![]() Prior to the eruption of World War II, this breeding program resulted in quite a few small to medium sized similar Laikas being raised in the areas of Moscow and Leningrad by hunters. ![]() Although all of these Laikas tended to look quite similar there was some variation as Laikas from certain geographic regions tended to differ in the length of the muzzle, size of the ears, whether the body was rangy or short and thickness and color of the coat. The benefit of this breeding program is that it brought genetic diversity and health back into the breed at the cost of small variations in appearance. It was these Laikas the would become the foundation breeding stock for the development of the modern day Russo-European Laika. In Russia, Laikas were generally named in reference to where they were found originally, such as the case with Karelian Laika, the Komi Laika, the Zyryan Laika, the Votyak Laika and the Archangelsk Laika strains referenced today. These dogs were then bred back with native Laika strains of different geographical regions to try and save the breed and rekindle its hunting instinct. Realizing that this breed was now on the brink of extinction old Russian hunters near Moscow and Leningrad that recalled the old ways of hunting and could remember this breeds exceptional hunting qualities began to purchase what few remaining purebred dogs could still be found. However, the vast majority of these proud hunting dogs were no longer being utilized to fulfill their hunting roots, as they been relegated to simple peasant watchdogs that spent their entire life running loose near the house or living in a fenced yard behind the house. Laika traits can still be found in mixed breed dogs of these regions to present day.Īs of 1930 there were only a few pure bred Laikas remaining in remote pockets of the Vyatka Province, Komi Republic, Perm Province and North Ural. ![]() From there uncontrolled interbreeding of these new breeds with the Native Laika dogs decimated the population and brought purebred Laikas to the point of near extinction. Dogs that could guard or herd sheep, scent hounds, sight hounds and bird pointing dogs became the new favorite.ĭuring the late 19th Century and through the early part of the 20th Century, the land in even some of the most remote regions of the Taiga forests was settled and stripped in favor of agriculture over hunting by hordes of settlers from the west and south that brought with them these new breeds of agriculturally suited dogs. ![]() The Laikas of this time were used for hunting all types of game both big and small and as watchdogs for their masters family and property.Īs agriculture began to replace hunting as the primary means of sustainment for families in the region, the land was deforested and these hunting type Laika dogs were slowly replaced with other dogs more suited to this new world economy. Since these early times and up until the early 20th Century, strong, medium sized Laikas with pointed muzzles and prick ears were widely distributed across the Taiga Forest zone of Northeastern Europe all the way from Finland and Karelia to the Ural Mountains in the west. In archeological sites in Central and Northern Europe, fossilized remains of dogs very similar to the Laika dating back some 10,000 years ago have been found. It is thus theorized that it was the ancestors of these Spitz type dogs that mated with wolves, and human selective breeding from that point lead us to the variety of dogs present in this category today. Genetic testing of Spitz type dogs has found that dogs in this group are the most closely related to wolves, and thus are presumed to be some of the oldest types of dogs. Although the exact origins of Spitz type dogs are unknown, it is believed that all dogs of this type present today originated in arctic regions.
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