“Set my compass north, I’ve got winter in my blood.”
Photo by Dave Parsons.
I was waiting for Dave to put up a post about Pavel’s arrival in Canada before I wrote anything else.
Dave just published a post about this topic on his blog.
So I’m going to tell a bit of the back story.
Dave, as you may or may not know, has spent the summer in Europe. He stayed with a Swedish vallhund breeder in Finland, and he traveled extensively in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
Dave’s older dog is a Swedish vallhund named Riley, and he spent the summer at Dave’s parents’ house in Alberta.
Now, Dave has been reading this blog for quite some time, and over the past two (going on three) years, Dave has been a regular on the chat room. He’s also started his own blog about dogs, and he and I have talked about dogs extensively.
He’s also been reading up on different breeds, and he happened to come across some literature on the Russian laika breeds. The Russians have several breeds of laika, some of which superficially resemble Siberian huskies, but they are multipurpose hunting dogs that are used on everything from squirrels to pheasants to moose to brown bears.
He began hanging out with the laika community on Facebook, and someone invited him to a “Laika Days” test and trial festival in Finland.
While at the Laika Days event, he met some West Siberian laikas.
Here, he is meeting a Russian-bred West Siberian:
As soon as I saw that video, my first reaction was:
“Dave’s gonna be trading in Riley on a longer-legged model.”
And it wasn’t a month after that video was posted that Dave contacted me about getting a laika.
He thought might be best to import one from Europe, but then through different message boards and through Brad Anderson’s blog, he discovered there was a breeder in Pike County, Kentucky– who just happened to have a litter.
Pike County, Kentucky, is right on the West Virginia border, and Dave just happened to have a contact in West Virginia (me).
So Dave tried to make arrangements for me to pick up the pup, and for a variety of snafus, we wound up not being able to do it.
Dave came back to Canada at the end of August, and then I thought he mind had been made up. He was going to get a West Siberian laika from a breeder in Finland.
But then the breeder in Kentucky had another litter, and Dave thought it would be better if I helped import the pup.
So I met the breeder at Cabela’s in Charleston, and picked up this little wolf-like thing.
And I was very impressed with him. He was unlike most Nordic dogs I’ve seen. He was not obstinate or wild or overly independent.
He was very interested in people. He was very responsive to my voice, and he could be easily scolded away from doing naughty things.
I didn’t know that there was a single spitz breed like this. Even the very trainable ones– like Norwegian grays and keeshonds– have their moments of being quite obstinate.
This dog was unlike those breeds.
I got somewhat attached to little Pavel, but I was very happy to see him go to a good home where he can wander the prairies and aspen forests of Alberta and (soon) the temperate rainforests of British Columbia.
Dave got a good dog.
Dave says he’s already treeing and air scenting game like a seasoned hunter. He’s finding squirrels, fishers, and chipmunks that Riley is totally missing.
I was really happy to be a part of this.
And I’m glad Dave has his dog!
I had a lot of second-thoughts about importing one from Finland versus United States, but the key factors which levied the choice for an American breeder is:
1) Vladimir sanctioned the breeding and provided Gary with a waiting list before the litters were bred
2) His parents are being used as squirrel-dogs, albeit with Russian trial certificates on them.
3) It’s easier to ask advice from someone who both speak the same language and who has been hunting for 50-some years in North America about our native fauna; oppose to overseas
The problem with importing a dog from abroad is that it is expensive and it’s not a guarantee breeders will send you their best dogs.
Pavel is a great dog. I look forward to watching him grow up!
“I was very impressed with him. He was unlike most Nordic dogs I’ve seen. He was not obstinate or wild or overly independent. He was very interested in people. He was very responsive to my voice, and he could be easily scolded away from doing naughty things. I didn’t know that there was a single spitz breed like this. ”
That description convinces me to be on the lookout for one of these dogs. I’ve always avoided getting a Nordic type dog for just those reasons. Every Spitz, Siberian, etc. that I’ve encountered has been too independent.
They are hard to come by. I bet there aren’t 200 in North America.
The Russians used them as total multipurpose hunting dogs, so they had to be obedient and intelligent.
They also have a big genetic base, and they are the only breed I know of that can be registered as pure even if they have a close wolf ancestor.
There is one that is being hunted on moose right now that is 14 years old.
You have the “hunters only sell to other hunters” mentality in the breed as well.
I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with that mentality.
Lots of dogs have been screwed up through mass production for the pet market.
There are hunters using Russo-European Laikas in North America too. They are considered the most “volatile” of the Russian breeds though.
it shouldn’t be surprising because their close cousin, Karelian Bear Dog, is considered as the most asocial of all Finnish breeds.
Mind you, the REL at the Laika Days were easy to approach. During one of the sessions for the bear instinct-test, one of them ran toward us to be coddled before the owner retrieved it. Then it started barking at the bear-machine like a proper working dog without fear. :)
What’s with the jumping up behavior? And the mouthiness? Just that the dog in the vid is kept chained? Or, as I suspect, the laikas are close relatives of the corgis/collies? Does anyone know?
Russians keep their dogs in the wilderness. They don’t train them the way Westerners do. Tying up a dog for limited periods of time is perfectly acceptable and humane, and it has been for thousands of years.
I was not objecting to chaining. The chain is just part of a dog’s life. If the whole life adds up to interesting and social, then the dog is ok, whether chained or no. Also I know sled dogs are regularly kept on chains.
My reason for asking is that in my own very limited experience, dogs who jump up and try to hang onto a person are farm dog or collie crosses kept on chains. The ones I’ve seen were bored and lonely, not a good circumstance. I just didn’t know whether the behavior stemmed from the chaining or the breeding or whether any dog might act that way at any time.
What’s with the jumping up behavior? And the mouthiness? Just that the dog in the vid is kept chained? Or, as I suspect, the laikas are close relatives of the corgis/collies? Does anyone know?
Whatever, Pavel looks like a wonderful little dog. Hats off to his breeder.
The last genetic analysis I’d seen, which came from one of those ID your breed with DNA outfits, a West Siberian laika was listed a being part Samoyed and some other arctic breeds. The Samoyed is also from Western Siberia. The temperament is actually pretty similar.
I’ll let Dave add anything. He’s the expert. I’m not.
Not an expert, just merely passing through. :)
Well, you’ve taught me things, so you’re more of an expert than I am.
From what I understand, there was a time in the Taiga where dogs weren’t chained. If a dog wandered away from human settlement, it was left behind to be eaten by wolves or tigers. However, I am told that this way of life is changing as more and more people are migrating to Siberia for extract of natural resources.
The dogs are chained because it’s part of Finnish traditional way of keeping hunting dogs. However, nowadays, most people keep them in a kennel-run until they are needed for hunting; but since “Laika Days” was a meeting for enthusiasts to gather together. everyone need a way to contain their dogs on the camp-grounds without worrying about them running off. At night, they are taken back into the van or camper.
In Finland, it is illegal to tether a dog exceeding a certain number of hours, and there must be a certain length of chain, and other required environmental factors. So, most people keep their dogs in a pen instead.
But again when Canadians go camping in groups, dogs are often kept tethered during the day. It really sucks to have a dog-fight when there are 20-plus dogs occupying the same lot or rented area for camping.
:)
Well if you’re really interested, I found the following:
http://www.rightpet.com/RescueOrganizations/adoption-rescue-organizations/west-siberian-laika/west-virginia-united-states
FWIW, seems to me that Jeffrey Bragg says his Seppala Siberians are more loyal and less independent than the AKC Siberians.