The way we hunt » The hunt » At the Camp » Dialogues about animals » Our weapons » Poachers » GPS navigation » Taxidermist’s page	Training and testing of laikas 1. Testing stations. Dog training Hunting characteristics of a dog are its main quality and they are tested in field tests, in natural conditions (in field, in a forest or on water) as well as in testing stations. Such stations ensure training of both people and dogs that would be impossible or unwanted in natural conditions. Let’s begin with the smallest ones, with children. They are future hunters as well as future dog breeders and ardent conservationists. In a word, they are our future. No zoo can provide conditions of a testing station. For example, a boar walks in the wild along a big fenced part of the forest, and children accompanied by an expert huntsman can come at a close distance to it, examine it thoroughly, touch a real wild beast and even feed it with biscuits without any danger of being fined. Teaching kids not fear the animal, understand its habits, behave in a proper way when they meet it in a forest, isn’t this what facilitates getting life experience. Training novice hunters. There is a wrong opinion that a man who entered a hunting society and bought a gun becomes a hunter. Facing a bear, a boar, a fox or a raccoon is of great practical and moral importance for the beginner, no less than for children. Before the first real hunting it is quite necessary to learn estimating game dimensions and speed, to understand its habits, to remember visual differences between males and females, get primary skills of proper behavior in a situation of close contact with the animal. Dog training. Training dogs at a testing station teaches both dogs and hunters. Pedigree hunting dogs have a good natural instinct, but a young dog, as well as a novice hunter, needs to gain familiarity with animals and much training. During a real hunt in the forest a dog contacts game and if is not experienced enough there is a great risk; besides, hunting demands a dog fulfill a set of actions which can hardly be done without special training. At the station training is done in a relatively limited space which helps a hunter to understand the dog, determine its bents, see how it behaves and reacts in different situations, and come to the needed treating the game and obedience. Training dogs in natural conditions is limited by hunting season, availability of forests and necessary papers as well as by presence of “unwanted” birds and beasts, or of other hunters with their dogs, or of roads, woodcutters, tourists, mushroomers and so on. That’s why young dog training in a testing station can be seen in many respects as an alternative to dog training in the forest. Testing (dog “exams”). Dogs can be tested on wild game, but such testing is strictly limited and can hardly be afforded. Testing at a station is available to every hunter all the year round, they show the results of the thorough training, The dog which passed the tests successfully is given a field diploma. The great part of the year hunters have no possibility to go out for a hunt (the season is short), so testing stations become a holiday destination for the whole family, where people come to enjoy their staying there and see other people. At last, testing stations as well as farms and zoos are nurseries for controlled breeding of animals. Who knows, your testing station may once become a new Noah’s Ark with the last couple of wild boars. There are dozens of big testing stations in Russia and abroad. The Kinology Union of Latvian hunters held the 14^th open championship of the Baltic states on hunting bait boar in the testing base “Imanty” (Aluksnen region, the Pskov-Riga highway), in April, 2006. Model testing station in the village of Zavidovo, Moscow region, works under the auspices of the governments of Moscow and of Moscow region and of central Russian kinological organizations and hunting societies; it provides a full range of services to hunters and dog breeders, and members of their families as well as to their four-legged friends. An up-to-date testing station, one of the best in Russia, is set up at laika breeding kennel “Velikoustie” in Kirov region. Second All-Russian open competition of laikas on hunting bait bear and caged boar were held there in the autumn of 2005. These competitions became international due to a great number of participants from abroad. The only testing station in Saint-Petersburg “Levashovo” operates in the village of Novosiolki. It mainly works on week-ends. The station has all facilities for rest and for training any breed of hunting dogs to work at raccoons, foxes, bears and boars (for further info please call the “Russian laika” Club). 2. Training puppies We begin training puppies for hunting game at the age of four months. Caged raccoon, badger, boar or bear will do. For hunting raccoons and badgers it is necessary to teach the puppy barking, as the laika must not attack the game in silence, but instead it should bark and make it stay until the hunter comes up. We have built a small run to train puppies to work on boars where we let out a piglet (no more than a year old). We teach the puppy barking and grasping, to do this we begin with holding a puppy on a leash and let it approach the boar only from the back. 2. Testing Dogs are admitted to testing from the age of 10 months. Depending on dog’s physical condition and training the expert commission may admit a dog to testing at the age of 8 months.	All about laikas » Laika breeds » Where to buy a puppy » Choosing a puppy » Bringing up a puppy » Training and testing » Hunting with laikas » Hunting dog breeding clubs » Exhibitions and dog shows » Dog mating