Karelo-Finnish Laika (Finnish Spitz)

The Karelo-Finnish Laika and the Finnish Spitz have common ancestors - Aboriginal dogs of "dark red" (red) color, which inhabited the territory of Finland and modern Karelia. The local population used them as hunting dogs. At the end of the XIX century, Finland took up the revival of the breed, and in 1892 the breed was recognized by the Finnish Kennel Club.

Russian dog breeders engaged in breeding of Laika, drew attention to these small red dogs in the late 20-ies of the XX century. At the end of the sixties, Russia An independent breed, known as the Karelo-Finnish Laika. The name was chosen by the habitat of the ancestors of the breed, Finnish Spitz.

Despite the fact that the Karelo-Finnish Laika is practically no different from the Finnish Spitz, for a long time it was considered an independent breed in Russia and was known abroad, but at the same time was not included in the ICF classification.

In 2006, between the Russian Cynological Federation and the Finnish Cynological Club, an agreement was signed on the recognition of Russian livestock in the FCI system (ICF). In this way, Both breeds again merged into one: the Russian livestock of the Karelo-Finnish Laika was recognized as a breed of Finnish Spitz.

Despite the fusion of rocks, Karelian-Finnish laikascontinue to breed mainly as hunting dogs, while the Finnish Spitz is also used as a guard dog and a companion dog. Karelo-Finnish Laika can not be classified as one of the most popular breeds of dogs in Russia, and the Finnish Spitz is extremely popular at home. In 1979, this breed of dogs was recognized as the national breed of Finland.

Karelo-Finnish Laika is a small breed of dogs, the growth of males is 44-50 cm, the female - 39-45see Weight - 12-13 and 7-10 kg respectively. In its appearance, this breed of dogs is somewhat like a fox. The constitution is strong, with good posture and almost square proportions.

The stiffness and length of the wool of the Karelo-Finnish Laika vary depending on the part of the body: on the neck and back, the coat is more rigid (in this casethe wool on the shoulder blades is obviously longer and coarser), the tail and the back of the thighs are longer and thicker, on the limbs and head - short and tightly fitting. On the trunk, the hair is quite long, spaced from the body or raised. Undercoat is thick, soft and short.

Wool on the back is red or golden red (spectrum of hues from pale honey todark chestnut). Preferred shades are not, the main thing - that the color of the wool was clean and bright. On the tail, the back side of the thighs, the inside of the extremities, chest, throat, stomach, inner side of ears and cheekbones, the wool has a lighter tone. Despite the difference in tone, there should not be sharp color transitions.

Admissible (but undesirable) are small white markings on the paws and a white groove on the chest. The undercoat is lighter than the integumentary hair, but it should not be white. Puppies can be born with a dark gray, black, brown coat, which gradually acquires an "adult" color.

Finnish Spitz - live, energetic and courageous dogs. They are very active: Karelo-Finnish Laika needs one or two long walks a day, in addition, she will be quite active even at home. By the way, it is necessary to allocate time for games with a dog not only on walk, but also at home.

Finnish spitzers get on well with people and usuallysincerely attached to the owner and members of his family, while maintaining a certain degree of independence. They can treat outsiders a little restrainedly, but in no case maliciously. Karelo-Finnish Laika is very good for children; she is happy to play with them, but if you ignore it, the dog will not impose its society.

Usually Finnish Spitz does not get along well with other dogs, but small pets are betterat the same time not to start them: after all, it was originally a hunting breed of dogs, whose representatives parrot or hamster would be perceived primarily as game.