Page 288 - ShowSight - October 2019

JUDGING THE SAMOYED FROM A
BREEDER’S
PERSPECTIVE
BY CAROL HJORT,
SCA JUDGES EDUCATION COMMITTEE
After thousands of years, the Samoyed today remains a natural Breed and reflects the characteristics of its ancient ancestors. It is one of the world’s oldest Breeds of dogs, as classified in 2004 using modern DNA test- ing. Dr. Sandra Olsen, the Curator and Head of Anthropology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in PA stated that the ear- liest discovered proto-Samoyed remains date around the time of the Copper Age, taking the origin of the Samoyed Breed back more than 5000 years. Of all modern Breeds, the Samoyed is most nearly akin to the primitive dog.
In the vast frozen wasteland of the Russian tundra, the Nenets ...also known as Samoyed people...made their home with their won- derful, aboriginal dogs, and here through the centuries the Samoyed dog “Cамое́ дская соба́ ка” bred true. The Nenets were a nomadic tribe who were hunters as well as reindeer herdsman. Their prized dogs could be counted upon to keep the large reindeer herds intact and to guard the herds from predators. The Nenets moved with the seasons and with the movement of their large herds, consisting of hundreds of reindeer, around the tundra. The herds migrated in a 600-700 mile migration pattern, in search of their favorite food, lichen (a type of moss). The reindeer were independent crea- tures, and it required very vigilant and alert dogs to keep the large herds intact!
286 • ShowSight Magazine, october 2019