Portraits of Popular Breeds at Home and Abroad: Russkiy Toy

This cute miniature dog is nice and joyful. It is quite a new breed and it has only started becoming popular. However, it has everything one can expect from a sociable dog, its appearance is unusual, and the bonus of its size is that it doesn’t need much space. It will become a popular dog among many breeders I suppose.

The breed of Russkiy Toy or the Moscow Long Haired Toy Terrier originated in Russia from the English Toy Terrier when crossbreeding individuals without proofs of origin and mongrels. After some time, a long-haired puppy was born. The long coat around the ears of the dog, also called fringe, was very unusual and attractive. Therefore, breeders decided that this “flaw” will be a typical feature of a newly emerging breed. The first dogs were brought to the Czech Republic in 1986 and the World Canine Organization recognized the breed only in 2006. The same year, the breed was also renamed as Russkiy Toy.

These dogs have tiny physique, they are small and elegant. Their weight doesn’t exceed 3 kg. Their hair is either short and soft or 3–5cm long and slightly wavy. In both cases, it clings to the body. A typical feature of a Russkiy Toy is large ears with fringe – long, thick hair which, in adult age, fully covers the inner side of the ears and the ear tips.

They are great companions and are perfect for older people and children. They get very attached to their families, they love being in contact with them and hardly cope with loneliness, even though they can be taught to handle separation quite well with a decent amount of patience. They can be trained even by complete beginners as they are very intelligent and they are fast learners. They can also be great watchdogs which will loudly warn you about every undesired visitor.

They can do dog sports well; they will mainly be great at agility and dog dancing thanks to their fast and agile moves. Its small size doesn’t make it avoid long hiking. Exactly the opposite, this dog is very active and needs to be occupied enough to have the opportunity to properly frolick. It will be grateful if you take it for a run and it can also follow you on a bike. A great way to make it tired is coursing.

Even though it is quite an active breed, short walks will be enough if less exercise is compensated for by interactive games and brain-teasers that will occupy its mind. When feeding these dogs, you should focus on dry dog food designed for the specific needs of small breeds. If it gets high-quality feed, it doesn’t tend to be ill.

It isn’t spread a lot in the Czech Republic now but around twenty puppies a year are born here, so it might be soon more familiar to dog owners.

Related articles

How rescue dogs are trained

In the previous article, we wrote about what rescuing people entails and which dog breeds are suitable for searching for people in collapsed buildings. This topic is so interesting that we decided to focus even more on dog training itself, i.e. on the...

Cats are not vegetarians! What belongs to a cat bowl?

Let’s be clear, cats are carnivores by nature.  They love meat. It is completely natural for them. Meat must be the basis of their daily nutrition. A cat cannot live without meat! Cats instinctively prefer foods high in meat. Feeds with meat aroma and...

Dogs to the rescue - How are rescue dogs trained?

There are questions that run through a person’s mind upon seeing dogs searching for people lost in the woods, stuck under the rubble of a collapsed building or drowning in a reservoir. How difficult is it for a dog to find such people? Can I train my...

How to proceed when a dog runs astray?

It is an unenviable situation no four-legged companion´s owner would like to get into. When your dog runs astray during a walk, for example because it discovers a hole in the fence or senses another animal that catches its attention, many of us panic...

Physiotherapy-based defense training fundamentals

We, humans, do take care of our bodies and our health. If our knee hurts, we go to the orthopaedist, if our back hurts for a long time, we probably start considering physiotherapy. The need to go to inspections regularly increases with the level of...

Dogs at shows: What Does It Take?

At dog shows, many dog lovers meet to show off with their beloved pets of pure breed. However, such events are not only beauty pageants as they could seem. They are also important for breeding and for pure-bred dog to mate. What happens on such shows...

Christmas Dinner for Your Pets

One of the most important parts of Christmas is Christmas Eve’s dinner. For example in the Czech Republic, it usually includes fish soup, fried carp or schnitzel and potato salad. However, the most important thing is that all loved ones should be at...

Original Christmas Gifts for Cats

At Christmas, we want to make our loved ones, those who are our loyal companions throughout the whole year, happy. It also applies to our furry friends. If you have a cat at home and you are thinking about what to give it at Christmas, we have a...