Sulimov dog


The Sulimov dog, also known as the Shalaika, is a jackal-dog hybrid originating in Russia from an initial hybrid between two Lapponian Herders and two Turkmen golden jackals. The breed was developed by Klim Sulimov for Aeroflot airline. The breed has primarily been used for airport security as sniffer dogs.

Breed development

Their breeding program dates back to 1975, but was not applied to bomb detection until 2002. At the start of the breeding process, male jackal pups had to be fostered on a Lapponian Herder bitch to imprint the jackals on dogs. Female jackals accepted male dogs more easily. The half-breed jackal-dogs were hard to train and were bred back to Huskies to produce quarter-bred hybrids.
To improve trainability, other dogs were bred into the line: a reindeer herding hound, a fox terrier, and a Spitz. These hybrids were small, agile, and trainable and had excellent noses. The jackal-dog hybrids were bred together for seven generations to establish the breed. The result was an easily trainable dog with a superior sense of smell, called Sulimov dogs after their creator.
As described by Sulimov:
My dogs combine the qualities of Arctic reindeer herding dogs, which can work in temperatures as low as −70°C, and jackals which enjoy the heat up to +40°C. They're perfect for our country."

Twenty-five Sulimov dogs are used by Aeroflot at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, for functions which include bomb-sniffing. They may one day be registered as a breed of working dog, but at present only about 40 Sulimov dogs exist, and all are the property of Aeroflot. They are trained from puppyhood to recognize 12 components of explosives. Unlike more common sniffing dogs, they take the initiative in searching.

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