Donna's Russian import, Zara (fwd)

[Bonnie Dalzell]

You are certainly permitted and encouraged to have such a post on the
list.

We have so few Borzoi (600 pups a year or so total registered with the AKC)
that loosing diversity in our gene pool is a major threat to the breed.
Breeding a litter from a dog of a unique origin is always desirable and
carrying on Donna's breeding programs is something that this web list was
established to encourage.

This is a hard time for Borzoi breeders since the reproductive life span
of our dogs is limited to 9 to 10 years max for the bitches and
sometimes less for the males.

During the Great Depression and WW II that followed many dog breeds
suffered major genetic bottle necks. I need to check the exact numbers but
as I recall - in the 1920's the AKC was registering around 1500 Borzois a
year. From 1941 to 1945 only a total of 300+ were registered for all of
those years, not per year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bonnie Dalzell, MA
mail:5100 Hydes Rd PO Box 60, Hydes,MD,USA 21082-0060|EMAIL:bdal...@qis.net
Freelance anatomist, vertebrate paleontologist, writer, illustrator, dog
breeder, computer nerd & iconoclast... Borzoi info at www.borzois.com.
HOME www.batw.net ART bdalzellart.batw.net BUSINESS www.boardingatwedge.com

[Vickie Littleton]

That's amazing--it really was a Roaring Twenties dog, then.

Vickie
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