Sulimov Dog

Sulimov Dog

He is not recognized by the F.C.I.

Origin

Translation

En français, cette race se dit

Diese Norm ist in deutscher Sprache sichtbar

En español, esta raza se dice

In het Nederlands, wordt dit ras gezegd

This breed is also known as

Shalaika

The Sulimov dog is a specialized Russian hybrid, resulting from a cross between a jackal and a dog, developed primarily by Klim Sulimov for the airline Aeroflot. It is designed as a high-performance scent detection dog, particularly for explosives. It is renowned for its exceptional sense of smell, its ability to work in extreme temperatures (from -70°C to +40°C), and its intense and independent search instinct. The idea of crossing Siberian Huskies (sometimes called Russian Huskies) with wild jackals to create a highly effective sniffer dog originated in 1965, when the Soviet biologist Klim Sulimov was working at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The breeding program began in 1975, and in 2002, the institute successfully produced hybrids composed of one-quarter jackal and three-quarters husky. The resulting hybrid is sometimes called the Sulimov dog, although Klim Sulimov stated in an interview, "It's not a breed." We have reproduced the original canine standard, as it existed 100,000 years ago, before humans "specialized" it for hunting, guarding, and so on. Any specialization limits the possibilities. The jackal and the dogs, endowed with an extremely well-developed sense of smell, are now being used in Russian airports. In 2003, twenty-five of these dogs were working at the Aeroflot base, Russia's largest airline, at Sheremetyevo Airport, and ten others at the nearby forensic science unit. The method used to detect bombs is revolutionary because it relies on analyzing the bioelectrical activity of the jackal/dog's brain and central nervous system. In other words, it exploits the dog's bodily response generated by its central nervous system.

This new technique was developed and patented in collaboration with Aeroflot in 2015 and replaced the traditional method of behavioral analysis of dogs, which had an accuracy rate of only 60%. The new method achieved a detection accuracy close to 100%, a result confirmed by scientists in approximately 1,000 experimental tests, of which only eight revealed an error. Explosives detection is not the only application of this new technology for the Sulimov dog. He could diagnose cancer by smell and easily locate ivory in a pile of jewelry or garbage, thus helping to end the slaughter of thousands of elephants each year. These animals are currently being used by Russian scientists to test a new method for detecting explosives and other hazardous materials. This technique, developed and patented in collaboration with Aeroflot in March 2015, relies on monitoring changes in the animals' central nervous system, which enhances their detection abilities.