serious dog hunters, using Crimean and mountain greyhounds, managed to preserve the exterior of the Russian canine, giving it strength for a long-distance race.
With the abolition of serfdom in Russia, when the owners of large "hunts" lost their peasant kennels, the number of kennels sharply decreased. They have been preserved only by true lovers of this breed. By exchanging producers, the "subtypes" were mixed and the division into gustopsov and canine was erased. Very soon these names disappeared and one thing remained – the Russian greyhound.
In 1873, at the initiative of Count Sheremetyev, the "Imperial Society for the Reproduction of Commercial and Hunting Animals and Proper Hunting" was organized in Moscow. It also united the owners of greyhounds. Meetings, exhibitions, and displays of works of dogs for malice, that is, wolf cages, began to be organized. In 1887, in the village of Pershino, Tula province, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich organized a "factory" of greyhounds. The talented Dmitry Valtsov was in charge of the "plant". He gathered the best representatives of the breed and very skillfully conducted breeding. Greyhounds of all colors were represented in Pershin: from pure white to black. The greyhounds were distinguished by high pedigree, excellent hunting qualities, had worldwide fame and served as a kind of breed standard. The "plant" existed until 1914.
Pershinskaya "hunting" has become the pinnacle of Russian "dog breeding" both in terms of the level of breeding work and the results obtained, as well as in the arrangement of the kennels and the maintenance of dogs and the scale.
In the Pershinsky hunt during its heyday , there were:
- hound dogs – 365: 100 - greyhounds, suitable for the fields – 130, English greyhounds – 15, greyhounds, descended from the field – 20 and puppies – 100.
- horses - 87: 3 - under "own saddle", 20 – under hounds, 50 – under greyhounds and the protection of places, 14 – harness;
- employees - 78 people: 1 manager of the "hunt" (Count Ya.I.Golovin), 1 clerk, 1 coachman, 1 clerk (a person providing material equipment for hunting), 8 grooms, 4 workers, 1 driver, 6 – hounds, 12 – senior greyhounds (rank in the complete hunt, leading hunters, standing in a field with greyhounds at the edge), 2 – stirrups (groom, servant; on dog hunts, he was constantly with the master, taking and feeding the horse and feeding the stirrup), 14 – assistants at the greyhounds, 9 people with puppies, 7 navarschikov (the person responsible for preparing dog food), 8 – detourers (a watchman guarding forest lands, preparing a hunting area and informing about the presence of an animal), 1 person at the hospital and one boy.
In 1888, Nikolai Petrovich Ermolov, a great connoisseur, breeder and connoisseur of greyhounds, wrote the first standard (the first description), which should be sought when breeding. This standard has been used for 30 years. As a result of the breeding work of well-known breeders, canine "hunts" were created, the types of dogs of which did not differ so sharply from each other. Two decades – from 1870 to 1890 can be called the period of formation of the Russian greyhound. The dogs then bore the names of their breeders: Ozerovsky, Boldarevsky, Chelishchevsky, Sumarokovsky, Geyerovsky, Bibikov, Pershinsky. Greyhounds mainly differed in color and slightly in the lines of the head. During this period, public displays of greyhound frolic were often arranged – horse races on a decoy hare, with the choice of the frisky dog.
In Pershin, borzoi cages were regularly tested: for frolic in a hare and for malice in a wolf. Dog hunters were informed about the cages in advance and those who wished could bring their greyhounds from remote places in Russia. Pershinsky greyhounds were distinguished by a special nobility of appearance, powerful stature and exquisite head shape.
The pack consisted of Ferocity, Crushing and Sorva. Ferocious and Crush – the winners of all the cages for frolic in 1895-96. Thanks to the breeding art of Dmitry Pavlovich Valtsov, Pershinsky greyhounds had exceptional agility when catching a hare, there were among them zlobach, who worked with special fury on the wolf. Since 1898, they have been leading exhibitions. The gold medal of the Moscow Exhibition is awarded to the Pershinsky Hunting Falcon. A few years later, the Gold Medal was awarded to the pack of the same hunt "for beauty, correctness of forms and rare uniformity." Pershinsky greyhounds were in the lead at exhibitions, cages and in the outgoing fields (on hunts) until the beginning of the First World War.
Te Grand Duchy of Pershin hunting played a huge role in the consolidation of the breed type of the Russian greyhound, to which many dog hunters aspired and which was unanimously recognized. Frolic and dead anger towards the mater wolf required good growth with a heroic shoe, dry bony limbs, a long head with strong jaws while maintaining its aristocracy and refinement, which was given by dark, large eyes and small, thin, well-pulled back ears. By the beginning of the XX century, a single breed type of Russian greyhound was created in Russia.
The hunting qualities of greyhounds are tested on field tests for a free animal – a hare, a white hare and a fox. A greyhound dog has an innate instinct to chase everything that moves fast and catch up with it. This is the basis for its use in hunting the beast. The innate instinct is so strong that the greyhounds brought from abroad, whose ancestors had never hunted, saw the beast for the first time in their lives, jumped and caught.