Black mask is a dominant gene inherited independently of the main color locus and of the dilution locus. In dogs in which black pigment can occur it will be black, but a dog with maltese blue dilute [dd] will have a maltese blue mask and a dog with brown dilute [bb] will have a liver-brown mask. Dogs with extesion yellow [ee] will not show a mask even if the gene is present for it. The presence of the dark mask seems to be associated with intensification of progressive sable overlay as the dog matures. In addition black may be more strongly developed on the ears, around the genitals and along the "mane", on the top of the tail and in the shoulder region.
I have never seen a "Silver Sable" Borzoi or a Domino Afghan with a Dark Mask. When a dog has the progressive greying gene the Dark Mask area of the face is affected more strongly than the other black areas on the face.

This description is to be applied to dogs in which the amount of white varies from almost all of the dog through the dogs that are not quite 'mantled" with color.

This is the white marking description to be used with dogs that go from being mantled to having no white neck ring.

This is the white marking description to be used with dogs that have white bibs, feet, small blazes on the nose, and white on the underbelly. I have never seen a solid color Borzoi who had absolutely no white on it.

Ticking is a dominant gene that expresses itself progressively as the dog matures. Ticking can only be seen where the dog is white. A white dog with gold or cream spots may have ticking but the color will not be visible in the coat although dark pigmented spots will be seen on the skin. When ticking is present it seems to be expressed more strongly in dogs with darker coat colors. In general the dark hairs will arise from the center portion of the dark skin spot and there will be a rim of the dark skin spot that produces white hairs. The center of dark hair production seems to take a greater proportion of the skin spot in a dog with black coat color than in a dog with red or cream coat color.

I believe that in their recently revised standard the Russians decided they did not like ticking, for no reason that I can understand. However the presence of ticking decreases the amount of 'missing' eye rim, nose leather, lip rim, toe nail and pad pigment in spotted dogs, so it is very common in American Borzoi lineages. In "white dog" lineages, which are basically spotted dogs with pale cream coat color, it remains invisible until one of the white dogs is bred to produce dark spotted dogs.

From a functional point of view nails and pads that have dark pigment are stronger and more resistant to tearing in dogs doing heavy work. However this also means that black nails are more resistant to wear in dogs that do not do a lot of work and may need to be trimmed more often.

Solid colored dogs can have ticking and it will never express itself because it is only visible in the white areas of the dog.

I think the prejudice against ticking is unjustified and because it is invisible in dogs with pale coat color, it is unwise to make it a undesired or disqualified marking.

Shortly after I started breeding from my first dominant black Borzoi we got not only maltese blue [dd] dilutes of the dominant black (like a blue Great Dane) but also we got "salt and pepper" greys which has been called various names, Silver, Chinchilla, and Argent being the most popular. A similar color is seen in Afghan hounds that have dominant black littermates. In Afghan Hounds this color is called 'blue' but Afghans do not have the maltese [dd] gene which is present in Borzoi, so to call these dogs blue would created confusion.

These dogs are not maltese blues [dd], their nose leather is black, not dark blue, and the eyes are normal in color with brown tones - not the paper bag brown seen in adult dd dogs. The eyes are not light blue in puppies. These dogs tend to be darker and less salt and peppered on the back and lighter on the face and upper legs. However if they have color down to the bottom of the feet the lower legs will be darker, in contrast to what is seen in Black and Tans, Silver Sables and counter shaded reds. Since the color does not have to be associated with grey noses and blue turning to paper brown eyes, it is a popular color for those people who like a silver Borzoi and it will probably not be a rare color in the breed once people figure out how to breed them, so I think we should have a name for it. The dogs vary from fairly light to almost black in color. The dogs may darken with age. As young pups people may think they have the diluted out cream and tan version of the black and tan but by 5 months of age or so it becomes obvious that the dogs lack the distinct sharpness of the boundaries seen between the black and tan colors in "at" dogs and unlike the Silver Sables, the muzzles are dark and there is no dark "widow's peak' marking on the top of the head.