MEET THE RUSSKIY (RUSSIAN) TOY

dogs owned by Valeria Bocharova (Russia)

The History - The Standard

The Russkiy Toy (known as the Russian Toy in other parts of the world, including the United States) is a small, elegant, lively dog with long legs, fine bones and lean muscles. They are active and cheerful, possessing keen intelligence and a desire to please. This breed loves to snuggle and be close to their human companions, although sometimes slightly aloof to strangers. They are neither cowardly nor aggressive.

The Russkiy Toy is a toy breed with a lineage that dates back to the Russian aristocracy. In general, he is a good-natured imp that loves to run and play. They will dash through the house or yard chasing toys as long as you can keep up, while many others are willing to do nothing more than lounge in your lap all day long, content in knowing that they are the prize jewel in your home. They thrive on human companionship and will let you know if they are feeling neglected. Their coat is either semi-long or smooth. The longhaired variety carries a nice ruff on the chest and unique feathering on the extremities, tail and ears. Long-coated Russkiy Toys will not have an adult coat until it is more than a year old and full fringing not until three years of age. The smooth-coated variety is sleek and smooth to the touch. There is also a slight attitude difference between the two varieties. Smooth Coats tend to be a little more terrier-like than Long Coats. However, both share a larger-than-life personality.

This excerpt was taken from a book entitled "RUSSIAN TOY...Precious Little Paws" by Angelica V. Cain...

"Despite the fact that the breed is comparatively young, Russian Toys are becoming more and more popular not only 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. "

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 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 but in the 1980's the new standard declared that the Moscow Long Haired Toy Terrier and the Russian Toy Terrier were in fact two varieties of a single breed)

"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.

Photo by E. Soloveva - dogs owned by Valeria Bocharova (Russia)

THE RUSSKIY TOY STANDARD AND COLOURS

AS PER THE CKC AND THE AKC