THE RUSSKIY (RUSSIAN) TOY
Meet the Russkiy Toy (CKC) or as they are better known world wide, the Russian Toy.
The following is an excerpt taken from a book I recently read called "RUSSIAN TOY Precious Little Paws " written by Angelica V. Cain
"Despite the fact that the breed is comparatively young, Russian Toys are becoming more and more popular not on in Russia but in other countries as well. Russian Toys, along with a great love and affection toward their owners, have very proud and carefree personalities. "
I have found this to be so true, at least in my case. I must admit, I have only recently started a journey into the "small dog" realm, having owned, bred, and shown Shetland Sheepdogs for over 45 years. Due to age and health reasons, I have been looking for a smaller dog with some hair...although not a lot of hair...for some time. I fell in love with the "look" of the Russian Toy over several pictures on Facebook when conversing with other dog fanciers. I inquired as to the name of those precious pictures of the small dog with huge fringed ears, and upon learning the name, started to research the breed. Everything I found sparked more of my interest, and my "side" journey began. I must admit, my first experience in importing into Canada as an exhibitor/breeder was wrought with difficulty and frustration, but in the end, I was rewarded with my first two Russian Toys, Pepper and Lovey. I will document my journey later, but first, let me give you a quick overview of these little dogs as per Ms Cain's book and the RT standard as per the CKC.
Ms Cain writes: "The Russian Toy remains a status symbol in Russian society, much as it was a century ago, when their essence was to decorate the drawing rooms and salons of rich ladies, epitomizing the luxury of their lives...They are dogs that are endlessly devoted and equally boundless in their ability to return love...Despite Russian Toys affectionate nature, they are quite capable of performing some purely utilitarian functions, similar to a watchdog. Russian Toys have excellent hearing and sense of smell, handed down from their ancestors, the terriers of England...The Russian Toy will be the first to give the signal that there is a stranger at the door of your home. With his loud bark, he will inform the whole neighbourhood about it. (It has been my experience that this is certainly true...they let us know before any of the other dogs, that there is someone approaching the front steps!) Russian Toys started out with the smooth coat, and these have been in existence for more than a hundred years...although some with longer coat and fringes were born, they were discarded from breeding and disqualified from showing as this was considered undesirable at the time. The long coat line was developed by Evgenia Zharova in the 1950s and until recently the long-haired Russian Toys were called Moscow Longhaired Toy-Terriers".
In the history of the breed chapter, Ms Cain expounds more on this: "It is believed that the roots of the Russian version of a Toy-Terrier originate in Germany and England and that it was a prestigious salon breed...The English Toy-Terrier was one of the most popular companion dogs in Russia...The official version says that the most likely ancestors and relatives of the Russian Toy were English Toy-Terriers, the miniature variety of the Manchester Terrier and one of the best rat-catchers of old England. But the Russian Toy is still significantly different from its British counterparts and is completely unique and independent breed.
"The Socialist Revolution of 1912 changed not only people's lives but the lives of their pets. Little dogs were usually kept by people in high society who either immigrated to other countries or simply got killed during the revolution. As the aristocracy left the country, 99% of the toy dogs left with them. The few remaining ones were frowned upon as non-productive symbols of aristocratic or bourgeoisie excess. They didn't hunt, didn't\t guard, didn't protect, and many were killed for being "useless"...since the middle of the 20th century Russians have gradually resumed dog breeding, (although the breeding of small dogs was conducted most often spontaneously). The breeding of toy dogs was carried out without putting too much thought into it...Nevertheless, a number of pure Toy-Terriers continued to exist...After WW11none of those dogs had paperwork or pedigrees because they were simply picked up in the ruins of destroyed cities. Later, the only information that could be found about them was the name of the country from where the dog was brought. "
"However, in the 1950s, working and hunting breed clubs started to create sections for toy dogs. Those dogs were cultivated by competent dog handlers who, despite Iron Curtain limitations and the inability of being allowed to bring good dogs from outside of the country, did their job professionally. Still, only a portion of the terriers was phenotypically consistent with the breed. It was common to receive long-haired puppies fr4om two smooth-haired parents with ancestors of unknown origin. Sometime in the 1950s rational breeders realized what was lost in terms of small companion dogs and decided to revive what they could of the breed. At that time the borders were closed, and the import of the English Toy-Terrier was close to impossible."
"The breeding program began, but exactly which dogs were used is one of Russian's best kept state secrets...the biggest being is that no one really knows anymore. It is known that the smallest dogs they could find were used. Pedigrees weren't a factor and most likely a large number weren't pure bred. What was important was size, phenotype, and personality. Much is speculation...there was almost no access to the use of such breeds as the Yorkshire terriers or the Chihuahua, although there is no doubt that some Chihuahua blood entered the line. But the Russian Toy shows a lot of differences from the breeds who probably furnished contributions, like the English Toy-Terrier and the Papillion.
"In the beginning, only the smooth haired dogs were bred; long haired sometimes manifested in the breed, were considered defective and disqualified. In 1957, there was one puppy in a litter with fringes at the ears and limbs...This little boy immediately attracted the attention of many breeders." (It was this long coat line that was developed by Ms Zharova). As the result of painstaking breeding and rigorous selection, breeders managed to recover an almost extinct breed. (As of 2022, there are approximately only 1,000 world wide) "However, a significant portion of Toy-Terriers looked just like purebreds; their genotypes were not consistently expressed. Therefore, surprises inherited from unknown ancestors sometimes appeared. An example would be long haired coats."
"In 1996, the National Club of Russian Toy-Terriers was organized in Moscow...(as seen earlier in the book...In 1957 Ms Evgenia Zharova started to develop the long-haired version, which was called Moscow Longhaired Toy-Terrier). On February 22, 2000, the National Club of Russian Toys established the new revised standard for Russian Toys where smooth and long coat lines were brought together under the same name Russian Toy-Terrier. On Februar4y 27, 2003, the FCI accepted the Russian Toy for consideration, and on February 21, 2006, The FCI made the decision to recognize the Russian Toy breed, but forced the RKF to remove the word Terrier from the name of the breed as the breed doesn't represent the terrier type anymore. That is when the Russian Toy-Terrier became recognized as Russian Toy."
There was so much more to the history in this little book, along with the history of Ms Zharova and her contribution to the breed. I recommend finding and reading this book, should I spark an interest in this breed.
This is Pepper - ``Kayenne Pepper Wonderful Toy``, imported from Latvia breeder, Irena Gavrisa along with a little female from the same breeder. Pepper`s pedigree sire is: Dilajtful Drim Tip-Top (RKF) and his dam is `Shelkovaya Krasotka Kitti iz Sarioly (RKF)
This is Lovey - ``Love Story Wonderful Toy, imported from Latvia breeder, Irena Gavrisa along with Pepper. Lovey`s pedigree sire is Ludvig Wonderful Toy (LKF) and her dam is Blagorodnaya Lady iz Sarioly (RKF)
These two represent the breed in a lovely way, both in type and temperament. Pepper stands 9``(22.5 cm) tall at the shoulder and weighs 4 pounds (1.8 kg). Lovey stands 11``(27.5 cm) at the shoulder and weighs 5 pounds (2.27 kg) The CKC standard calls for 20 - 28 cm in height preferred, although they allow 1 -/+ cm (19-29 cm) and weights up to 3 kg.
The AKC standard calls for heights preferred of 8``-11``although they do allow 7``-12`` and weights of 2-6.5 pounds.
CKC STANDARD FOR RUSSKIY (RUSSIAN) TOYS
The Russian Toy has been recognized by the American Kennel Club for a few years now and the Russian Toy Club of America (the National Breed Club) just held their first National show in Texas...wish I could have seen that! In Canada, the Russkiy (Russian Toy) has been registered as a purebred...however, as it was not fully recognized yet by the CKC, they were registered as a ``miscellaneous`` breed - albeit in the Toy Group. Recently the breed did get voted in to be recognized by the CKC members, and is just waiting for the final approval stamp by Agriculture Canada. All the same, they can be shown at all CKC functions, in the Toy Group. My understanding is that any points etc, is recorded and once they are fully recognized is when they would come into effect for championships. I could be wrong, but I do know that once you could only show miscellaneous breeds in a miscellaneous class if the host club offered a miscellaneous class, but those rules were changed to allow people to show their ``miscellaneous`` dogs in any show under what ever group in which they would be categorized. The Russian Toy's category is the Toy Group.
My experience in getting these two dogs was, as I mentioned previously, was fraught with stress and difficulty. First let me reiterate that up until a couple of years ago, it would not have been, even though Exhibitor/Breeders are considered commercial in the eyes of Import Canada...and that was ok...we just had to pay our ``pound of flesh`` in terms of import tax for GST rated on our payment for the puppy and we could import them at 4 months of age as long as they had their Rabies vaccine and Vet clearance. But there was a newsworthy event a couple of years ago that changed the face of importing puppies into Canada for anyone who is an exhibitor breeder (considered commercial).
There was an airplane full of diseased and dying puppies that landed at Toronto airport from a rescue organization in Ukraine to another rescue organization in Canada. Many of these pups died, or were dying, and those surviving carried diseases that we did not have here in Canada. The hue and cry over that event changed the Import Laws here in Canada. Yes, they did have a list of countries that were on a ``banned`` list for carrying Rabies, and that was ongoing...I believe the US also has this list. However, now the Canadian Inspection Agency implemented laws that really put a bind on Exhibitor/breeders importing any new blood into our gene pool...whether it is from the USA or abroad, we are considered Commercial, and as such, we have to have in place an import permit to bring in anything under 8 months of age. I thought O.K. I will look into this.
First I tried to find a breeder of Russkiy Toys in Canada so I didn't have to import. I kid you not...I could not find anyone. I contacted the CKC, they did not have any breeder on record...and I even had to really search to call up the Russkiy Toy - as they don`t go by Russian Toy here in the CKC. So I spread out my search into the US. I contacted several breeders, and a couple could give me a name or two in Canada to contact. Which I did...with no success. One, a vet in eastern Canada, never did answer my many messages and emails. Another did answer me but had nothing to place with me, and primarily had the short coated variety while I was interested in the long coated variety. Another did answer me and even though she did have the long coats, was not actively breeding so had nothing for me as well (Although she had lovely cats she bred that were definitely tempting!). Everyone I contacted in the US did not have anything at this time for me. Keep in mind that the breed is still relatively new in the US and most breeders do not place their females, especially their ``good`` ones while trying to build their bloodlines and stable of dogs. And I realize that myself that it would be difficult to start with a female...My plan was to start with a breeding pair so I would have my own competition at least to show in Canada where I personally have never seen them in a show ring, plus would have the foundation with which to start. My search led me to Jerome Podell, whose name always cropped up in my conversations with breeders in the US. I started a conversation with this gentleman, and it is ongoing right now, and in a moment I will explain why and how.
In the meantime, my search went to Europe. Specifically started in Russia and Belarus, then Latvia. I was able to find a lovely, lovely black and tan female from a breeder in Russia, and a lovely boy from a breeder in Belarus...imagine my dismay when I found out that Belarus was one of the rabies banned countries we could not import a dog from...I was in negotiations with the breeder in Russia when first the AKC and then the CKC banned registrations from any dogs imported from Russia bearing a RKF pedigree. Canada itself did not ban the import of dogs from Russia but imposed a 35% tax on top of the import tax to do so, making it a hardship financially to import, never mind not being able to then register the dog with CKC so that import also fell through.
I did contact a breeder in Latvia, Irena Gavrisa, who was very helpful to me in terms of choosing a ``breeding pair`` from those pups she had at the time; however, this also came at a time when I was trying to find the ins and outs of import permits etc, to bring in puppies.
First let me tell you, the CFIA website is NOT user friendly. I found one place where I opened up a permit form for importing live animals (turned out to be a wrong one for my purposes anyway) but it horrified me to try to fill it out...wanting a business name, number, board of directors etc....and here I was a hobby exhibitor/breeder, certainly not a business, and definitely not a lucrative one! After several fruitless searches, I finally found a site that said to download this fillable pdf...both my computers, a desktop and a MAC, could not open the document, saying I had to download a certain program in order to do so...I wasn't going to try that...again I found it on my work computer...and this time I thought I could download the program. To my amazement it worked and I filled out the permit, went to submit and it kept saying I missed a square saying who would pay...so I went back several times, could not find anything pertaining to this anywhere...and finally gave up. As a side note, you could not print this form out, you had to fill it out on line...but nowhere could I find a place to pay for it. So I closed it out and was done with it....or so I thought....but to my dismay I found the downloaded program had completely messed up my computer at work...not allowing me to access my patient charts on my EMR. So I spent the next hour with the software tech to repair my computer and bring it back to what it was before the fateful download.
I asked my contact at World Wide Animal Travel what to do. If I wanted to bring in a puppy from 4 months of age to 8 months of age, I had to apply for an import permit and go through all the hoops as a commercial entity or wait until they were 8 months and a day, at which time I could bring them in with their vet record and inspection. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! What breeder is willing to keep your purchase for 4 more months before you can import them into Canada was my question.
Enter Jerome Podell. The USA does not have such a restriction. After discussion with the breeder in Latvia, and connection made with Jerome...arrangements were made for the two pups to fly to Jerome in Maryland, USA as soon as they reached 4 months and could get their rabies and import inspection. Payment to Latvia went via Western Union - a great arrangement to my mind as she had her money within minutes - in terms of deposit, then full payment, plus I sent her the payment for the flight and export pedigrees. Jerome picked them up at Dulles Airport, got them through customs and took them home. From there he ground transported them to our mutual friend, in Washington State, who was willing to foster them until they reached 8 months and a day! In September, they entered Vancouver Canada, where World Wide Animal Travel cleared them through Customs for me and then sent them via seaplane to Nanaimo, BC where I finally FINALLY was able to greet my two sweet Russian Toys. As a side note, I did have to provide WWAT with a copy of the sales contract, a copy of my receipts of payment, a copy of my Driver's licence, and the pups came through with the vet inspection from the US as well as their export vet documents. I also had to make a quick phone call to Service Canada to get a temporary Business number which enabled them, I think, to be able to legally collect the GST...That`s all I could think it would be for. It did leave me wondering if people bringing in pets had to go through the same rigmarole at the border...hmmm, something to look into. WWAT did it all, plus paid the GST tax on my purchase price...and I was grateful for their help, felt the cost to do so well worth it, saving me a trip to Vancouver and the headache of clearing them myself.
So now...guess what happened...a new wrinkle. I finally had the official export pedigrees, so I went through the process to register them with CKC...they were rejected because the pups had spent over 3 months in the US so I had to get their AKC papers first! Then when I went to register them with the AKC, I was told, because the pedigrees were issued to a Canadian with a Canadian address, they had to be registered with the CKC first! Back again the the CKC...only to be told THEY DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE LATVIAN KENNEL CLUB SO I COULD NOT REGISTER THEM HERE IN CANADA!!! Are you kidding me!!! I think they should have told that to me first off do you not think! So back I went to the LKF...could they change the address on the export pedigrees to reflect my US address in Washington State...to which they said yes. Off went the originals to Latvia with the request to email me copies of the change as soon as they did this so I could start the process with the AKC. Finally they came, I sent in the application for their AKC registration with certified pedigree. I got that very quickly, and sent it off to CKC. FINALLY I received the paper copy of their CKC registration in the mail a few days ago, albeit it is still a miscellaneous certification because of the wait for AgC to put their stamp of approval on the new breed acceptance.
Its been well over a year since I started my search.. and its been at least 11 months since I acquired these two pups to finally getting them and finally having them registered with the CKC. A long journey, and one that was a HUGE learning curve for me. I have certainly learned that there will be a few changes in how I will expand my little group here. I have met a couple of enthusiasts here in Canada who will be working with me to try to expand the Russian Toy world here in Canada.