Learning a Little Russian – Toy, That is!

This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, June 2015 issue.

Learning a Little Russian – Toy, That is!

The Russian Toy is a Foundation Stock Service (FSS) breed in the American Kennel Club. Hopefully, in the near future, with the help of the AKC, the breed will move up to join the Miscellaneous group and ultimately the Toy group! The breed was recognized by the United Kennel Club in 2008, where it is known as the Russkiy Toy.

Getting involved as an owner, breeder, and exhibitor of a “rare” or “new to the USA” breed is a daunting task. Finding someone to be a mentor or reliable resource is most difficult since there are few established and knowledgeable breeders in this country, and they are often many states away from where you live. There are few, if any, dogs to be seen at rare breed shows, matches, or AKC open shows, and many that are exhibited may not be the best representatives of the breed.

To add to these difficulties, too often there is more than one group or breed club that wishes to represent the breed. Each group can be passionate and obstinate in their determination to be the only voice representing the dogs in the AKC and usually do not work well together. At some point, you may have to decide to join one group in the full understanding it will be seen as heresy to the others, and you will be banished from their tribe.

Another major obstacle with more than one group claiming to be the breed representative is that the AKC will want the groups to merge before naming or accepting one club as the Parent Club for the breed. Without a Parent Club accepted by the AKC—or if the breed is not far enough along in the recognition process—there is no “official” AKC standard. In its place, the breed fancier must back on the FCI Breed Standard or the standard from the country of origin or founding breed organization.

If you use the country of origin and that country is Russia, add language problems on top. The language barrier also limits resources to gain essential knowledge on type, bloodlines, health issues, and all other aspects of the breed knowledge since most of the established experts and breeders in Russia do not speak English. Many of us (including yours truly) definitely cannot read nor converse in Russian. Internet translation systems help a little, but far too often, the resulting tangle of Russian to English words is at best frustrating and of little use.

Along the way, I also learned how to send money to Russia (not as easy as you think, and there are no guarantees that the money will not just “disappear”), how to get a very small dog safely into the country (they came on nonstop flights to New York City by courier in the business class cabin—a method of travel I cannot afford for myself!), and the fact that Russian bureaucracies can actually be worse than our own (red tape is well-named)! Even for someone with over thirty years of experience successfully breeding and showing toy dogs (Cavaliers and English toys), this is a challenge. It is rather like being on one of those reality TV shows—you have an address for a distant and unfamiliar destination that you must reach, and you know how to drive a car. But just how you are going to obtain a vehicle and then get there with limited resources and all sorts of obstacles to overcome is the problem.

Why did I embark on this journey? All because my friend Jacqueline Rayner, AKC judge (who exhibited my Cavalier King Charles and English Toy Spaniels most successfully in her bygone career as a handler) four years ago asked if I would do a “new” breed—the Russian Toy. I said I would take a look at them, and so began our partnership as Détente Russian Toys.

With quite a few “bumps in the road” on our way, we have finally established relationships with fine breeders in Russia who have been most generous in sharing their dogs with us. We have also been able to meet and gain insight from the few folks in this country who have seen the breed in Russia and have true knowledge of breeding and presenting the Russian Toy here in the USA. One of these is Scarlett King, who resides in Alabama and has bred and shown them for over ten years. Since four years in any breed is certainly not long enough to gain the title of “expert,” if you take exception to my comments made in this article about breed type—please direct all complaints to Scarlett, since she is editing for accuracy!

Russian Toys is the FULL and COMPLETE breed name. Folks keep wanting to add something to it. They do go under a different name in the UKS, Russkiy Toys, and long coats were once called Moscow Toy Terriers, but in both the AKC and Russia, they are just Russian Toys. The height of our dogs in the RKF (that is the Russian Kennel Club) and the FCI standards is 20 to 28 cm (to those of us not familiar with metric units, that is 7.8 to 11 inches—just another part of the challenge dealing with “foreign” standards). In these standards, the dogs may weigh up to 3 kg (that translates to 6.6 lbs here in America).

They come in two varieties: Long Coat and Smooth Coat. Coat colors are the same for both varieties and are limited to: Black and Tan, Chocolate and Tan, Blue and Tan, Red, Red Sable, and Red Brown. Even small patches of white on the chest or toes are considered a fault! The Chocolate and Tan, Red Brown, and Blue and Tan dogs have noses and eye rims that match coat color, while the other colors should have black noses and eye rims.

Smooths have short, shiny, close-lying hair with no undercoat and no bald patches. Long coats have moderately long hair on the body that should not hide the outline of the body. Front and back legs, as well as the tail, should be feathered, and there needs to be enough hair on the feet to cover the nails. Ears should be covered with thick, long hair that creates a fringe. Of course, puppies will not carry this fringe, and dogs over three years old may have so much heavy fringe that it can cause the ear to tip over but NOT hang. Ears must be erect on both varieties and should be large and set high on the head—when alert, no Papillon ear set, please!

Heads are small compared to the body, with a pronounced stop, lean, and pointed muzzle that is slightly shorter than the skull. The eyes are quite large, round, slightly prominent, and set well apart in a high skull that is wide, but the width at the level of the zygomatic arch (cheekbones) cannot exceed the depth of the skull. At this point, pictures may be more useful than words.

Necks are slightly arched, long, and carried high, followed by a gradually sloping, level topline. Tails can be docked, but generally are now left natural. Both docked and natural tails are carried high when moving. The natural or long tail should be carried ideally as a sickle tail and should not be held lower than horizontal. Too much curl or a tail held tight against the back while moving is a fault. When resting or standing, the tail is generally held lower, but not tucked under.

The Russian Toy must always appear elegant, lively, and long-legged. This is a fine-boned breed with lean muscle on a square-built dog. The height at the elbow should be slightly more than half of the height of the dog at the withers. Dogs should move easily and fast—no distinctive or unusual action here, just a good, ground-covering gait!

Once we obtained some lovely dogs, the task of properly presenting the breed was the next challenge. These are very intelligent, sensitive dogs that may not always take kindly to standing still on a table for strangers to touch them. Like some other toy breeds, they exhibit best on the ground but of course must be trained properly to allow examination on the table.

Once they are placed on the ground and moved for the judge, the head, ears, and tail should go up—it is essential breed type that the Russian Toy exhibits those essentials of breed type—a long-legged dog. The Russian Toy is a lean-muscled and truly elegant toy dog. When our Russian Toy comes toward our judge stop or when standing, the tail will usually go down, and the dog will be shown free stacked. Of course, a novice dog or one in a threatening environment may be steadied by the handler (hard stacked).

Joining the world of Russian Toy fanciers has been a rewarding experience—from introducing the breed to literally thousands of people at the New York City Meet the Breeds to exhibiting our dogs to judges who are getting their first opportunity to evaluate the breed “up close and personal.” Then there is that magical first litter—so frightening with all the unknowns and so rewarding with the first healthy and hopefully wonderful homebreds that can now be labeled “American Made”! We look forward to bringing them to a show near you!