I met themost delightful little dog tonight...

[MicksMom]

Somebody new came to rally run thrus with what I thought was an "out of standard" Chihuahua. Turns out it is a Russian Toy. The description of the temperament fit this dog to a "T".

http://www.russiantoyclub.org/rtcabreedstandard.html

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

Eeee so cute! Are there breeders in the US then?

[MicksMom]

Originally Posted by ~Dixie's_Mom~

Eeee so cute!...

Aren't they? You can really see the Pap influence in the breed in the coated ones. They're too small for me, tho. All night I was afraid to walk around if the one at run thrus was on the floor for fear of stepping on her.

Originally Posted by ~Dixie's_Mom~

...Are there breeders in the US then?

There's 4 listed on the RTCA website.

http://www.russiantoyclub.org/breederdirectory.html

For some reason, I was thinking the one I saw tonight was imported, but I'm probably wrong. The woman showed me the business card from where she got the dog, but I didn't look further than the name of the breed and the picture that was at the top of the card.

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

Tango looks a looooot like those dogs! (Except he coat color would be a fault) Neat, cute little dogs

[Saeleofu]

Originally Posted by Izzy's Valkyrie

Tango looks a looooot like those dogs! (Except he coat color would be a fault) Neat, cute little dogs

Holy crap, they do look like Tango lol

[Laurelin]

I've met a few Russian toys and was surprised at how non-papillon they are. They struck me as a lot more chihuahua or terrier like in temperament. The ones I met were also pretty flighty and skittish. There is some papillon influence in there from what Iv'e read but the breed was based off of English toy terriers.

They are also TINY. Think chihuahua sized tiny but taller. The higher end of their weight range is at the bottom end of the papillon range even though their height standard is relatively the same as paps. The ones I met were definitely <5 lbs. Probably around 3-4 lbs.

[MicksMom]

Originally Posted by Laurelin

I've met a few Russian toys and was surprised at how non-papillon they are. They struck me as a lot more chihuahua or terrier like in temperament. The ones I met were also pretty flighty and skittish. There is some papillon influence in there from what Iv'e read but the breed was based off of English toy terriers....

Yep- and there's some Toy Manchester Terrier in the breed background, too. If I'm remembering right, the woman said, English Toy Terrier, Toy Manchester Terrier and Papillion. I was surprised when she said there was no Chihuahua until she said Manchester (like I said earlier, I thought the dog was an out of standard Chi). Temperament wise, this was one of the sweetest dogs I've met- very friendly and out going, kisses for everyone, and no snarkiness with the other dogs. In fact, she wanted to play with the Springer & Standard Poodle (Caleb was in his crate so I could "work"). The only shaking she did was because it was a little chilly in the room. Once they got moving around, the shaking stopped.

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

I have friends/family in three of the four states where there are breeders. Muahahaa! However I have too long of a list of future breeds to get too excited about it lol! I'm pretty confident in my breed choice for my next pup.

[~Jessie~]

They're TINY, like, smaller than most Chihuahuas even. I've met one before, and she was taller than my chis, but probably weighed 3lbs. The one I met was coated... I LOVE the ear fringe!

I've looked into them a couple of years ago, and they seem to have similar personalities to Chihuahuas. Intelligent, active, confident, and loving.

[Upendi&Mina]

I met one who had recently been imported last year, he was a pretty cool little dog.