I am a most happy Mansi,

Nobody has a Laika like mine!

Where he runs, he sniffs every bush and looks at

Every branch! What a wonderful Laika I have!

(From a song of an old Mansi hunter, recorded by cynologist, M. G. Volkov, in 1937)

What kind of northern dogs (or Laikas) are known to us, people of the vast northern country of the former USSR?  The majority would name the Laika or Siberian Laika, which would not be true in both cases.  The Laika is a whole group of breeds and such a breed like the Siberian Laika does not exist at all, which I will explain below.

Dog lovers reading books and expert cynologists confidently list four Laika breeds: the Russo-European Laika, the West Siberian Laika, the Karelo-Finnish Laika and the East Siberian Laika. Someone may add that there are sled-pulling Laikas in the north…

Sometimes things turn ridiculous. A young journalist, who knew about Reindeer Herding Spitzes of our kennel, had heard about them for a long time, but he, finally, titled his interview about them «The Siberian Laika – A Dog for Everyone». Later he explained that if he had written «The Reindeer Herding Spitz», unaccustomed readers would not understand what he was writing about.

This took place in our large northern country, which is proud about everything that is its own!  For example, in Japan there are at least seven breeds of Spitz-like (Laika) dogs with international recognition. Clubs of northern dogs, their popularity and periodicals dedicated to them are a common phenomenon in many countries, some of which are even not that far in the north, except our own country!

What happened to our northern dog breeds, how many of them exist, what is their fate and why they are so little known?

Let us define terms with a similar meaning: primitive breed, wolf-like dog, northern prick-eared dog, northern dog, Laika, Spitz, Laika-like dog, Spitz-like dog etc.  It is important, because in the literature, they do not mean exactly the same.  I should mention first that abroad such breeds of dogs are usually placed in group of Spitz-like dogs and their prototypes. We are gradually becoming accustomed to the international term «Spitz» in its broad meaning, although traditionally «Spitz» is for us a smallish Laika-like European dog.

Of course, Russian explorers of the north, Siberia and Far East could not overlook the dogs, on which the very existence of the people of those vast territories virtually depended. The first Russian travelers («pervoprokhodtsy») were not cynologists, but they left for us their first «cynological» descriptions. For example, the Cossack commander Vladimir Atlassov in his «story» about his travel to Kamchatka, 1697, wrote: «They do not have any cattle, only dogs of average size but very shaggy, with hair up to seven inches» (quoted from Ogloblin, 1891, in Russian).

«Intelligent» dog breeders began paying attention to the dogs of our north only during the last decades of the XVIIIth century, although in our country there was much more written about foreign breeds. The beginning of research on our northern dogs starts from works of known cynologists of their time Prince A. A. Shirisky-Shikhmatov (1890, 1896), who was also a passionate bear hunter, and a remarkable woman hunter M. G. Dmitrieva-Sulima (1892, 1896, 1902, 1911), who was breeding this kind of dogs for 20 years.  Due to the publications of these experts, prick-eared dogs of our north got their name «Laika».  However, M. G. Dmitrieva-Sulima considered that «Northern Dog» would be the most appropriate name to apply to this numerous group of dogs, which hunters call «Laika» or «Podlaika» (1911).  She also admits that the term «northern» would also be not quite precise, because dogs of similar type also occurred in Africa, America and everywhere in Asia.  I counted over 100 breeds of dogs, including local breeds, not recognized by leading kennel clubs, which could be added to the group of Spitzes and their prototypes.

M. G. Dmitrieva-Sulima discusses and condemns the term «Siberian Laika», which is quite justified, because  «… it is impossible to unite all the varieties of northern dog on the Asian continent of the Russian Empire under the term Siberian Laika (1911).

It would be appropriate to mention that the Americans have developed and breed sled dog named the Siberian Husky and the term Husky can be translated as Laika. However, this breed, in our understanding, does not have any relationship to Siberian dogs as I understand them. The Siberian Husky is a cultivated specialized breed, which American cynologists obtained by selective breeding our sled dogs imported from northeastern parts of Chukotka, the Kolyma River and Kamchatka.

During the Soviet era, leading Laika specialists persistently tried, and it was quite successful, to apply the term Laika only to northern dogs of the taiga zone used most often for hunting with bark pointing mammals and birds. They recommended calling dogs used most often for sledding and herding reindeer as «sled dogs», «reindeer driving dogs», «herding dogs», etc., respectively.

I think that it is incorrect in principle and artificial to divide dogs into working, hunting and companion dogs. For example, let us take a popular new breed the Labrador Retriever. What kind of a dog it is?  Is it a hunting dog flushing and retrieving game? Or is it a very well proven rescue dog, in other words is it a working breed?  Or maybe it is a kind and obedient companion dog, a family dog?

Classification of dogs by their specialization is particularly detrimental, if applied to our aboriginal northern breeds of dogs. They are primitive wild animal-like dogs. They are primitive in the best meaning of this word, closer to their wild ancestors and, subsequently, possessing many advantages, such as well balanced temperament and ability to make independent decisions. It is known that in general primitive breeds of agricultural animals are little specialized and are used for many purposes.

Therefore, it would be better not to divide our northern dogs into hunting, sledding and reindeer herding dogs. They all are dogs of similar origin and share many common traits in their appearance and psychology.  Because they are capable of performing diverse tasks, they are valued by a taiga hunter for their hunting ability and they also guard the home. People living along the sea shore need similar dogs for transportation, but they also use them for hunting; a reindeer breeder needs them for herding reindeer, for hunting and merely as a companion to diversify his secluded way of life.

There are many examples of the successful diverse use of our northern dogs.  M. G. Dmitrieva-Sulima (1911) wrote about Laikas that they were «discussed in military circles as dogs for military use and they are used for police service».  Refering to accounts of expedition of Stephanovich, she wrote that the Laika of one «Tungus, who lived in Stanovoy Mountain Ridge, delivered written messages and parcels over long distances». And how about dogs used during World War II? How many of them vanished (the majority of them were Siberiandogs), when they destroyed tanks, saved injured, searched for mines and carried people and military loads and secured communication.

There are more recent examples. The West Siberian Laika named «Belyi» was the best among dogs of many working breeds used in classes of search and rescue dogs in Petropavlovsk–Kamchatsky.  One male Kamchatka Sled Dog was equally good. He belonged to the topt Russian woman in dog sledding sport, Elena Panyukhina, who was also a dog breeding instructor.  One reindeer driving Spitz of my breeding named «Nik Kinos» belonging to Nina Tranbenkova was also among the best rescue dogs. Another one of my males named «Tony», a Chukotka Sled Dog, whose ancestors were only sled dogs of Chukotka, had the best conformation among hundreds of dogs, which we surveyed in the Far East. On his fifth year of life, he became for the first time familiar with Transarpathian forests and he showed as good squirrel and marten treeing ability as the specialized hunting breed Laika. Similar examples are countless.
Based on the written above, I conclude that the terms «our northern dogs» and «Laikas» should be considered synonyms. This group includes breeds, each of which can be used in multiple ways; and their classification based on working abilities is of little use. Such a classification inadvertently restricts their use, popularity, and geographic limits of breeding, size of population and subsequently the very chances of survival as breeds. Perhaps, exactly that classification, which was done by our early Laika experts, is more correct. M. G. Dmiutrieva-Sulima (1911), referring to A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, classified them by the ethnographic principle and suggested dividing them into two groups as follows.

«The first group includes Laikas: the Zyryan, Finno-Karelian, Vogul, Cheremis, Ostyak, Tungus,  Votyak,  Galician, Ostyak,  Norvegian, Buryatian and  Soyotian.

The second group includes the Laplandian and Samoyed Laika».

Generally, A. A. Shirisky-Shikhmatov thought that «there are as many varieties of Laikas as there are existing tribes of minorities in the north; and these varieties differ from each other and each of them has well established external peculiarities to such an extent that their separation cannot be argued in any way».

It is appropriate to cite Professor N. A. Smirnov (1936): «Little has changed the Laika since the time of domestication which resulted in a weak differentiation into breeds and significant similarity between the breeds.»

As we will show below, differences between the varieties listed above are more significant than differences between two established purebreds: the West Siberian Laika and the Russo-European Laika. Of course, this is true, if no account is taken of differences in the coat color, which is only a result of simple selective breeding.

Besides the 13 breeds of Laikas distinguished by A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, Dmitrieva-Sulima in her book «The Laika and Hunting With It» (1911) refers to other researchers and mentions also «the Kevrolian, Olonets, Kyrghyz, Yakut, Koryak, Orochon,Gilyak, Bashkir, Mongolian, Chukotka, Golds and Yukagir Laikas; based on the geographic principle, she mentioned the Tomsk,  Vilyui, Berezovo-Surgut, Kolyma, Pechora Laika, and the Polar Dog.»

Thus, in the early XXth century, Laika experts distinguished in Russia over 30 aboriginal breeds of northern type dogs. I should mention that the first Laika experts investigated mainly dogs of European Russian North, while Siberia and Far East were little accessible to them. However, there were many dogs there, too. If dog lovers and breeders of Russia and subsequently of the Soviet Union would be as interested in dogs of their own country as they were interested in fashionable foreign breeds, how many breeds could be created by peoples living in Siberia, the North and Far East and they all would become purebreds in today’s Russia!  However, this has never happened. «When face to face, it is hard to see the face. Big things are better seen from a distance» as some wise man said. Many of our breeds, which are actually bred systematically to standard, but are still not recognized by leading international registries, are shown in Russia and Ukraine without right of receiving well deserved prizes.

Without discussion of what causes such an abnormal situation, I will show some periods of a later part of history of our northern dogs during the Soviet era. Actually, this was the extermination of Russian aboriginal northern breeds.

A certain peak of attention to aboriginal Laikas occurred during the pre-WWII years and it was done by the Government’s workers.

Still in 1925, at the Cynological Meeting of Soyuzokhotcenter, the first standards of the following Laika breeds had been approved: Zyryan, Karelian, Ostyak, Vogul, and Votyak Laika.  More detailed investigation required more precise breed standards. In 1939, the All-Union Cynological Meeting accepted five temporary breed standards as follows: Finno-Karelian, Karelian, Komi (Zyryan), Hanty (Ostyak) and Mansi (Vogul) Laika. Then WWII started.

In 1945, I. I. Vakhrushev and M. G. Volkov published a book titled «Hunting Laikas», in which they reported: «At present, the major and most known Laika breeds in the Soviet Union are Laikas of the hunting group: Karelian, Komi, Mansi, and  HuntyLaika; reindeer herding Laikas: Nenets Laika; sled pulling Laikas: Kamchatka, Kolyma and Amur Laika. Besides these, there are little known varieties of Laikas, such as the Mongolian Hunting Dog, Yenissey River Sled Dog, Evenk Hunting Dog, etc. He also offers descriptions of major breeds and also the temporary standard of the Finno-Karelian Laika, official standards of the Karelian Laika, Komi (Zyryan) Laika, Mansi (Vogul) Laika and Hunty (Ostyak) Laika, the draft standard of the Amur Laika offered by K. T. Abramov and draft standards of the Evenk (Lamut) and of the Kamchatka Laika offered by M. G. Volkov.

As we can see, after WWII, there were aboriginal dogs and there were basic tools for pedigree work with them - breed standards. However, starting from 1947, work on these valuable breeds went in a different direction. Research worker of the All-Union Research for Hunting Industry (VNIOZ), E. I. Shereshevsky, offered a new classification of Laikas. This classification was based on a different principle. The formation of new breeds should be done by merging similar local dogs of a large geographic zone. This classification was criticized, but it in 1947, it was accepted by the All-Russian Cynological Conference.

In 1949, standards of four breeds of hunting Laikas were approved: the Karelo-Finnish Laika, Russo-European Laika, West Siberian Laika and East Siberian Laika. In 1952, the Cynological Soviet of Glavokhota of the Russian Federation approved permanent breed standards of the first three breeds.

In early 1970s, work with new purebred Laikas replaced even discussions of aboriginal dogs. For this purpose there were all kinds of propaganda statements saying that aboriginal dogs did not exist any more, that they had become mixed and that they did not deserve to become purebreds, because they were lacking distinct traits etc.  In the process, the Russian Hunting Union, being just a hunting organization, did not see dogs of the sea coastal region and reindeer breeders. Those were considered working and reindeer herding dogs, not hunting dogs.  Another bureaucratic office (DOSAAF) also quickly «forgot» about these dogs and issued orders insisting that only 10 breeds were working dogs, such as several ovcharkas (sheep guarding dogs), the Black Russian Terrier, the Newfoundland, the Airedale Terrier etc.  Amateurs switched their attention to foreign exotic breeds of dogs.

Thus, our aboriginal dogs of the north did not find place in the official cynological troika.
However, there were cynologists, some of them were in provinces, who understood what they were losing and they did not want to say aboriginal dogs goodbye.

In 1958, «Hunting Horizons», magazine, Issue 10, (Okhotnichyi prostory in Russian), published a polemical article or letter of M. G. Volkov who was a wildlife biologist with many years experience. The article was titled «Cry of a Hunting Heart». The title itself speaks much about the subject.  He wrote: «…we, Laika experts, are not allowed to give things their own names under threat of disqualification.»  Evenkian (Lamut) and Mansi (Vogul) Laikas were shown in the ring of West Siberian Laika. Then, they were saying: «similar to Evenk’s Laika», or «similar to Mansi Laika», etc. M. G. Volkov wrote that zoologist and expert cynologist A. K. Abramov refused to judge dogs until there was a revision of the standard of the East Siberian Laika, because he did not want to destroy valuable dogs created by peoples of the Russian Far East.  Because of his refusal to accept the trends in official cynology of his time, A. K. Abramov was forced to step aside.

In 1963, V. V. Ryabov who was an author of a book about Evenk’s Laika (1939) raised a question about aboriginal breeds again in the magazine «Hunting and Hunting Industry» (Okhota I okhotnichye khozyaistvo in Russian): «…it is time to put invented breed standards to an end, they bothered us long enough; it is time to work seriously on putting together breed standards based on really existing Laika breeds, the Komi Laika, Mansi Laika, Hanty Laika and Evenk Laika». 

Either because it was difficult to go against the official wind created by «the Moscow parents» of new purebreds or because the propaganda was too strong, but in the 1960s the author of this text also thought that the only purebreds were the Russo-European Laika, Karelo-Finnish Laika, West Siberian Laika and East Siberian Laika. I particularly liked the West Siberian Laikas from Moscow.

My Uzon, a son of Ayan 1086, the West Siberian Laika of I. I. Shurupov showed himself versatile at the Kamchatka dog races trials. Other Moscow dogs were also good.  I remember an interesting talk with P. F. Tarkhaneev in Sverdlovsk. Other dog experts considered him an oddity for his constant talk about apparently non-existent dogs. Being a beginner dog expert, I memorized the wish of A. P. Masover to keep describing aboriginal dogs of the northeast; he meant we might need it later on.

Yes, our purebred Laika are good, the Russo-European Laika, West Siberian Laika, East Siberian Laika and Karelo-Finnish Laika. They all, except the East Siberian Laika, were recognized internationally. However, why should we sacrifice our aboriginal dogs?!

Now, I think we could run our Laika breeding programs in two directions: to keep aboriginal breeds pure and at the same time, if desired, develop new breeds using the interbreeding of different aboriginal dogs. Unfortunately, only the second direction was chosen. 

There is quite an exhaustive description of the origins of our purebred Laikas by A. T. Voilochnikov and S. D. Voilochnikov (1962 and more recent editions). Nevertheless, I wish to focus the attention of readers on certain features of the Soviet period of Laika breeding.

In the USSR, purebred Laikas were developed in major cynological centers of the country: Moscow, Leningrad, Sverdlovsk, Kirov etc.  Thus, the Russo-European Laika was formed mainly in Moscow and Leningrad out of Hanty Laika and other local breeds of West Siberia, Komi, Karelia, Arkhangelsk Province, Kostroma Province, Mary Autonomous Province, etc.  To fix a certain type of coat color, close inbreeding was used. Therefore, the Russo-European Laika cannot be identified as any of the original breeds. This is a new breed obtained by interbreeding several breeds, not by the natural merging of aboriginal type dogs as it was often written.

In the 60s-70s, the most popular hunting purebred was the West Siberian Laika. During the 40 years of existence of the breed, from Moscow to different provinces of the country 15,000 puppies with pedigree documents were shipped (Shurupov, 1993). In 1970, at the 50th anniversary Moscow show of hunting dogs, there were 340 West Siberian Laikas shown (Voilochnikov and Voilochnikov, 1992). During these years, at one of such dog shows in Moscow, I worked at the Laika ring. We, dog show experts, had a hard time to arrange 160 West Siberian Laikas. Their owners considered it very important to know if their dogs would take 137th or 138th place in the ring.

Losing aboriginal Laikas, hunters and non-hunters bought West Siberian Laikas, especially because they had «papers». «Leaders» of this breed played exactly a role of killers of aboriginal Laika breeds. When West Siberian Laikas got in those rare places, where aboriginal breeds still survived, they replaced them, helping the extermination.  Local aboriginal Laikas did not attract the attention of wildlife biologists or expert cynologists.  At that not so remote time, nearly everyone was educated in the Moscow school in hunting dogs and knew only about purebred Laikas.

Now, let us trace the origins of the West Siberian Laika, with what kind of breeds it was «mixed». This is primarily the Mansi (Vogul) Laika and Hanty (Ostyak) Laika, Komi (Zyryan) Laika, Uralian Laika, Udmurt Laika, Evenk (Lamut) Laika and Nenets Laika.  It also included sled Laikas of the NE part of Russia, (Shurupow, 1993).

The East Siberian Laika is a younger, still not stabilized purebred, but just like our other purebred Laikas, it cannot be considered as a certain aboriginal dog.  A conventional idea is that its standard is based on the description of the Amur Laika by I. I. Vakhru[ev (1945).

To the contrary of the introduction to the standard, it is not based on Evenk’s Laika.  The standard of the East Siberian Laika, as well as the standards of our other purebred Laikas, is based on the seemingly consistent expectation that our Laikas should be increasing in size and better coated in the direction from west to east, according to E. I. Shereshevsky. However, peoples of our north, Siberia and Far East did not know about this consistent array of breeds. Everywhere, and also in the Far East, they had different dogs, some of which were rather small. The standard of the East Siberian Laika and subsequently dog shows favored the biggest and sturdiest, coarse built dogs.  This had its impact on their hunting quality. Thus, I was evaluating the work of dogs at hunting contests of Laikas from the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. Big, impressive and rather phlegmatic East Siberian Laika males had the worst results, and smaller lean dogs were the best.

It is appropriate to mention that the West Siberian Laikas are also increasing in size and are getting sturdier as a result of the «improvement» of their standard in favor of bigger size.  As a result, they also are losing the agility and maneuverability characteristic of Laikas of the past.

The Karelo-Finnish Laika is still not recognized by leading international registries, perhaps because it is little different from the Finnish Spitz and many breed them both as one breed.

Thus, we had dozens of versatile breeds of aboriginal northern dogs (Laikas), and now we have only four purebreds.  It is said that they are pure hunting Laikas, because they all are of the hunting dog breeding. However, even purebred Laikas remain Laikas, northern dogs capable of performing diverse tasks. I already discussed it above and hope that these breeds will prove themselves as versatile.

How about the aboriginal breeds? They no longer exist and will never come back?

One positive part of our «perestroika» is the fact that we opened the cynological foreign world with its northern dogs and that our cynologists developed opinions beyond central cynological organizations and articles about aboriginal dogs began popping up in periodicals.

In 1992, the Kamchatka Laika and the Chukotka Laika became purebreds. The Russian Federation of Working Dog Breeding became free from the oppression of DOSAAF; its former leadership of retired military personnel became replaced by cynologists. They were those people who helped the recognition of new breeds.  The breed standards of these Laikas were written by workers of the cynological-scientific and applied enterprise «Kinos» , which had been approved by the Federation and the breeds got their names «the Kamchatka Sled Dog» and «the Chukotka Sled Dog». 

These breed standards were based on the research of aboriginal dogs of the northeastern parts of the country, including cynological survey of surviving populations of these dogs. Those were very expensive expeditions. A new to us factor emerged, such as «sponsorship» and it brought understanding people into action. Research on dogs was funded by a private company «Goskomsever. There were many other voluntary assistants.

News about recognition of the Kamchatka Sled Laika and the Chukotka Sled Laika was received at the start of the sled dog races «Beringia-92».  Dog teams formed of dogs of Kamchatka and Chukotka made up to 2040 km in Kamchatka and Chukotka («Beringia» got into Guinness Book of Records as the longest in the world races of sled dogs). A considerable part of these dogs already passed cynological evaluation and they have been rated as purebreds.

And again, the new names of these breeds declare their narrow specialization by indicating that they are only sled dogs. I already discussed briefly that this is not so. Both the Kamchatka and Chukotka dogs are suitable for diverse services.  Their use for traditional methods of transportation would not help the rebirth of these breeds. Methods of pedigree work with aboriginal populations of dogs are still not worked out and the traditional breeding with free mating is no longer efficient.  Therefore, the future of these breeds is still uncertain.

In 1994, the now forgotten reindeer herding Laika became a new purebred. This is formerly the Nenets Laika, the Samoyed Laika and the Tavgian Laika. The Russian Cynological Federation approved the first official standard of this breed offered by «Kinos» under the name «the Reindeer Herding Spitz» (Olenegonka).

The future of the Olenegonka is less doubtful, because they are most interesting, used for diverse works and present in kennels outside their northern range.  The question remains how to run pedigree work with this breed in the north, where kennels are sparse and access to imported breeds is wide open? It is clear that local people would not save the breed and it is impossible, and it is also impossible to settle cynologists among them and regular visits to the northern regions are expensive.

It seems everything is done! We have four well-established purebred Laikas and three more purebreds recently designated.

Let us look in the works of contemporary specialists. A. P. Voilochnikov and S. D. Voilochnikov (1992) wrote: «…one region, where local Laikas still remain pure, is the Evenkian National District, Krasnoyarsk Territory. The hunting industry organization of this region took simple measures for preservation of local Laikas.»

I. Shurupov (1993) wrote: «…in 1989 and in 1990 I hunted in the Khanty-Mansi National District twice. Until now, industrial hunters and local people who adhere to the traditional way of life, still have pure Khanty-Mansi Laikas».

S. Uspensky,(1994) wrote: «The amazing sled dogs of Siberia are a wholesome part of the values of Russia, her gene pool of aboriginal breeds of domesticated animals. This treasure has become impoverished because of breeders’ lack of attention and unwise experimentation and its loss would be unforgivable. We urgently need action to survey the remaining representatives of this breed, primarily in northern Yakutia, in the lower parts of the Yana River, the Indigirka River, the Alazeya River and the Kolyma River, where these dogs still occur.»

I can add more and more quotations. This kind of information, wishes and recommendations are certainly beneficial. However, who would start the work and where to get the funds?! For example, we did not have enough money to continue the survey beyond Kamchatka and Chukotka and collect information about the Laikas of Koryak and the polar regions.

Therefore, at this time I would not make any recommendations, but will make a few conclusions to summarize the above.

1. Russia had several dozens of aboriginal breeds of northern dogs. Being primitive breeds, they were suitable for use for different services.
2. During the Soviet era, four remarkable Laika breeds had been created. This was done at the expense of nearly all the aboriginal breeds of northern dogs, which could be kept pure.
3. Aboriginal breeds of northern dogs, despite all odds, still exist, as well as peoples, who possess them. Examples of this are the Kamchatka Laika, the Chukotka Laika and the Olenegonka.
4. The value of aboriginal dogs as a part of the national heritage, culture and prestige of Russia is beyond doubt.  The preservation of these dogs does not require big investments, if the money is provided to honest, knowledgeable and hard working people.