This article was written for Russian readers and is a direct translation from Russian text.

When we speak of uniqueness of our Laika breeds, many of us do not quite well understand why these dogs are unique. We often repeat this word simply like a well memorized sound. In fact, there is no other dog breed or primitive group of breeds has a set of valuable working qualities as Laika has. Laika is uniquely adapted to harsh life conditions and is suitable as a hunting partner in lonely life of taiga professional hunters. Since primeval time of origin, Laika did not change his practical application. He has been always a hunting dog. Moreover, during millennia of history, Laika was used to hunt the same species of mammals and birds. It is hard to tell about many other breeds of hunting dogs. Many of them have changed specialization or geographic distribution, but Laikas always remained hunting dogs of the taiga zone of Eurasian continent. Evolutionary history of Laika can be divided into four periods.

First period: Since prehistory until late XIX Century, Laika was a dog of peoples of the taiga zone of Russian north.

Second period: From early XX Century to 1947; aboriginal Laika types attract attention of city hunters, who bring them in cities of Siberia, Ural and central parts of European Russia. At this time, different Laika breeds became purebreds and hunters put together rules for their hunting trials. Although Russian hunters of northern provinces of the country have been hunting with Laikas since very old times, now these dogs became particularly valuable to them, because Government’s authorities relied on Laikas as a tool in obtaining precious fur. First Government run kennels appeared and surveys of aboriginal Laika populations “in their aboriginal habitats” were conducted. Dog shows attracted Laika owners from deep provinces and special prizes were awarded to owners of best dogs.

Third period: 1947 to 70th, when standards for on four Laika breeds registered in major cynological centers of the country were put together and officially approved. Population of Laikas rapidly grew and they spread in southern parts of the former Soviet Union and beyond. During this period, breeding stock Laikas were rated systematically and formerly aboriginal breed became a breed of sportsmen hunters.

Fourth period: In 70th , through “Perestroika” and until present Laika breeders lost connection with provincial regions of hunting; Hunting industry farm controlled by the Governemnt (Gospromkhoz) were dissolved and demand for Laikas hunting fur bearing animals declined. During “Perestroika” time, major attention of Laika owners shifted from hunting to contest trials with using captured or tame animals like bear, wild boar and badger.

Now, I will discuss in greater details how Laikas were used in each of these four periods.

Taiga peoples of Russian frontier country kept their own types of Laika. They lived off land and hunting was entirely consumptive. Laika was always near his master and leader, constantly ready to hunt. Life close to his human master and hunting in close cooperation with him were condition, which helped Laika to become an intelligent and finely attuned to his master’s mood dog. To explain this, I will discuss the West Siberian Laika as an example. What Ugrian tribes, such as Mansi and Hanty living in Ural and middle part of the Ob River Basin in West Siberia, could hunt with their dogs? General game checklist includes mammals and birds, such as moose, reindeer, bear, wolverine, otter, sable, marten, Siberian weasel (kolonok), mink, squirrel, flying squirrel, ermine, weasel, capercaillye, hares, black grouse, hazel grouse, partridge, gees and ducks. For an aboriginal taiga hunter, fur was a major commodity and squirrel and sable yielded the most to the income. There was a great demand for Siberian furs since ancient times and a stream of precious pelts ended in markets of Byzantium and European countries. Besides, hunting furbearing animals, Laikas helped to obtain meat of moose and capercaillye. Reindeer, hazel grouse, partridge and hare do not stay, when Laika is barking, but it is likely that Laika helped catching molting ducks and gees. It seems unlikely that ancient native people of the north hunted brown bear with Laikas, because Ugrian People believe that people considered bear as their original ancestor; in their believes, bear has reasonable thinking and is worshiped. There are ethnographic descriptions telling us that when Mansi had to kill a bear, they performed special rituals of pacifying spirits for this misdeed. Holiday of pacifying spirits involved people of several communities and continued for several days. Reason for such a ritual occurred very rarely. Before contacts with Europeans, people of the north did not have firearms. They obtained it only recently and it was of low quality. Nevertheless, Laikas have been well familiar with bears for millennia in the past, when encounters with bears in taiga were a common fact of life. In hungry years, Laikas probably helped to protect master’s home against hungry predators. During routine hunting for furbearers, if a bear was a threat, presence of Laikas was very handy. Bold and bear-aggressiveness was valuable quality of Laikas and certainly was maintained by selecting offspring out of bold and aggressive towards bear dogs.

Thus, before XX Century, value of Laikas, depending on the ability to hunt a certain kind of game, was as follows in descending order:

1. Sable
2. Moose
3. Squirrel
4. All kinds of small game. (laikas barking indiscriminately at any kind of game has a lower average productivity and cannot achieve an outstanding result on any of the most economically important animals listed above)

In late XIX Century, in the Russian north, aboriginal kinds of Laikas were most common dogs of local people involved in the hunting. In early XX Century, city hunters became increasingly interested in Laikas and this was the beginning of the Second period of history of these dogs.

During this time, in central Russia and Siberia kennels appeared, which were specializing on breeding Laikas. Their owners preferred Laikas hunting moose. Those were kennels of Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, Naryshkin, Malama, Lyalin and Dmitrieva-Sulima. Moose hunting Laikas were in great demand. Moose hunting with Laika was very popular among Russians of Ural and there, moose hunting Laikas were very much valued. Russians living in northern parts of European Russia used Laikas for finding bear dens and Laikas good at finding bear dens were sold at a high price to rich hunters living in Moskow and Sanct-Petersburg.

In early XX Century Laikas were very common in possession of hunters living in many cities of Ural and Siberia. In the fall, hunters living in cities, such as Ekaterinburg, organized in hunting parties and took off to northern regions riding in trains or carts pulled by horses. A major hunting object was squirrel, because sable and marten populations were very low during that time.

When Communists came to power in Russia, the Soviet Government recognized importance of breeding hunting Laikas, because it needed furs. Selling furs (“soft gold”) at international auctions was important for the economy. Calls urging to preserve hunting Laikas, which were providers for people of the north, were frequent on pages of all publications about hunting. Because high demand and prices for furs at that time, Laikas were providers indeed. After Communist revolution, a good squirrel Laika was in a particularly high demand, because moose, sable and marten had been catastrophically decimated and their hunting was outlawed. Demand for best squirrel Laikas remained high until post WWII years.

After WWII, promkhozes (communal farms uniting people hunting furbearing animals) grew up. Under conditions of strict regulations of hunting, populations of sable increased numerically and expanded geographically filling its original range. Moose populations also increased and it became common across entire forested territories again, from the forest-steppe zone in the south to the forest-tundra zone in the north. However, culture of the moose hunting with Laikas was nearly lost. Moose was hunted from stands near salt marshes, at feeders or from farm tractors. Plain hunters could not afford an individual hunting license and hunted moose in groups with beaters driving moose towards shooters. However, poachers and natives of the taiga forests continued moose hunting by using an old traditional classic style with Laikas.

During this time, Soviet Government did a good job for breeding of Laikas pure. In 1947, standards of Laika breeds based on geographic principle were approved. This was the beginning of the third period in history of hunting Laikas. Rules for field trials of hunting Laikas on all kinds of game were put together and applied. Initially, those were rules based on already existed rules for trials of bird dogs. Dogs were rated by their performance using a 100 points system. Thus, for trials of Laika on birds and squirrel, this system allowed to estimate their performance during one hour. However, rules for trials on moose were written unprofessionally, which I will not discuss here in details. After breed standards had been approved, population of purebred Laikas grew rapidly, especially of the West Siberian Laika. Field trials and dog shows became frequent and number of all kinds of champion dogs grew like mushrooms after a good rain. Since this time, Laika breeding became like breeding of a typical sport dog. A major criterion for selecting best breeding dogs became points earned at shows for conformation and field trials, not actual number of squirrels, sables, moose, capercaillyes, etc. found by the dog.
All diplomas for so-called “wild” animals (except ducks) were equalized for evaluation of the dog performance. Differences were only in a degree of the awarded diploma. Thus, a diploma on squirrel earned by the dog during squirrel trials in a city park was considered equally important to a diploma earned for sable, and diploma awarded for capercaillye was equal to diploma awarded for moose hunting.

Now, let us look back in history and see how Laikas were valued in 40th of XX Century, depending on specialization to hunt different animal species. In 1940, G. I. Demidov, a worker of the Uralian Science Research Station, wrote and article titled “State of hunting industry dog breeding in Sverdlovsk, Molotov and Omsk Provinces and measures for its improvement”. He offered numbers describing an average productivity of one hunter with Laika of Tabory District per year as follows: 150 squirrels, 2 sables, 2 moose, 10 capercaillyes and one bear. Average number of hazel grouses per hunter per year was 200, which were shot without assistance of Laikas. Demidow did not include in his article how many black grouses, earth hole dwelling animals and ducks were obtained per year. Based on available data, I can conclude that importance of Laika by his ability to hunt specific game in declining sequence would be as follows:

1. Squirrel
2. Moose
3. Sable and/or marten
4. Capercaillye

A price for one outstanding quality hunting Laika was equal to price of 2-3 caws. At that time, adult Laikas were sold very rarely. At that time, only a part of income of people living in Taborinsky District came from hunting. A considerable part of family budget came from keeping farm animals and vegetable gardening.

To compare hunted game priorities in the past, I will cite a noted Uralian Laika expert, F. F. Krestnikov. Krestnikov wrote in Magazine “Uralian Hunter” (1927): “A squirrel dog costs 15-50 rubles, but if it is going after marten, its price is 100 rubles; outstanding marten hunting Laika costs 300 rubles; moose hunting Laika costs 200-300 rubles and particularly good one costs 500-1000 rubles. At that time a two barrel shotgun was sold for 20—300 rubles; a gun of brand name master was 600-1,500 rubles and a Laika puppy in Union of Hunters was 10-20 rubles. Yu. A. Liverovsky periodically participatedin expeditions studying hunting industry in the Upper Vychegda and Pechora Distrcits. He wrote in his book “Laikas and Hunting with Them” (1927-1931): “Objects of hunting of pechorians and vychegodians is squirrel. Other small animals are sable, marten, mink, otter and ermine and among big animals are northern lynx, wolverine, moose and bear, which are shot only if found. I mention only those animals, which are hunted with Laikas.” There are more data of interest in this book: “Average number of squirrels shot by a Pechorian hunter per day is two-three squirrels, a better is five squirrels and the best is eight squirrels per day.” … “Ratio of number of squirrels obtained per day with an average to an outstanding dog under equal conditions is as 1:4”...”Actual cost of an outstanding squirrel Laika is approaching cost of a sable hunting Laika, which is in general the most expensive dog in the north”. Liverovsky mentions in his book that bear hunting with Laika is not attractive to an industrial hunter (promyshlennik) by economical reasons and because of absence of good bear Laikas in the region. There are many villagers, who hunt for profit during their entire life, but never saw a bear during the hunting.

Summarizing conclusions of three specialists about hunting with Laikas in pre WWII period cited above, I can tell that most valuable were Laikas specialized for hunting sable, marten, moose and squirrel and I would like to emphasize once more that this was true during time, when Laika remained an industrial hunting dog. During that time, Laika was a working dog of those, who hunted to make living for pelts and meat and dog’s value was determined entirely by his productivity on a specific kinds of game.

(to be continued)