Patricia Cummins
1. I have owned Samoyeds since 1975, and bred Samoyeds since 1982, along with the support of my husband Paul. We have produced 87 Champions, including top-ranked dogs that have won Best in Show and multiple Group Placements. I am a Life Member of the Samoyed Association of Canada, the Samoyed Club of America, the CKC and a CKC judge, and I am licensed for six Groups (1, 2, 3, 5, 6 & 7). We have owned Samoyeds, several Pembroke Welsh Corgis, a Norwegian Elkhound, and most recently, Yakutian Laika.
2. My interest in the Yakutian Laika began back in 2015, when I first saw pictures of them showing up on the Internet. After chatting with my friend, Dawne Deeley, and finding she was similarly intrigued, we decided to import first a female in February 2016, and shortly thereafter, a male. Thus, the first pair of Yakutian Laika came to Canada, to found the breed here. We decided to pursue recognition of this breed in Canada, even though they were not yet FCI recognized at the time, as we knew that recognition was pending.
The breed has since been added to AKC Foundation Stock Service in August 2017, and was moved to the American Kennel Club’s (AKC) Miscellaneous Class on June 26, 2024. The FCI provisionally recognized the YL in September 2019. There are now breeders of Yakutian Laika all around the world, and they have now been recognized in many other countries throughout Europe, in South and Central American countries, and in Australia, and they are on their way to recognition in many more!
3. Things I have noticed since I first began? There seems to have been more of an interest, and much more opportunity for beginners, to learn at the knee of the more experienced, through benched shows and mentoring. Lectures on the importance of structure and soundness were more frequently offered in the past and, I believe, novice breeders had more opportunity and more encouragement to learn that breeding and showing was about so much more than just winning fancy ribbons!
Too many shows have led to smaller shows, and smaller entries have led, in my opinion, to poorer quality Champions overall. There are still great dogs out there, but the pool is watered down somewhat. Just because a dog earns a Championship does not necessarily mean it is quality enough to be bred!
4. One of the greatest concerns is a trend ALREADY by some breeders to “fancy” colors. The Breed Standard does not include Merle or Brindle within acceptable colors. In January 2024, the Russian National Breed club for YLs went so far as to issue a statement that these should not be considered as purebred, as the colors did not originally occur in the breed. Dilutes are also to be considered unacceptable. Even though the breed is rare already, apparently some felt that these “even more rare” colors should be offered, and are going against the Russian National Breed Club’s wishes to promote them.
One of the greatest challenges of any rare breed is to remain within the requirements of the Standard and yet still produce quality dogs, from very limited foundation stock, now made even more limited by border and shipping restrictions popping up around the world.
5. Social media can do infinite harm to individuals, as we have seen. And yet, used well, it can give so much more of a global viewpoint in breeds through sharing and learning from what is shared; where a breed is at, all around the world. In the case of my new love, the Yakutian Laika, it was only through social media that the rest of the world learned of this breed—and this is now often the case for uncommon breeds. These platforms could become the savior for not just breeds that are newly recognized and uncommon, but also for older breeds whose numbers are dropping to the point of becoming endangered!
6. One of the greatest difficulties in breeds with low numbers is the difficulty in importing new breeding stock, with so many new import restrictions occurring all around the world. Further impacts are felt with so many countries succumbing to AR agendas and restricting breeding for various scientifically unfounded reasons. These are the greatest dangers to our sport and our hobby.
7. All we can do is continue to publicize the heritage and history of our purebred dogs, and promote ethical and healthy breeding practices as an alternative to volume breeding and pop-culture trend-buying, for a lifelong, healthy companion.
