More than 150 dogs from eight regions were inspected for their hunting merits on Sept. 22 in the Malaya Timofeevka village near Astana. The inspection was organised by the Kansonar National Association of Hunters together with the Association of National Kazakh Sports.

According to the organisers, Tazy breed standards were approved by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Agriculture in August. The next step will be the registration of Kazakh breed dogs by international dog organisations and announcing Kazakhstan as the country of origin of Tazy and Tobet dogs, which are endangered now.

“Tazy is a national symbol and pride. Our ancestors were nomads and dogs played a vital role in their daily life, as they helped a lot while hunting and pasturing. It is important to continue breeding these dogs and save them from extinction,” Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Assylzhan Mamytbekov said at the event.

Chairman of Kansonar Association Oralbai Abdykarimov said that the organisation will further develop the breeding of hunting dogs. It is also planned to organise national hunting activities with game birds and hounds, as part of the touristic programme.

“We should send the application for breed registration pointing out the total number and habitat of Tazy and Tobet dogs. How successful the application will be depends on our insistence and support of other international dogs organisations,” explained Abdykarimov.

The idea was also supported by a well-known expert and Dog Breeder Association President Vladimit Ekk. He said that Tazy dogs, being good hunters, have saved several villages from starving during hard times. This dog can hunt hares, foxes as well as roes, saiga and jeyran antelopes. Even in Soviet times, this dog attracted a lot of attention thanks to its great hunting merits. A book, “Asian greyhound Taza and a Hunt,” written by Soviet researcher Abram Slutsky was published in 1939.

“This is a strong, clean-limbed dog with a proportional head and a strong low jaw. The main advantage of this dog in comparison to other greyhounds is that it can use not only optic merits, but also smelling. If the dog loses sight of a prey it starts tracing by smelling which makes this dog a very valuable helper for local hunters, as we have deep grass and bushes in Kazakhstan,” said Ekk.

At the end of the event, the dogs and their owners were given awards and participation certificates.