Introducing Ike, my West Siberian Laika!

A few weekends ago I drove over to Sacramento and picked up our new addition: Ike, a 9 month old West Siberian Laika. He’s a really nice dog, very friendly and outgoing. He’s got loads of drive too! And wow does he have some pipes! 🙂

Ike was imported from Ukraine, from a breeder named Igor Kosovskiy who is well known for working his dogs on bear, boar, and small game. I originally wanted a young pup, but since I was looking for a dog with strong natural bear aggression, Igor felt Ike was the right choice for my needs. Ike should be a perfect addition to our bear shepherding program that I’m working on. I’m pretty excited about him!

I hope that Ike will be a great addition to the North American gene pool too, but we’ll have to see how he hunts first. To be continued…

Here are some pics of him…

Ike - West Siberian Laika

Ike - West Siberian Laika

Ike - West Siberian Laika

18 Replies to “Introducing Ike, my West Siberian Laika!”

  1. Congratulations on the addition to the family. How far back does his pedigree goes to his aboriginal roots?

    I am particularly interested in Laikas because the gene-pool is not entirely trapped within a closed registry with very few founders. 😀

    1. Thanks Dave! I have his pedigree, I’ll send it to you.

      I am interested in the breed for their aboriginal roots too. I like the idea of owning a breed that is less refined, it helps give me perspective of what the NK breeds may have been like before NIPPO refined them the way they have.

      I considered getting a Hokkaido Ken as they are bear aggressive too, but I preferred an aboriginal dog and that is why I went with the WSL.

      1. For me, the importance is because there are too many breeds with too few extant ancestors. One can preach the breed has very diverse founders, but it does not means anything if the other founders of the past contribute almost nothing to the current dogs due to popular sires.

        Like Swedish Vallhunds started with 5 sires, 10 bitches between 1940s and 1950s; however in 2010s, there are only two sire lines and one maternal line still intact. The second sire line is in danger of going extinct. So despite having 15 dogs at the foundation, the effective population size for the modern dog is only 3.

        Now in conservation biology, there need to be at least 50 ancestors to be considered as critical; and 500 to be endangered. That is why says, even though the Yellowstone Grizzlies are numerous, they are considered as critical because there are only 20 unique genomes in the gene-pool of the entire population.

        So, I am curious how diverse the Laikas are nowadays if someone was to sequence their genomes. Unfortunately with the Nihon-ken breeds, especially Hakkaido, they have way too few founders and probably fewer unique individual genomes decades after the creation of the breeds.

  2. I can attest that Ike is a very sweet boy. Although my two (Shikoku & Akita) gave
    him some worry, he adapted quite quickly and Brad got himself a beautiful boy.

  3. I have a West Siberian Laika she is 5 mths old. She is awesome. We will be looking to breed her in the future. She is the Black and White markings with a little Tan on the face. She is Beautiful. We have papers on her. Emma Lou we call her.

    Ronda

  4. Cheers from Ontario,Canada. Ike is amazingly cool 🙂 wish all the best for him an his family ! I am a huge fan of spitzs .. I have a samoyed male Misha (15 months) imported from Hungary , lots of fun and good times.. I am extremely interested in West siberian Laika dogs.. do you know any internet sites/breeders i can research? Thank you so much,
    John Perescu, Kitchener,Ontario,Canada

  5. Congratulation for choosing such a beautiful West Siberian Laika friend! I like his name too. I’ve an 8 month old puppy in Hungary:) He is such a joy! Full of energy…always ready for adventure. He actually likes raw veggies like carrots, beets and cabbage leaves. I’ve never seen anything like this. I tend to put some butter on the carrot so the vitamins get absorbed better. What about Ike?
    Laikas are very independent and yet very loyal breed. I’ve had laikas before.
    They are super special dogs.
    Could you possibly send me the contact details for Igor Kosovskiy, as I’m interested in buying a female puppy.
    Happy days and lots of fun with Ike!
    Best wishes,
    Renata

  6. Hey Brad, curious as to the main reasons you ended up switching out your laikas for the other breeds you are using and what the biggest advantages you have found from it? Do you still own any laikas?

  7. Hey Brad, curious as to the main reasons you ended up switching out your laikas for the other breeds you are using and what the biggest advantages you have found from it? Do you still own any laikas?…

    1. I switched from WSL to KBD for my bear/cat hazing, but then regretted it. They’re too dog aggressive for me, so I am now back to WSL and will likely stay with them. I have a grandson of Ike now (named Ike Jr.). He’s a great dog.

  8. Good day, Brad.
    My name is Nick. I live in Toronto, ON.
    I am looking for husband for our Astra. Right now she is 1 year and 8 months old purebred West Siberian Laika. He coat is golden-beige mixed with white spots on her lob, neck, chest, belly, legs and the tip of her tail. We imported Astra to Canada, when she was about 4 months old. My brother in law, back home in Bulgaria (in South East Europe), gave us this Laika as a present. He is breeding Laikas for his own hunting purposes.

    We love our Astra. And we wish her to be happy and to become a mother.I So if You are interested in this potential dog marriage between Your Ike and our Astra > please give us a call at 1 416 526 8435.
    *****
    Regards, Nick

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