Karelian Bear Dog

The Karelian Bear Dog is a Finnish hunting spitz, bred from 1936 to hold elk and bear at bay. The dogs it was made from came from Ladoga Karelia, Olonets and Russian Karelia. In Finnish it is the Karjalankarhukoira.

Home country: Finland. The dogs behind it came from Karelia.

What do you know about the Karelian Bear Dog?

What does the Karelian Bear Dog mainly hunt?
How does it tell the hunter where the game is?
Another Nordic hunting spitz from Finland. Which one?
When did planned breeding of the Karelian Bear Dog start?

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Where does the Karelian Bear Dog come from?

Finland, from dogs of Karelia. Its breed standard tells the story in four dates. Breeding started in 1936, with the aim of a sturdy dog that barks at big game, and the name Karelian Bear Dog was agreed. The first standard was set in 1945, and the first dogs were registered in 1946. Today, the standard says, the breed is common in Finland.

The standard traces it further back to the Komi dog, also called the dog of the Zyrians. But the dogs it was built from came from Ladoga Karelia, Olonets and Russian Karelia, where they hunted every kind of game. So is it Finnish or Russian? The breed was made, named and first registered in Finland, which is its home country; the dogs behind it came from Karelia.

What was it bred to do?

Its standard sums up its job in one line: “Hunting spitz. A dog mainly for elk and bear hunting, holds the game at bay.” It works independently but together with the hunter, finding game with a very sharp nose and marking it by barking, and it has a very good sense of direction.

How do you recognise a Karelian Bear Dog?

Colour: black, which may be dull or brownish, and most dogs have clear white markings on the head, neck, chest, belly and legs.
Coat: a harsh, straight outer coat, longer on the neck and back, over a soft, dense undercoat.
Ears and tail: erect ears, and a tail curved over the back. A natural bobtail counts the same as a long tail.
Size: males 54 to 60 cm at the shoulder (ideal 57 cm), females 49 to 55 cm (ideal 52 cm). Ideal weight 25 to 28 kg for males, 17 to 20 kg for females.

What are the other Nordic hunting dogs?

The other spitz-type hunting dogs of the north in the game, from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia. Every breed is in the atlas of dog breeds by country.

Facts from the Karelian Bear Dog’s official breed standard (No. 48, 3 November 2014).

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