# West Siberian Laika female named Nayda



## ufimych (Sep 5, 2011)

Nayda is the only Laika I have now. In the past I had more of them. Here, she is after shedding in her summer coat. This is a naturally treeing dog. Just take your puppy in the forest and turn loose, it will start finding his own squirrels and bark under tree by age of 4 to 10 months. Laika will tree wild turkey, grouse, bobcat, raccoon and even black bear.


----------



## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

That is a beautiful dog! I know nothing about the breed. But it reminds me of a Smooth Coated Collie crossed with a Husky. Or do I need my glasses changed? LOL!


----------



## ufimych (Sep 5, 2011)

There is a book published: "Hunting Laika Breeds of Russia", MMP. It is cheap and it is available from the publisher and can be found in Amazon.com


----------



## stacey101 (Sep 20, 2010)

First time i`ve ever heard of a Laika , but they sure are beautiful. Almost wolf/coyote like.


----------



## ufimych (Sep 5, 2011)

stacey101 said:


> First time i`ve ever heard of a Laika , but they sure are beautiful. Almost wolf/coyote like.











On the first picture, Nayda was one year old. On this picture, she is 10 years old with a male puppy of her last litter. She is teaching this pup to protect his food. She gave this bone to the puppy and then, she began teasing him. The puppy is growling, but the mother seems enjoyng it.


----------



## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

Those dogs are absolutely gorgeous!


----------



## Cindy23323 (Mar 31, 2010)

They're very pretty


----------



## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

Gorgeous! I know nothing about them, but know "Laika" was the name of the dog sent into space by Russia. Was the name unrelated to the breed?


----------



## ufimych (Sep 5, 2011)

"Laika" is a Russian word, which means "barker". They sent a mutt in space and Laika was just name of that mutt. There is a large group of aboriginal dogs of NE Europe and Siberia, which Russians call Laika. There are several officially recognized Laika breeds: the Russo-European Lika, the West Siberian Laika and the East Siberian Laika. The Russo-European Laika is very similar to Karelian Bear Dog, but the West Siberian Laika and the East Siberian Laika are bigger and come in several coat colors each. Russian cynologists of the Soviet period also established the Karelo-Finish Laika, which appeared to be a sibling breed of the Finnish Spitz. RKF began accepting it as Finnish Spitz, but major hunting clubs disagree, beause they believe that the Karelo-Finnish Laika is better at hunting and they do not want to mix it with excessively barky Finnish Spitz. The term "laika" was coined by Prince Shirinsky Shikhmatov in late XIX century. Before that Russians called these dogs by names of ethnic groups of Siberian people, with which the dogs were associated. For example, the Votyak Laika, the Komi Laika, the Kevrolian Laika, etc., etc. In late XIX-early XX centuries, there were dozens of aboriginal type Laikas, but most of them extinct during industrialization era and WW-II time. The recognized breeds were established on basis of still remaining aboriginal dogs of large geographic regions. Most typical hunting style of Laika is barking under tree, when game animal is found.


----------



## ufimych (Sep 5, 2011)

This is the first West Siberian Laika male named Alik I imported from Russia in 1990. On the picture he is one year old, in his summer coat.









This is Shelma, the first West Siberian Laika female I imported in USA from Russia in 1990. Blood of this pair is in many West SIberian Laikasin USA and Canada today. We have LHANA (Laika Hunters Association of North America), almost all Laikas in our country belong to hunters. Laika makes a good pet, but it is on the hunting prawl each time, when it is loose. This is not a city dog, the best environment would be a house on land, away from highways and other houses so the dog could be turned loose for some time daily.

A few words about differences from Siberian Husky. Siberian husky originated from a sample of aboriginal dogs brought in Alaska from Siberia. They had been considerably modified by selective breeding to make them perfect sleddogs. West Siberian Laika is smaller, with smaller deep and slanted set eyes. When take in woods, the dog will stay with you, but it will be searching for game to tree or bay. This is the best warning or protection dog against bears.


----------

