Lilly's Fridge

fact: day old guinea pigs are 90% head.

Yes, they are born eyes open and fully furred and capable of running which is very much unlike the rodents most people are used to. These babies were literally born the night before, so they’re a little over 15 hours old in these photos.

This is in part due to their unusually long gestation period (~60 to 70 days as compared to about 20-23 days for a mouse or rat.)

They can fully wean just after 2 or 3 weeks.

When they’re little like this and they become excited or playful, they will popcorn around. I’m sure you can all imagine what that looks like, and how ridiculously cute these things are when doing it.

This past weekend was hell on earth, but one very good and amazing thing came out of it.

Borzoi are an enigma, honestly. As hard as we try to describe them I don’t think anyone can fully understand their eccentricities until they live with them.

There’s a decently wide range of temperaments in the breed, from golden levels of social to wanting nothing to do with anyone ever, and some can be on the skittish side of things although frankly I don’t see that very often. Imo a correct temperament is quietly confident but not obsessively caring to interact with strangers. Able to adapt quickly to new environments without getting over aroused or upset. It’s not at all unusual to see borzoi flat out sleeping while waiting around for ring times at shows! I would say the vast majority of borzoi I’ve met like people and will seek out attention from strangers, but not in an overly pushy obnoxious way. Margo is a bit more on the reserved side and people not familiar with the breed often think she’s shy/scared, but in reality she simply doesn’t care about strangers. She’ll typically sniff them and then not care to interact further. She’s about as reserved as I’d like to go, but I don’t find her temperament incorrect or out of the ordinary for the breed.

I think they’re more cat like in their general personalities than in confidence and affection levels. They do what they want when they want, in all things. They’re independent and know they don’t really need us. This sounds cheesy, but you really do have to earn their love and affection. They aren’t very dog like so getting into the breed from having “normal” breeds is pretty wild.

I don’t have a ton of experience with other sighthound breeds, so I have nothing to offer as far as their affection levels there. I will only say Charlie gets big mad if I don’t spend enough time cuddling him, and this is not at all a rare trait in the breed. They don’t tend to be clingy or a velcro breed, but when they want attention they want attention.

I don’t really have any good resources just on general temperament! All my stuff is very structure and pedigree and breeding skewed lolol you could check out The Complete Borzoi by Lorraine Groshans, and The Borzoi by Desiree Scott. I honestly can’t remember now how much either of these go over correct temperament lol it’s definitely something a bit subjective, but in general you don’t want temperament traits that would be difficult to handle in a giant breed.