The West Siberian Laika, also Zapadno-Sibirskaïa Laïka' or WSL, is a breed of hunting dog developed by the indigenous people of Northern Ural and West Siberia. They used Laikas mostly for treeing squirrels and hunting small predators with valuable fur.
Communism in Russia destroyed the traditional way of life of these people and brought them and their hunting dogs to the brink of extinction. Industrialization in Siberia introduced many new breeds of dogs to this region. Crossbreeding with them completely wiped out the last remains of pure bred indigenous Laikas. Many Russian hunters from big cities such as Sverdlovsk and Moscow were aware of this process. They tried to save the last exemplars of Laikas. The first attempts to establish the West Siberians as a modern hunting breed was made in the 1920s. Two types of dogs: the Mansi Laikas, which had light bones and a narrow elongated head; and the so called Hanti Laikas with a powerfully built body and a shorter head, lay the foundations for the new breed. In the beginning of the 1930s and later the Soviet government began to establish Kennels and Clubs concerning the preservation and repopulating of Laikas to their previous regions. In 1947 the West Siberian Laika was officially recognized as a new Soviet breed.
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