Khortaï

The khortaï is a greyhound of Asian stock, an ancient dog breed. Its geographic distribution area is located in the steppes north of the Black Sea, covering a region that extends from Ukraine to southern Russia and west of Kazakhstan. It is therefore not related to any particular people or country. The Russian Cynological Federation (RKF) ratified the first standard of the breed in 1951. Currently, between 2,500 and 3,500 khortaïs have been recorded worldwide, with fewer than a dozen outside the borders of the CIS.

The khortaï is endearing, fairly obedient and intelligent. It is never aggressive towards humans, even though - like all greyhounds - it is wary of strangers. Often raised in packs, it is nevertheless a fairly good guardian. One must take care to socialize it well so that it does not hunt domestic animals.

In its native habitat, the steppe, the khortaï is still used as a sight hunting dog. Its prey includes hares, foxes, wolves and saiga antelopes. It is extremely resistant over long distances (4,000 m) and can hunt for long periods after short rest periods. Although it hunts mainly by sight, like all greyhounds, its nose is also very well developed. It can thus follow the scent trail of lost game. Many color combinations are accepted: white, black, cream of all shades, red, sand and brindle. The coat can be single or pie (with white markings, or white with color markings). Black and black mask, gray or with red, brown, russet markings, are commonly accepted.

The life expectancy of the khortaï largely depends on its use. In areas where it is used to course large prey, in particular predators, it sometimes happens that young dogs die during hunting. But not exposed to this type of accident, the khortaï can live in good health until 14-15 years old.