Saxafrax Borzoi

08/10/2025

To know her was to be completely charmed by her. An effervescent spirit full of light, love, and bouncing energy. A huge personality from the day she entered this world until the day she left it.

My heart is impossibly heavy as I write this down, ascribing reality to a tragedy that still does not feel real. Last night, we lost our beloved Cormorant after a freak accident resulted in catastrophic injury. She was rushed to the ER where they diagnosed a collapsed lung. She went into cardiac arrest shortly after arrival due to the build up of air in her chest. CPR attempts revived her, but the air pressure was too significant and caused a second arrest, which she did not recover from. The tears have not ceased since Charles first notified us of her dire status, and she was gone by the time we arrived at the hospital.

Cormy lived every moment to the fullest. She made so many friends, both human and animal, and she had an incredibly bright future. Losing a beloved borzoi is heart-wrenching under any circumstances, but to lose one so young is beyond reconciling. It is unfathomably cruel that Charles and Cormy were robbed of more time together for all of the adventures and simple domestic moments they had ahead of them. I know that every day she had was filled with joy and love, and I am eternally grateful to .pack.silkens for providing her with that.

Saxafrax Wild Rushes She’s A Will Of Her Own
4/1/2024 - 10/7/2025

24/09/2025

With apologies for the delay in posting, we bring you the first stack photos of the . Co-breeder came to visit to help and I with our first round of conformation evaluations. A lot is still subject to change on these growing grubs, but we are pleased with their development so far and, data nerds that we are, look forward to tracking that development in the weeks to come.

In addition to this being the first time the babies have had practice stacking on the grooming table, we also have been continuing to fill their worlds with other firsts: meeting human babies, seeing rolling objects, hearing sudden noises, going on car rides, new textures and toys, and I think the favorite of all their new things of late: eating soaked kibble meals. They are doing great with having their nails dremeled, and getting accustomed to different routes of administering dewormer (mixed in wet food is their strong preference).

Fennel seems to be getting closer to wanting to wean them, but is still letting them nurse a few times a day. Siby continues to be an exceptional assistant puppy raiser, licking the pups and letting them climb all over her. Dresden (our silken) is getting excited that they are almost ready to play with him.

Our hearts truly burst with love every time we look at them.

16/09/2025

Things have been rapidly changing over here as the exits the transition stage and enters the critical socialization period. They are all working on developing their core strength and are up on all fours with a surprising amount of mobility. All eyes are open and they have begun reacting to sounds.

Now begins our quest to make sure they experience something new every day to develop neutral or positive associations with their wider world. We took them outside for their first trips to the puppy yard, introduced a low litterbox to their indoor pen, and have let them begun lapping up formula as their first steps toward weaning.

They have begun to interact with our household pets (Siby is truly obsessed and has appointed herself Fennel’s stand-in; she even tries to nurse them), are up to 21 human visitors, and are experiencing new toys, objects, sounds, and surfaces. We are so in love with them and starting to learn who they are as individuals.

Photos by

09/09/2025

Two whole weeks with the and I feel like someone is playing tricks on me. Every time we turn around, they are suddenly bigger. This weekend, eyes started peeping open. Today is the last day of Early Neurological Stimulation and Early Scent Introduction exercises. Favorite scents included a reindeer pelt and fresh dill. The babies are all toddling around up on all fours, and have begun to test the waters of playing with each other.

Fennel continues to be a diligent mom, although she certainly has been taking more breaks and has been excited to get back to light exercise to cure the boredom of the endless sleep-eat routine of neonates.

I really can’t believe they are so big and active already. We are very excited to watch as individual personalities start to emerge and their worlds began to expand this week with sights and soon, sounds.

Photos by

29/08/2025

If you thought part one of Fennel’s maternity shoot was magical, then please make sure you’re sitting down before viewing part two, which is somehow even more adorable.

In real time, Fennel has been doing wonderful with the now 5 day old pups. We are so grateful for how easy she makes motherhood look and feel. The puppies are making steady weight gains, Fennel is healing well from surgery, and we have been basking in the awe of it all. We couldn’t do any of this without this wonderful girl.

We are giving extra kisses to her and the babes on all your behalves!

Photos by

26/08/2025

Individual day-old grub photos of the fresh off the press. Introducing:

* Ampersand, aka Sandi, naturally whelped red/gold spotted girl
* Lexicon, aka Lexi or Connie, mystery tri or sabled red spotted girl 1
* Syntax, c-section red/gold spotted girl
* Cedilla, mystery tri or sabled red spotted girl 2
* Typo, red/gold spotted boy
* Serif, mystery tri or sabled red spotted girl 3

The last two photos are also of Serif (photo 7 feat. Mama Fennel), because they were too cute to not include in the set. Photos by

24/08/2025

Welcome home, ! Born 8/23/25, 5 girls / 1 boy, 3 red spotted & 3 black & tan spotted. All weighing over a pound each, strong and vigorous.

Fennel entered into Stage 1 labor late in her whelping window, with no big contractions still by midday on Day 65. Checking fetal heartrates with an at-home Doppler, we observed a few puppies potentially in the distress range (below 180 bpm), so we went in to have them checked by her repro team.

We are so glad we did. On ultrasound, Dr. Lopate found 3 of the puppies’ heartrates suboptimal, with one as low as 120 bpm. Fennel was admitted immediately for an emergency c-section. While waiting for surgery, she delivered her first puppy naturally. However, with no guarantee how long a natural labor would last and two puppies still at risk, the surgery proceeded. All went well with the procedure, and her uterus was found to be in good shape with no clear indication why her labor took so long to advance.

Fennel took to her puppies right away and had no issues letting them nurse immediately, and she took over cleaning and stimulating them before her anesthesia had even fully worn off. She is practically glued to them today, and is most concerned when any wander too far from the puppy pile.

I am so grateful to Dr. Lopate and her team for ensuring mama and babies all made it safely through this unexpected challenge. Endless gratitude to who came to be a whelper helper and whose Doppler and expertise spurred us to the vet. Huge thanks to for their support here through each step of the process and to for holding us from afar. And of course, thank you to our partners Kyle & Dylan for taking care of us while we took care of Fennel and her new ones. Lastly, thank you to all of our friends who have sent good wishes and kept us in their thoughts to bolster this happy outcome. As always, responsible breeding takes a village!

22/08/2025

Surprise! Our lovely household matriarch is about to be a mother again. We are incredibly excited to share that Fennel (Am. CH UCH Saxafrax Wild Rushes Adrienne Que Sera Sera, SC, SSR, GRC) conceived again via the power of modern science and the help of the team over at Reproductive Revolutions in Wilsonville. We are waiting with bated breath for her to release the 6 puppies we confirmed onboard from her breeding to GCH Aria’s The Quiet Man, “Sean”.

This match is a very distant line-breeding on Sean’s sire, who is in Fennel’s 7th generation, and seeks to fulfill many of the goals we strive for in our program of bringing forward underused pedigrees, sweetheart temperaments, and functional conformation, guided by documented and tested health data.

This breeding is also special to us because in addition to our regular & collaboration, we are proud to welcome Sy of to this co-breeding as they embark on their first dog breeding endeavor! Huge thanks is also due to Rita Stackable of for allowing us to breed to her beloved Sean.

Today is Day 63 of Fennel’s pregnancy, and we have all our fingers and toes crossed for a smooth whelp as we sit on puppy watch. While we wait for the little ones to make it earthside, please enjoy part one of this incredible maternity photoshoot we did with the dam-to-be last night. All photos taken by Sy.

Test mating pedigree: https://borzoi.breedarchive.com/animal/testmating?dam_uuid=cd80f166-07cf-4452-bec5-329cc77fd9b0&sire_uuid=9200fb0d-24b9-417d-be99-1369fbaf9a8b

Sean’s OFA: https://ofa.org/advanced-search/?appnum=1281865
Fennel’s OFA: https://ofa.org/advanced-search/?appnum=2246478

22/07/2025

As the pups from borzoi’s recent litter begin to make their way to their new homes, I would like to introduce our own new addition - in a way! Although she will be staying in California at Rezance primarily, I am honored to be co-owning the fabulous Cypress, Rezance The Starry Night, with Ash.

When this litter was cooking up, I told Ash I would be in trouble if a perfect little red silver girl popped up, and from early on, Cypress proved to be that kind of trouble! I could not be more excited for her future and all the potential we see in her. I am immensely grateful to Ash for letting me be a part of Cypress’s journey.

Photos at various weekly milestones are courtesy of , who has helped me live vicariously through this litter by sharing so many wonderful photos and videos. I hope to meet Cypress in person before too long!

01/04/2025

28/02/2025

We’re trying to reduce use of social media, and while this page is not going away, it will be somewhat less active (as it already has been).

I have enjoyed sharing more casual updates and photos in our Saxafrax - Wild Rushes Discord server. If you would like to join us over there, please send us a private message requesting the link.

As always, the contact methods listed on our website are the best ways to reach us. I have a lot of overdue email replies I will be getting to soon. Thank you to everyone for your patience.

Note: to be admitted to our Discord, we must either already know who you are, or you must give us a description of who you are and why you want to join. The Discord space must remain a scammer-free zone and all photos shared there are private. Thank you for your understanding, and we hope to stay connected!