Breed Priorities – Russian Toy

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306 – September, 2026

By Nikki Riggsbee

The origins of the Russian Toy trace back to the English Toy Terriers that were imported into Russia in the eighteenth century and became popular with the aristocracy. By the twentieth century, it was known as the Russian (Russkiy) Toy Terrier. The Russian revolution and multiple international wars were a big challenge for this little breed.

In 1958, a long coat puppy was born to two smooth coated parents. The subsequent long coated dogs were called the Moscow Long Haired Toy Terrier. They were still considered one breed with two names and two coat varieties. Later, the word “Terrier” was dropped, and the name “Russian Toy” was used for one breed with two coat varieties.

FCI added the Russkiy Toy to the Toy group in 2006. The Russian Toy was recognized for regular AKC Toy group competition in 2022, after three years in Miscellaneous. As of the 2025 registration statistics, the Russian Toy was 58th in popularity in AKC.

We invited twenty-two experts in Russian Toys to take a survey on their breed about the priorities in conformation evaluation. Fifteen agreed to do so, and by deadline, thirteen surveys were returned. Those who contributed have been in the breed for an average of over twelve-and-one-half years.

Russian Toy Virtues

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306 – September, 2026

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=368849

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