New designer breed/Russia's secret weapon

[onyx'girl]

Special Breed is Russia's Secret Weapon Against Terrorism | Life With Dogs

Hybrid Jackal and Husky

[KZoppa]

Thats very interesting! Never would have considered a husky to be a drug sniffer or explosives detection dog much less cross bred with a jackle.

When i first saw the article i thought it had something to do with the East European Shepherd. Kinda bummed it wasnt but still interesting to know! Cute little buggers too!!!

[sit,stay]

Interesting! I wouldn't have thought a Husky-Jackal mix would be the the first choice for a working dog, either.

I Googled the topic, and found this:

The Sulimov Dog (Russian: Собакa Сулимова) is a Russian Jackal-Dog Hybrid originating from an initial hybrid between two Lapponian Herders and two Turkmen golden jackals. T

During the breeding process male jackal pups had to be fostered on a Lapponian Herder bitch in order to imprint the Jackals on dogs. Female Jackals accepted male dogs more easily. The half-bred jackal-dogs were hard to train and were bred back to Huskies to produce quarter-bred hybrids (quadroons). These hybrids were small, agile, trainable and had excellent noses. They were then called Sulimov Dogs after their creator and may one day be registered as a working breed of dog.
The jackal-dog hybrids were bred together for seven generations to establish the breed. They proved hard to train, so other dogs were bred into the line: a reindeer herding hound, a fox terrier, and a Spitz. the result was an easily trainable dog with a superior sense of smell. There are only about forty of these dogs in existence and they are all property of Aeroflot. They are trained from puppyhood to recognize twelve components of explosives. Unlike more common sniffing dogs, they take the initiative in searching.


The most interesting aspect of that information, to me, is the idea that the dog is the one who initiates the searches and not the handler.

Sheilah

[iBaman]

I had always read that jackals weren't good to use for hybrids..but I guess they sort of covered that with how diluted they made the dogs. very neat, they look so focused!

[KZoppa]

thats interesting that they initiate the search and the handlers just go along. okay actually thats very cool. Guess that just goes to show that with the right idea, you can get a great dog out of the idea of a hybrid. If these dogs are that interested in searching for explosives and drugs, can you imagine how they'd do if they were branched out to search and rescue training? I think they'd be a force to be reckoned with.

[onyx'girl]

Neither one are known for 'biddability' as far as training goes, I wonder how hard they are to train?
Size-wise, excellent for a SAR dog, as long as they are obedient enough.

[KZoppa]

yeah i have to admit, the inclusion of the husky in the mixture had me questioning the biddability of the dogs. Huskies and husky mixes on their own can be a huge pain to train and just generally manage IME. Then you have them sniffing out explosives? BUT they did say they start them young so perhaps its how they start them that keeps them interested?

[jocoyn]

Actually they have been around for several years. Sulimov dogs.
I don't believe they are very biddable at all.

Here is a 2002 article on them.
BBC NEWS | Europe | Russian airline's top dogs fight terror

[paulag1955]

I've seen this before...very interesting!

I don't think the breed needs to be generally biddable, as long as they get enough biddable individuals to suit their needs. It's not as though they're selling them to the general public.

[KZoppa]

True. They are owned and bred by the company so they serve their purpose.