Her name is “hippie,” and she was being walked by a lovely white-haired Russian woman with an accent straight out of a 1970s spy movie. Hippie came right up to me and stuck her nose on the treat pouch on my hip; the Russian woman explained that Hippie is NOT allowed to take treats from other people because Hippie is bred to run and she takes the dog to the off-leash dog beach and if the dog were allowed to accept treats from other people the dog would not run; the dog would just go from person to person begging dog treats.
Hippie stood about 3-1/2 feet high, with a skinny body, long legs and a long, thin snout.
The breed has an interesting history.
They were formerly known as Russian wolfhounds and the name describes their history — they were bred in 16th Century Russia to hunt wolves. For centuries, they could not be purchased but only given as gifts from the tsar, with whom the breed was popular.