UKC Northern Breed · FCI standard 304

Russian-European Laika.

FCI utilization: hunting dog for all-round purposes (304; with working trial), a breed of the European forest areas of Russia. FCI temperament: steady, evenly tempered, with a very well developed sense of scent and detection of game. Beregovoy: primarily a hunting dog; among the most efficient dogs treeing any small game; bays moose, wild boar or bear; very good family dog and watchdog; not a good city dog. Project Upland: bigger and somewhat more aggressive than the Karel Laika, it shines equally on big game and small forest game. HuntingDog.ru (Russian): a versatile hunting breed that spots small animals in trees and barks until the hunter arrives and can track bear and moose. Wikipedia: a natural hunter that frequently trees game, using its bark to alert the hunter to treed prey..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 20.5 to 24 in · bitches 18.9 to 23 in

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2010

Low and high span FCI, Beregovoy, Wikipedia and Project Upland (FCI converted from cm). No ideal is printed.

Coat

FCI: harsh straight outer coat over a well developed, thick, soft, abundant, woolly undercoat; collar on neck and shoulders, side-whiskers, trousers without feathering; hair between the toes; typical colours black with white or white with black, solid black and solid white also occur. Beregovoy: black with white patches of variable size, from entirely black to entirely white; grey, red, ticking and brown brindle are faults; black coats on dogs living outside may bleach brownish in the sun. Wikipedia: black, grey, white, pepper and salt, dark with white patches and white with dark patches are all acceptable.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2010

Wikipedia lists grey and pepper and salt as acceptable; FCI and Beregovoy treat grey as a fault or do not list it. Both stand.

Heat tolerance

3 of 5 · Harsh outer coat over a thick, soft, woolly undercoat, a taiga-forest breed (FCI); HuntingDog.ru (Russian) notes the dense undercoat is needed for the cold in which it works

DerivedFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2010

Derived from the coat description (medium double = 3). No measured data.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Exercise need

Beregovoy: needs freedom and plenty of exercise to stay healthy mentally and physically; not a good city dog. Wikipedia: requires plenty of exercise, any opportunity to run free and hunt is optimal; bored, it becomes destructive.

EditorialVladimir Beregovoy, 2012

Editorial; no registry or Royal Kennel Club band.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2010

Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Primary game

Beregovoy: in Russia most are used to hunt squirrel and capercaillie and occasionally marten; they bay moose, wild boar or bear; in the USA proven squirrel and raccoon treeing dogs. Beregovoy (quoting Shereshevsky 1956): many dogs work independently on squirrel, marten and grouse at 8 to 10 months. HuntingDog.ru (Russian): from the 1970s the breed was used actively for squirrel hunting, and the article blames a squirrel-hunting ban in the Moscow region (from 1979) for a fall in numbers; over time the breed learned to hunt a wider range of game. Wikipedia: typically raccoon or squirrel treed; also called an excellent duck-hunting dog. FCI names no species.

Breed clubVladimir Beregovoy, 2012

FCI prints no species list. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Also used on

Beregovoy: bear, moose and wild boar baying; can be used to repel nuisance bears from public places, but only loose (chained or leashed it is bait); a good hiking companion that will tree squirrels and lag behind barking. Wikipedia: duck hunting; family and guard dog.

Breed clubVladimir Beregovoy, 2012

Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Range

No source classes the breed close, medium or big. FCI gait: free movement. Beregovoy: needs freedom for free interaction with its surroundings and plenty of exercise; will lag behind barking at a treed animal. Project Upland (Laikas): unleashed, the dog simply vanishes in the woods and knows where the hunter is.

Breed clubVladimir Beregovoy, 2012

Descriptive only; no range classification published.

Search pattern

Beregovoy (Hunting With Laika, all Laikas): silent during search and chase, barks only when the game is found and treed, moderately but loud and persistently; stays away from the trunk and follows treed game from tree to tree; moose: silent chase, curved approach, one dog or two raised together; bear: fast silent chase then an attack barking loud, biting flanks and from behind, a pair raised together makes a good team; wild boar: two or three raised together. Beregovoy (breed page): the dog may bark a long time while treeing a squirrel, a raccoon or a cat, an important part of its work; when it detects a bear it attacks it barking loud, forcing it to defend itself, and then catches up with the walker after a few minutes. Beregovoy: scent of bear or moose excites it and it follows by sniffing air or tracks on the ground. Project Upland (Laikas): silent while searching, gives voice only when the quarry is secured.

Breed clubVladimir Beregovoy, 2012

Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Field trial standard

FCI: classified with working trial. Beregovoy: at the Kalinin research kennel (founded 1944) each breeding dog was tested for hunting ability on squirrel. Project Upland (Laikas): points-based bonitation (form, field ability, offspring); squirrel field trials in natural conditions; retrieve and blood-tracking trials; fenced boar and bear trials no longer permitted.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2010

The Russian Kynological Federation trial rules were not read.

Water work

Wikipedia: an excellent dog for duck hunting (no source cited). Beregovoy (Hunting With Laika, all Laikas): Moscow-area hunters have long used Laikas as duck retrievers, naming the West Siberian Laika.

EditorialWikipedia

The duck line on this breed is Wikipedia only and uncited there. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Cold water

3 of 5 · Dense double coat with a woolly undercoat (FCI); a forest breed of northern European Russia

DerivedFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2010

Derived from coat plus the northern forest work. No measured data; the only water-work line is an uncited Wikipedia duck-hunting line.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 4 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called: Russko-Evropeiskaya Laika, Russo-European Laika, Russko-Evropeïskaïa Laïka, REL

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