- Grey with reddish-brown, red with reddish-brown, grey, red, fawn and reddish-brown in all shades.
- Pure white or parti-colour i.e. white with patches of any colour mentioned above similar to the ground body colour
About the West Siberian Laika
Origin: Russian Federation
- Typical life span
- 12-15 years
- Size
- Medium — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 16-25 kg
- Female
- 16-23 kg
- Height
- Male
- 53-62 cm
- Female
- 50-58 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Spitz and primitive types
- Origin
- Russian Federation
- Also called
- Laika de Siberia Occidental
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What is a West Siberian Laika?
Medium-sized spitz-type hunting dog with wolf-like features, erect ears, curled tail, and dense double coat. Known for its alertness, versatility, and adaptability, this strong and agile breed was developed for hunting in Siberian forests.
West Siberian Laika history and origins
Ancient spitz breed developed by the Mansi and Khanty indigenous peoples of Russia's Ural Mountains and West Siberia for hunting versatility. First breed standard established in the 1920s, refined and standardized in the Soviet era, and recognized by the FCI.
West Siberian Laika appearance and size
Males typically weigh 16-25 kg and stand 53-62 cm at the shoulder; females 16-23 kg and 50-58 cm.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Hunting dog for all-round purposes
- Behaviour and temperament
“Steady, evenly-tempered. A vigorous dog with very well developed sense of scent and detecting game, with an alert, sensitive and pronounced passion for hunting, is equally keen to hunt feathered as furred game. Self- confident and alert towards strangers”
Quoted from FCI standard n°306. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Medium
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Hunting dog for all-round purposes” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 4 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 3 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the West Siberian Laika
What you get with the West Siberian Laika
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Hunting dog for all-round purposes”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Steady, evenly-tempered”
What you are taking on
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “The coat on the back of rear legs forms trousers without feathering.”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · West Siberian Laika
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.
Coat
Outer coat is dense, harsh and straight.
Undercoat is well developed, soft, abundant and woolly.
The coat on the head and ears is short and dense.
The coat on shoulders and the neck is longer than on the body and forms a collar
on the cheekbones it forms side- whiskers.
In males the coat on the withers is longer.
Limbs are covered with short, harsh, dense coat, which is slightly longer on the back side of the fore limbs.
The coat on the back of rear legs forms trousers without feathering.
There is a protective growth of brush-like hair between the toes.
The tail is profusely covered with straight and harsh hair that is just slightly longer on the underside but without feathering
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°306 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
What the standard penalises
What a judge marks the West Siberian Laika down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.
Severe faults
Marked heavily against a specimen in the ring.
- Obvious deviation from sexual dimorphism.
- Excitability too high.
- Males of feminine type; females of masculine type.
- Obesity or meagre.
- Abrupt stop, snub-nosed muzzle, short muzzle; loose lips.
- De-pigmentation of nose, lips or eye-rims.
- Round eyes; horizontal set; bulging; yellow eyes; loose eye lids.
- Lack of teeth; small, sparsely set teeth.
- Ears standing out from sides of the head; round-tipped; too big; over-developed ear-lobes.
- Hollow back; roached back.
- Long loin; narrow; sagging or arched loin; overbuilt.
- Tail too long or too short or not touching back or hips.
- Obvious east-west pointing feet; pigeon-toed or bandy front. Down in pastern.
- Overangulated or straight in hindquarters; knees turning out; cow-hocked or narrow in rear.
- Heavy, restricted movement; stilted or mincing gait. Shallow in chest.
- Too long coat on the back-side of the forequarters; pronounced feathering on the upper thighs and the tail.
- Wavy, curly, soft or too long coat; coat parting on the back and the withers.
- Excessive flecking (roaning) of same nuance as base coat colour, on head and limbs.
- Black or black and white colour.
- Deviation from the size by more than +- 2 cms; height at the withers less than height at the croup. Flecks of different colour than the ground colour. Incorrect bite
Disqualifying faults
Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.
- Wry mouth.
- 4 or more missing teeth, including PM1 or M3. Excess incisors.
- Wall eye. Flecked eyes.
- Ears dropped; semi-dropped.
- Plumed tail; otter- or sabre tail; stumpy tail.
- Too short or too long coat.
- Coat colour that is genetic brown; genetic blue; brindle or albino
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the West Siberian Laika in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a West Siberian Laika
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the West Siberian Laika on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where West Siberian Laika owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No West Siberian Laika breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.