A Complete Price Guide for the Borzoi Breed
Source © Shutterstock
The Borzoi is a kind of Russian sighthound. Once upon a time, it was called the Russian Wolfhound, which should make it very clear what it was supposed to hunt. Nowadays, the Borzoi is called the Borzoi in the English-speaking world because of a quirk in how Russians name Russian sighthounds. Those who are curious should know that the latter tend to be named using descriptive terms. For instance, the Russians call sighthounds by the term borzáya sobáka meaning “fast dogs,” though it is very common for them to just use borzáya rather than the whole thing. Similarly, hortaya indicates a short-haired coat while psovaya indicates a silkier, wavier kind of coat. As such, the Russian name for the Borzoi is russkaya psovaya borzaya. It isn’t hard to see why Borzois would be called Borzois based on that.
In any case, the Borzoi is a creation of more recent centuries. It was created using a number of sighthounds, some of which were commonplace in the Russian Empire while others were imported into the Russian Empire. This provided the Borzoi with useful characteristics from those imports while enabling it to retain useful characteristics that made them well-suited for their intended environment. These dogs were capable of hunting other kinds of prey. However, Borzois were once meant to attack, subdue, and hold a wolf in a team of two or three so that their human master could decide the animal’s fate. Later, these dogs underwent a degree of decline because the Soviet Union was less than enthused about a kind of hunting that was very much meant for aristocrats for obvious reasons, particularly since modern technologies had made more efficient methods of wolf-hunting available. Still, it was eventually convinced that Borzois were still useful, thus ensuring that the dog breed would continue. Similarly, the Soviet Union didn’t export a lot of these dogs during its existence. Even so, enough Borzois had been exported to the rest of the world during the 19th century for them to have been established elsewhere as well.
Personality-wise, the Borzoi are calm dogs with a considerable degree of independence to them. They can learn well enough. However, Borzois can be very selective in this regard because they dislike anything that involves too much repetition, which isn’t helped by their sensitivity as well as their stubborness. Still, they can get along quite well with their human family members, though they tend to be much more reserved when it comes to humans that they don’t know. Be warned that Borzois are not a good choice for people who want to stay cooped up inside all day. They were meant for hunting, so it should come as no surprise to learn that they need regular exercise. Having said that, interested individuals should take care to prevent Borzois from coming into contact with small animals that run because they have strong hunting instincts. Summed up, these dogs can be great so long as they are with people who have a good grasp of their particular needs and preferences.
What Can You Expect to Pay For a Borzoi?
Borzois don’t come cheap. Granted, purebred puppies from reputable dog breeders are always expensive. However, Borzois don’t come cheap even by those standards. For those who are curious, one of these dogs will cost between $1,000 and $2,000 on average. If people want to get a Borzoi with a particularly prestigious background, they can expect to pay even more than that, so much so that they shouldn’t be surprised to see costs of up to $5,000 being tossed about. The price of a dog is always a reflection of the costs that went into that same dog to some extent. This is because most dog breeders aren’t involved in dog breeding just because of their love of dogs. Instead, it is normal for them to be business owners, meaning that they can’t continue running their operations until they are making enough money from their primary products to cover their costs and then some. Thanks to this, higher costs result in higher prices. For example, the more effort that a dog breeder puts into making sure that their puppies don’t have serious medical problems because of bad breeding, the more expensive those puppies become. Similarly, the more training and healthcare that a dog breeder provides those healthy puppies, the more expensive those puppies become. In other words, better-treated puppies sell for more. Having said that, this doesn’t mean that interested individuals should go for the most expensive Borzoi that they can find. These dogs are quite capable of turning out well so long as they receive the minimal level of acceptable care, which would be well before a $5,000 price tag becomes justifiable.
Of course, this means that interested individuals will want to pay the dog breeder of their choice a visit if that is possible. If they are going to pay a high price for their Borzoi, they should make sure that their Borzoi has been treated in a way that makes such numbers more understandable. Both reviews and testimonials can be useful sources of information. However, neither one can compare to the kind of information that interested individuals can gather by seeing things for themselves. Besides this, it is also a good way for them to make sure that they aren’t getting a dog from a puppy mill, which is defined by being unwilling to provide a minimal level of acceptable care to its charges. Something that can have very negative consequences for those dogs. Borzois aren’t particularly bad in this regard. They are like other deep-chested dog breeds in that they have a higher-than-normal chance of bloat, but that tends to be seen as something that is anatomical rather than genetic in nature. Still, if Borzois are bred without care for the consequences, they can have higher chances of eye problems, hip problems, and other serious medical problems. Similarly, if Borzois are treated poorly after they are born, the chances of them developing behavioral issues increase. Combined, even if interested individuals get a cheaper price in the present, they are going to pay for that in the future because of medical treatments as well as other complications.
Moving on, the price of a dog isn’t 100 percent a reflection of the costs that went into that same dog. After all, there are a lot of other things that can have an important effect as well. For instance, one of the reasons that Borzois are so expensive in the United States seems to be their rarity. Interested individuals should have no problem finding a dog breeder selling Borzois if they want one. Unfortunately, they aren’t going to be able to find a large number of dog breeders offering a large number of these dogs in the same way that they can for the more popular dog breeds that can be found out there. Due to that, interested individuals are going to have a much harder time finding a better price by shopping around because there is a smaller number of places where they can shop around. In other words, there is reason to believe that the small supply of Borzois is one of the reasons that these dogs are so expensive. There is the option of buying a Borzoi from a dog breeder that is situated further away but there are serious limits to how much that can help. Transportation costs can be quite expensive. Furthermore, a greater distance makes it more difficult to assess the state of a dog breeder’s operations, so that might make interested individuals less enthused about resorting to said option.
In any case, it might also be worth looking at factors that can influence the costs of individual Borzois. There are strong expectations for how purebred dogs are supposed to look. Dogs are don’t fit those expectations might be sold at lower prices, which can be a good deal so long as two conditions are met. One, those differences shouldn’t have a negative effect on a dog’s prospects for living a happy, healthy life. Two, interested individuals must not care about their dog being imperfect from the perspective of Borzoi standards. To name an example, Borzois are supposed to have a frill on their neck. Likewise, Borzois are supposed to have feathering on their hindquarters as well as their tail. Other than these, there are various factors that are always capable of influencing an individual dog’s price. As mentioned earlier, a prestigious background can send a dog’s price soaring. However, there are also factors such as increased age that can lower their price instead. Besides buying a Borzoi, the other option would be adopting a Borzoi. Unfortunately, the fact that these dogs aren’t that common in the west means that they aren’t exactly that common at animal shelters and similar organizations either. Still, it is possible to find Borzois, particularly if people are willing to make use of online resources meant to help out with search efforts. The single biggest upside to adopting a Borzoi would be the price. What interested individuals can expect to pay can see a fair amount of variation, but at most, they should expect to pay a few hundred dollars, which is still much less than what they can expect to pay if they want to buy a Borzoi puppy from a reputable dog breeder. As for the downsides, well, there are a couple of things that most people will be concerned about. One, they will have fewer choices, meaning that they have a smaller chance of finding a dog that is exactly what they want. Two, there is a somewhat higher chance that the dog will have some kind of issue, though the very nature of animal shelters and similar organizations mean that such issues will be manageable so long as interested individuals are willing to put in the effort. These things mean that adopting a Borzoi can be a very good deal for those who are able to seize upon such opportunities.
What Are Some Other Costs of Owning a Borzoi?
Naturally, the costs of owning a Borzoi don’t just end with buying a Borzoi. In fact, they don’t even begin with that, seeing as how interested individuals are going to need to get a lot of things ready for their new dog even before they bring their new dog home. These things won’t come cheap. In the first year, interested individuals might be expected to spend $245 and $925 on just supplies, which should drop to $105 to $410 in subsequent years. It isn’t necessarily a bad idea to shop around a bit at both online and offline retailers to get better prices so long as interested individuals don’t sacrifice quality in exchange for a smaller price in the short run. After all, the drop comes from how a lot of things won’t need to be repurchased in subsequent years so long as they last, so getting lasting items can be a good idea from a long-term perspective. Other than supplies, healthcare is going to be very expensive as well. First-year healthcare can hit $425 to $830. Moreover, that is before interested individuals include the costs of spaying/neutering and gastropexy, both of which are beneficial but nonetheless optional. The first can cost $50 to $500 while the second can cost $200 to $400. After the first year, healthcare costs can change to $425 to $1,025 because older dogs tend to have higher chances of developing various medical problems. Treatment for medical problems gets very expensive very fast, which is why interested individuals might want to look for pet insurance. The average cost is apparently $565 on an annual basis. Still, it can be worthwhile so long as interested individuals have sufficient coverage in case their Borzoi develops medical problems. These dogs aren’t particularly bad in this regard. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a dog that is guaranteed to be safe from such things.
