The Taigan also known as Kyrgyzskaya Borzaya Taigan is a sighthound

Sighthound

Sighthounds, also called gazehounds, are hounds that primarily hunt by speed and sight, instead of by scent and endurance as scent hounds do.-Appearance:...

 breed from Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

, which is not yet recognized by the FCI

Fédération Cynologique Internationale

Fédération Cynologique Internationale is an international federation of kennel clubs based in Thuin, Belgium. The English language translation, World Canine Organisation, is not often used.Its goals are described in Article 2 of their regulations:...

.
They have medium-length and slightly curly hair and are similar in shape to Greyhounds.
They are a member of the sighthound family.

Origin and History

Same as Azawakh

Azawakh

The Azawakh is a sighthound dog breed from Africa.-Appearance:Morphology is very similar to that of the Middle Eastern and South Indian sight hounds, all swift, high-bred coursing hounds, although there are several obvious differences. For example, a short, flat back combined with long legs place...

, Sloughi

Sloughi

The Sloughi is a North African breed of dog, specifically a member of the sighthound family. It is found in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. Sloughis are likely closely related to the Azawakh, but not to the Saluki .-Appearance:...

, Saluki

Saluki

The Saluki, also known as the Royal Dog of Egypt and Persian Greyhound is one of the oldest known breeds of domesticated dog. From the period of the Middle Kingdom onwards, Saluki-like animals appear on the ancient Egyptian tombs of 2134 BC. They have connections both to the Bible and Imperial...

, Afghan Hound

Afghan Hound

The Afghan Hound is one of the oldest sighthound dog breeds. Distinguished by its thick, fine, silky coat and its tail with a ring curl at the end, the breed acquired its unique features in the cold mountains of Afghanistan, where it was originally used to hunt hares and gazelles by coursing them....

 and Mid-Asiatic Tazi, the Taigan is a member of the family of Eastern Sighthounds, which can be found from Northern Africa to Central Asia.

During most periods of their history, the Kyrgyz have been a predominantly nomad

Nomad

Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...

ic people, which has migrated through vast parts of Siberia and Central Asia. Therefore it is very unlikely that the origins of the Taigan can be traced back to one single ancestor. However, the Taigan in its present form is a pronounced mountain breed, perfectly adapted to its work in the alpine regions of the Tian Shan

Tian Shan

The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....

 mountain range.

In the 1930s, Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 cynologists

Cynology

Cynology is the study of matters related to canines or domestic dogs.In English it may be a term sometimes used to denote serious zoological approach to the study of dogs as well as by writers on canine subjects, dog breeders and trainers and enthusiasts who informally study the dog,...

 began to register the existing specimens in the Kyrgyz SSR, but this work had to be stopped after the German invasion of the USSR

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

 in 1941. In the year 1964, the USSR laid down the first standard for the breed. Different from many western countries, live coursing

Coursing

Coursing is the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs—chiefly greyhounds and other sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight and not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, the landed and wealthy, and commoners with sighthounds and lurchers...

 has always been legal in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

; hunters were organised in kolkhoz

Kolkhoz

A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...

y and had to deliver certain amounts of fur to the collective farms.

After Kyrgyzstan became independent in 1991

History of Kyrgyzstan

-Early history:Stone implements found in the Tian Shan mountains indicate the presence of human society in what is now Kyrgyzstan as many as 200,000 to 300,000 years ago...

, the role of the breed underwent a change. The collapse of the collective farms forced many people in the rural areas of Kyrgyzstan to return to the nomadic life of their ancestors. For some of them, hunting with the Taigan became again an occupation which helps them to earn their living. On the other hand, parts of the new urban

Urban culture

Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. In the United States, Urban culture may also sometimes be used as a euphemistic reference to contemporary African American culture.- African American culture :...

 upper class

Upper class

In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...

 have discovered the Taigan as a prestigious symbol of national heritage during the past few years. In 1995, the Cinologist Council of the Kyrgyz Republic (a body connected with the Ministry of Agriculture) adopted a new breed standard, which was later approved by the hunting commission at the Ministry of Environmental Protection. A number of breed show

Breed show

A breed show is a broad term for exhibitions designed to showcase a single animal breed. In most cases, only purebred animals recorded with a breed registry are eligible to enter and compete. A judge or team of judges will evaluate individual animals both in terms of the correct conformation for...

s were held in Bishkek

Bishkek

Bishkek , formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.The name is thought to...

, but with only small attendance by hunters from the countryside.

During a state visit to Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 in November 2003, the former Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev

Askar Akayev

Askar Akayevich Akayev served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 1990 until his overthrow in the March 2005 Tulip Revolution....

 gave two Taigan puppies as a present to King Harald V

Harald V of Norway

Harald V is the king of Norway. He succeeded to the throne of Norway upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991...

 and prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik

Kjell Magne Bondevik

Kjell Magne Bondevik is a Norwegian Lutheran minister and politician . He served as Prime Minister of Norway from 1997 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2005, making him Norway's longest serving non-Labour Party Prime Minister since World War II...

. This caused a small diplomatic

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...

 turmoil, since the Norwegian import regulations

Pet passport

The Pet Travel Scheme is a system which allows animals to travel easily between member countries without undergoing quarantine. A Pet Passport is a document that officially records information related to a specific animal, as part of that procedure...

 require a quarantine

Quarantine

Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....

 of four months for dogs entering Norway from a non-European country, and neither the king nor the prime minister were willing to keep the dogs. To avoid hurting the feelings of the Kyrgyz delegation, the mayor of the city of Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

, Rita Ottervik

Rita Ottervik

Rita Irene Ottervik is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party and mayor of Trondheim since 2003.She has a background as secretary in the Workers' Youth League and has been political advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister under Thorbjørn Jagland...

, decided to take care of the two puppies, which were later given to experienced dog owners after they had passed quarantine.

Since 2005, a national kennel club exists in Kyrgyzstan, which has been admitted to the FCI as a contact partner in 2009. This would now enable Kyrgyzstan to apply for international recognition of the Taigan, provided that an application will be sent to the FCI breed standard commission. However, the FCI member clubs in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 have already recognized the Taigan on national level.

Appearance

The Taigan is a sighthound, which is a bit larger than medium height. The minimal height for male specimens is 65 cm and for females 60 cm. The colours are black, black with white (most common), grey, brown and yellow (or other shades and variations of this color) and white. Areas of dark colored coat may have white marks. The coat is soft, long, and thick. In the winter, undercoat is developed. The ears are drooping, thick and covered with long, soft, wavy fur. A distinguishing mark of the Taigan is the ring on the end of the tail - the base vertebras of the ring are jointed, so that the ring cannot be unrolled.

The large volume of the lungs, the (in comparison to other sighthounds) strong bone structure and the thick coat enable the Taigan to work in rugged terrain, and at elevations up to 4000 m above sea level.

Use and activity

The Taigan is a sighthound adapted to the extreme mountainous conditions in the Tian Shan. Typical prey are Ibex

Siberian Ibex

The Siberian Ibex or Common ibex is a species of ibex that lives in central and northern Asia. It has traditionally been treated as a subspecies of the Alpine Ibex, and whether it is specifically distinct from other ibex is still not entirely clear...

, Roe Deer

Siberian Roe Deer

Capreolus pygargus, also known as the Siberian roe deer or eastern roe deer, is a species of roe deer found in northeastern Asia. In addition to Siberia and Mongolia, it is found in Kazakhstan, the Tian Shan Mountains, Eastern Tibet, the Korean peninsula, and northeastern China...

, Wolf, Fox

Fox

Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...

 and Marmot

Marmot

The marmots are a genus, Marmota, of squirrels. There are 14 species in this genus.Marmots are generally large ground squirrels. Those most often referred to as marmots tend to live in mountainous areas such as the Alps, northern Apennines, Eurasian steppes, Carpathians, Tatras, and Pyrenees in...

. Some hunters also use the Taigan in conjunction with a trained bird of prey

Falconry

Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...

, especially with the Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...

. The hunt for the Tolai Hare

Tolai Hare

The Tolai Hare is a species of hare found in Central Asia, Mongolia, and Northern and Central China. It inhabits semi-desert, steppes, rocky habitats, and forest meadows. It is relatively common, even in areas with heavy human disturbance, due to its fast reproductive rate.-Reference:*...

 (Lepus tolai), is, however, an exception.

Due to the rugged surface of its native environment, the Taigan hunts with all senses, i.e. unlike other sighthounds not only by sight, but also by scent and hearing, which gives its hunting style some similarities with breeds like Ibizan Hound

Ibizan Hound

The Ibizan Hound , pronounced "I-bee-zan" or "I-beeth-an", is a lean, agile dog of the hound family. There are two hair types of the breed: smooth and wire. The more commonly seen type is the smooth...

 or Pharaoh Hound

Pharaoh Hound

The Pharaoh Hound is a breed of dog and the national hound of the Mediterranean nation of Malta. Its native name is Kelb tal-Fenek in Maltese, which means "rabbit hound". The dog is the traditional hunting companion of Maltese outdoorsmen. The breed has no conclusive links with Ancient Egypt and...

.

External links

• www.taigan.de German Website about the Taigan, with some articles in English and Russian
• Association "Kirghizcynology" (Russian)
• www.taigany.republika.pl (Poland)