page_title: Borzoi
section_title: In popular culture
hierarchical_section_title: Borzoi / In popular culture
caption_attribution_description: Pjatak v. Smétanka, dit Zambi, propr. Barbara Wickli
context_page_description: The Borzoi, also called the Russian wolfhound, is a breed of domestic dog. They are descended from the sighthound working dogs of people who migrated from Central Asian countries to Russia prior to the 17th century. They are similar in shape to Greyhounds.
  The system by which Russians over the ages named their sighthounds was a series of descriptive terms, not actual names. Borzói is the masculine singular form of an archaic Russian adjective that means "fast". Borzáya sobáka is the basic term used by Russians, though sobáka is usually dropped. The name psovaya derived from the word psovina, which means "wavy, silky coat", just as hortaya means shorthaired. In modern Russian, the breed commonly called the Borzoi is officially known as russkaya psovaya borzaya. Other Russian sighthound breeds are stepnaya borzaya, called stepnoi; and krimskaya borzaya, called krimskoi.
  The most commonly used plural form is the regular formation Borzois, which is the only plural cited in most dictionaries. However, the Borzoi Club of America and the Borzoi Club UK both prefer Borzoi as the form for both singular and plural forms.
context_section_description: Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace contains an extensive wolf hunting scene with Borzois in book 7, chapters 3 to 6. The 1968 film version of the novel, War and Peace, contains a hunting scene with Borzois from the kennel of Ekhaga, Sweden.
  F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), contains a scene in which Gloria compares Anthony to a Russian wolfhound. Anthony decides to take this as a compliment: "Anthony remembered that they were white and always looked unnaturally hungry. But then they were usually photographed with dukes and princesses, so he was properly flattered."
  George Bernard Shaw in his Everybody’s Political What’s What? (1944) wrote "The future of mankind belongs to its mongrels and not to its handsome but brainless Borzois."
  Ivan, one of the protagonists of the historical novel by the Cuban writer Leonardo Padura Fuentes, El hombre que amaba a los perros (The Man Who Loved Dogs), is the editor of a university journal of veterinary medicine, who manages to make a living during the Special Period in Cuba by helping people take care of their dogs. The novel alludes to Ivan's own dogs as well as to Borzoi dogs owned by Leon Trotsky and his assassin, Ramón Mercader.
  A Borzoi features prominently in a Music Hall revue in the short story Cousin Theresa by Saki (H.H.Munro).
  In the book The Romanov Prophecy (2004) by Steve Berry
  In the anime Kuroshitsuji (Japanese for Black Butler), Ciel Phantomhive as a child had a black Borzoi named Sebastian. He named the demon with which he made a Faustian contract after this dog.
  Uncle Zeke starred as "Digger" in the 2000 Disney film, 102 Dalmatians
  The Borzoi brothers, Rocket, Missile, and Jet in Ginga Densetsu Weed
  Boris in Walt Disney's 1955 film Lady and the Tramp
  D'or's Prince Igor owned by Barbara Todd (Zcerlov) and bred by Andre Legere appears in the 1969 film, Hello Dolly!
  When Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark arrive at the Capitol in the 2012 film The Hunger Games, a pair of pink Borzois are shown on screen—an illustration of the Capitol residents' gaudy lifestyle.
  Borzois can also been seen in cameo roles in the films Love at First Bite, Legends of the Fall ("Notchee Boy"), Excalibur, All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), Bride of Frankenstein, Easter Parade, Wolfen, Ziegfeld Follies, Onegin (1999), Gangs of New York (2002), Chaplin, The Avengers (TV series), JAG, Maverick (1994), Sleepy Hollow, Last Action Hero, and A Knights Tale (on the DVD deleted scenes).
  "Mademoiselle Nobs" from Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1971) who "sings" a song with the band.
  Lyndell Ackerman's "Nessie" CH Windyglens Finesse in the TV show Wings.
  In an SCTV parody commercial for fictional Poochare dog food, a borzoi dog is seen being taken for a walk by Eugene Levy.
  In episode 2 of the first season of the anime Medaka Box, one of the requests for the student council is to find a missing puppy, which turns out to be a Borzoi. It has grown quite large since it was lost. This also happens in the manga version.
  A Borzoi is one of the dogs to appear in the film Cats & Dogs. It is seen during the council session scene.
  In the game, The Arcana, there are two dogs, named Mercedes and Melchior, that are claimed to be pure white Borzois. They were accumulated when their owner, Lucio, was trying to find his familiar using magic.
  The breed is featured in Amor Towles’ novel A Gentleman in Moscow, notably in a scene where two Borzois create havoc in their unsuccessful attempt to corral the hotel cat in the lobby of a luxury hotel in Moscow.
caption: A Borzoi in the field with flowers
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