After discussion of prices on Laikas during the pre-WWII period, when Laika had pure working dog significance and were valued depending on what kind of game it hunted the most, I will discuss the post-WWII period.

By this time, big cities became the centers of breeding Laikas and the people of the northern provinces, professional hunters of gospromkhoz (Government controlled collective hunting communities) became major users of purebred Laikas. There was a demand for tough Laikas capable of working under harsh conditions. Surely, Laikas should be handled well during hunting and they should be capable of hunting sable and other members of the weasel family. Fur prices and demand were constant in the country and furs were sold abroad.

During the same time, the number of Laikas with certificates for performance grew. For many breeders in cities, selling puppies became more lucrative than hunting in the woods. In the history of hunting Laika breeds, this was an indicator of the worsening of their working conditions. There were some positive changes in cities, such as the increase of the total number of dogs and expansion of geographic range where Laikas were bred, but the negative effects predominated.

The number of Laikas with awarded certificates grew for certain hunted animals, which were formerly unfamiliar to them. I should point that Laika work the best for some of this kind of hunting. For example, in wild boar hunting, the qualities of the Laika such as strong hunting drive, sound instinct of self-preservation, courage, excellent sense of direction and high endurance are exactly what is needed the most.

Along with practical hunting, Laikas were tried on captured boar, duck, deer, pheasant and black grouse. All these game species became separate kinds of game. In the process it was forgotten that, despite the fact the Laika is a versatile hunting breed (a Laika can be raised and specialized on sable, squirrel, moose and duck), but every individual dog can become an outstanding hunting dog on all the above listed kind of game. Generalizing a dog diminishes it to average hunting characteristics. Only a highly specialized dog can achieve state of art performance, which means Certificate of 1st degree. The culture of hunting with Laika is going to be lost. Suppose a Laika got certificates on deer and pheasant in Stavropol Province and he can become a model of the breed at All-Russian dog show, because he will receive the highest point rating. Gaining a maximum point rating became a major goal of pedigree work of the city Laika breeders.

It is undisputable that bonitation allows the most precise determination of breeding value of individual animal, but this works only under equal conditions of keeping and objective evaluation technique. This is fine in animal science, but behind every dog there is a breeder and a high rating of an individual dog often reflects the «hard work» and vanity of his owner, who tries to obtain high point ratings, a high ranking Certificate for his dog by any means possible.

In view of the serious hunter, especially one who hunts in the taiga with Laika, in the heartland of the Laika breed, it would be a terrible mistake to consider a certificate for squirrel hunting equal to a certificate for sable hunting. It is as well dubious about equating the ability to hunt moose to the ability to hunt woodland birds. No one hunter living in a commercial hunting region would take his Laika to hunt squirrels or grouses, if he had discovered a moose hunting talent in his dog. Black grouse, as soon as young birds mature, does not stay in a tree in the presence of Laika and he may chase a flock of grouse in a Siberian pine forest all day long. This is an unprofitable waste of time for a serious hunter and he would try to suppress the desire of his dog to bark at grouse. Once the hunter discovered that his dog can help him to hunt moose, depending on his experience and local conditions, he will encourage his dog to develop in this direction. If, by some reason, he does not need a moose baying dog, there will always be another hunter, who would like to have such a dog. A common opinion that any Laika can become a good moose baying dog is absolutely wrong. Good moose baying Laikas are rare and this quality is inherited.

Old timer hunters used to say, «squirrel is hunted by anyone who wants it, but moose is hunted only by those who can». Perhaps some cases, when the nature of a dog’s life had changed as drastically as it happened with the Laika, are very rare in history. Laika used to be a semi-wild dog and a constant companion of taiga hunter-frontiersman. In a short stretch of time, Laika became a captive of balconies, garages and woodsheds. In their former life with the natives of the taiga, Laika followed their masters everywhere off leash. Living close to the hunter, the dog was well attuned to the hunter, intelligent and ready to cooperate with him at any time. Laika is made to work not «when he wants» but rather «when he is needed» and not to work «as much as I can», but «as much as it is needed».

Now, living in city the Laika suffer a constant lack of communication with its master and members of the family. Perestroika and other political change make Laika’s situation even worse. Absence of demand for furs and high prices of transportation forced many Laika owners to give up trips to the northern provinces of Russia. Feeding dogs became an expensive problem to many.

At the same time, we see that our streets became full of Mastiffs, Staffords, Huskies and Spitzes. It appeared that there are good imported foods for these dogs, foreign brand cars for their transportation and the best pavilions and complexes are reserved for showing them. Our own most valuable breeds of hunting Laikas and cultural heritage of many native people have become a pitiful existence. If the breeds are contaminated, their restoration would take dozens and even hundreds of years. An eastern philosopher A. Samarkandy said: «A tree can be dug out within one hour, no matter how strong and powerful its roots are, but it would take many years to raise it until it would start fruiting». What I can add to this?

Government’s agencies and «Rosokhotrybolowsoyuz» (Russian Union of Hunters and Fishermen) estranged themselves from the problems of breeding hunting dogs. What happens to the Laika as a breed now? The Laika rapidly became converted into a sportsman’s dog. Show contests on captured animals become increasingly important with each coming year. We are forgetting the culture of hunting with Laika and the Laika’s original purpose. New generations of Laika owners, which are going to decide the fate of the breed, are committed to contests on captive animals. Those Laika owners, who have the money and wish to hunt with their dogs, but are not familiar with the culture of hunting with Laika hunt by roundup method or, worse, they shoot powerful rifles out of their cars, without raising their butt from the seat. Entire meaning of their hunting is determined by the importance of the trophy, its weight, how easy it was obtained and shooting expensive weapons.

Should we blame the new generation of Laika owners for not learning the culture of hunting with Laikas and for their lack of knowledge regarding romance of wandering with one Laika in the taiga forests?

Who is to blame because a game animal does not have a chance of survival due to rapid firing rifles, shooting out of the car, snowmobile, tractor, etc.? Who is in charge to insure old traditions of the hunt are passed on accurately and to respect the Russian forest moose and to learn that an unsuccessful hunt should not be a reason for frustration? Hunting with new kind of hunter using Laika is very short in duration. They shoot fast by any means; take a picture with the trophy, such as moose, boar or bear and always with the Laika. Actually, role of the Laika in the hunt was absolute null.

I think that loss of traditional hunting culture is concern of all our hunting breeds, but hunting culture with Laika is being lost the quickest. What are causes of this? The first reason is probably the fact that the Laika is a very versatile and adaptable breed, which can easily learn to hunt a new and formerly unfamiliar game. The second reason is in the difficulty of describing hunting with Laika in literature. We read, since childhood, about beauty of hunting with bird pointing dogs or about hare hunting with scent hounds along with poetry of beauty of our nature. This kind of fiction remains in our memory for a lifetime. One, who grew up on this literature, will want to try this hunting some day. There are very few published works about the beauty of hunting with Laika. What is available is scattered in old magazines about hunting, mainly in pre-WWII period. Nevertheless, hunting with Laika is very thrilling and emotional. It takes strength and ability to find their way outdoors and master the skill of camping. One who spent months hunting with Laika in the taiga and went through hard times, cherish their memory of the years of life in wilderness. Hunting with Laika has its own romanticism. The beauty of hunting with Laika is not just measured in the quantity of meat, but rather in the experience of watching the beautiful work of the dog and how the dog’s work made the hunting productive.

Of course, the Perestroika period alienated many people from hunting with the Laika and alienated Laika owners were the best ones, because those people knew the traditional hunting and running of the breed.

Now, that we have celebrated 50 years of «standards» of our hunting Laikas, it seems reasonable to draw some conclusions and ask questions:

Did we resolve problems as it was intended by acceptance of the Laika breed standards in 1947?

What kind of problems emerged during the half century of breeding Laikas pure?

How selective should Laika breeding be directed now?

In 1947, WNIOZ (All Union Institute of Hunting Industry) established the Laika breed standards and this was accomplished. Now, we have four breeds of our Laika in Russia. Now, their working qualities satisfy both the taiga professional hunter and city amateur hunter. However, it would be an unforgivable mistake, to allow our Laikas to degenerate in their hunting ability. I see the danger of it due to the separation from regions of commercial hunting and professional hunters.

As I already mentioned, the trend of Laika is becoming another show and sportsmen’s dog. The standard of requirements of working quality dogs has been lowered. Experts of breeds and some official agencies are responsible for our breeds.

The research in modern publications about Laika does not leave any doubt that this is true. Unlike in the Soviet era, now there is no shortage of publications about Laikas. Everyone writes about Laikas, if he is not lazy. Laika owners and Laika club officials, owners of German Wirehaired Birddog and experts in terriers and dachshunds, perhaps all writers truly believe that they have to tell about Laika more than an ordinary Laika owner. Before going through some publications, I would like to quote what N. V. Gogol wrote: «Nothing damages the faith more then what is done by inept and zealous defenders of God».

Let us take a look at the book «Laikas and Hunting with Them» by E. I. SHereshevsky, Sverdlovsk, 1965. It is an undisputable good book, written by a man deserving laudatory words for his contribution in the formation of the Laika breeds. However, «the devil is hiding in details». There are places in the book, which are impossible to agree with.

Referring to works of the Ural area wildlife biologist G. Demidov, Shereshevsky writes: «Average amount of game harvested by a hunter varies sharply, depending on hunting quality of his Laika. If we take productivity of hunting with top quality Laika as 100% , then squirrel hunting with a good Laika the amount of game drops to 42-55%, and with an average dog, to 20-30%. At the same time, hunting without dog makes about 2% of hunting with an excellent dog.» This comparison of ratio of harvested squirrels depending on quality of Laika and daily harvest of squirrels without dog made by a well- respected wildlife biologist seems very dubious. Everyone, who is familiar with squirrel hunting with Laika, knows that there are many missed squirrels left undetected by the dog. There is a hunting method «by listening» and such hunting without a dog may be quite productive. It would be possible to skip this kind of mistake and it goes unnoticed, if Shereshevsky would add a remark made by G. Demidov «about some exceptionally artful professional hunters (promyshlenniks), mainly among natives. Almost in every native village there is one or two, old experienced hunters, which can hunt without a dog squirrel, sable, kidus and moose almost in the same quantities like others do it with a dog». I hope you agree that this remark makes a significant change in the comparisons. Different writers about Laikas often cite works of G. Demidov, but citations are taken out of the context and without further explanations.

There is more in the works of G. Demidov, which are often omitted: «trapping is not used for comparisons». In the book «Laikas and Hunting with Them» Shereshevsky makes a reference to materials published by A. B. Geits:

«In 1961, percentage of harvested with assistance of Laika fur by districts was as follows: Khatanga, 98%; Bratsk, 96%; Kirensk, 80%; and Taishet, 72%. The same author showed that in 1961-1963, in Buryat Autonomous Province, with help of Laika, amount of fur harvested was: Bauntovsky Aimak, squirrel 92% and sable 71%; Severo-Baikalsky Aimak, squirrel 90% and sable 50%». If to believe these numbers, we should believe tales. Listed above regions of East Siberia are commercial hunting regions, where hunting is done by using all kinds of trapping devices and hunting with Laika done during a very short season and undoubtedly amount of fur harvested with Laika is much smaller then amount of fur obtained by trapping.

(to be continued)