Karelian Bear Dog vs Russo European Laika – Updated Pics
July 8, 2010
Hi all,
I wanted to stay away from this topic but after seeing some sites and reading what kind of bullshit they write, i had to step up and at least make a post about it. First of all, we love all types of dogs pure breed and cross breeds, in fact we got a cross breed pitbull and we cant be more happier with him. With that in mind, everybody must understand that Karelian Bear Dog and Russo European Laika are separate breeds although they might had the same ancestors hundreds of years ago. This was strongly emphasized by the Finnish Kennel Club. This does not mean that they are less good of a Karelian Bear Dog in terms of health and/or hunting abilities.
So the situation is this : Karelian Bear Dogs were mixed with Russo European Laika in the very beginning of the breeds introduction into the US. Unfortunately, they are still being cross bred with Karelian Bear Dogs. Most of the “Karelian Bear Dog” kennel owners in USA, has these cross breed dogs and continue to name them as pure bred Karelian Bear Dogs.
Now, moving on to the disrespectful comments and misleading information of some of these kennels. I would like to clarify somethings. Firstly, Finnish Karelian bear dog enthusiasts are extremely passionate about their dogs into the extent that they are almost possessive for this breed. You can’t blame them, they truly love the breed and want to continue the breeding in the old fashion. As a matter of fact, although most of them are good people, when you try to contact them, either they wont reply your questions because they are too busy hunting with their dogs, or they just don’t care. They are also strongly against people who will only use their dogs for shows. This is respectable, when you get a true Karelian Bear Dog, you will understand and respect their mentality. They are true nature dogs, not a poodle. So showing them should not be a priority and it is disrespectful to the people who fought over so many years to develop this beautiful working dog..
Having said that, reading statements like “The Russians were breeding a smaller dog for hunting,
while the Finns were breeding a larger dog for the show ring” from one of these cross breed breeders website really pissed me off because it is an absolute bull shit. It is disrespectful to the Finnish people who developed this breed. Finnish people did everything for this breed and developed it solely for hunting. There is no show lines in Finland, in fact, Finnish bear dog fans would be angry to see Karelian bear dogs in the show ring. How they can say such things is beyond me. This also shows that they have absolutely no clue of the history of the true Karelian Bear Dog or they just lie for their own personal interests.
Oh by the way, Karelian Bear Dog is a beautiful dog with great head and thick bones. It is not bigger in size than Russo European Laika. Actually, REL legs are taller and thinner. Additionally REL usually have smaller heads.
My suggestion to these kennel owners is that, at least have the respect to the Finnish people and the name of the Karelian Bear Dog and stop the lies.
Check out the Russo European Laika photo on the left and on the right there is one of my favourite Karelian Bear Dog of all time “Seitseman” owned by Frank Fuhlendorf. Regretfully, this line do not exist anymore.
More update on the topic underway as we started pissing some people off. Great, looks like we are on the right track!
