40 Fun Facts About Samoyed

The upturned corners of a Samoyed's mouth help in Arctic cold by keeping the dog from doing what?

Drooling would leave icicles on the face of a sled dog, so the breed's upturned mouth is cold-weather equipment as much as charm.

Which animal did nomadic Arctic herders originally breed the Samoyed to move and protect?

Reindeer supplied the herders' food, fur and leather, and dogs that had once hunted the animals were retrained to drive and defend the herds.

Which holiday does the Canadian Kennel Club say the Samoyed carries in its face?

Christmas in its face is the Canadian club's affectionate label for a breed it also credits with an almost uncanny, human-like understanding.

Shed Samoyed undercoat can be spun into knitting yarn with a texture likened to which soft fibre?

Angora is the usual comparison for yarn spun from the combed-out undercoat, which the breed club calls strong, warm wool fit for weaving or knitting into clothes.

In cold weather, a sleeping Samoyed may drape its plumed tail over which body part for warmth?

Nose and muzzle stay warm under the tail on freezing nights; awake and relaxed, the dog lets the tail fall, then lifts it again when alert.

Besides herding and hauling sledges, Samoyeds helped their nomadic owners hunt which large predator?

Polar bear and seal hunts sat alongside pulling sleds and carrying packs, which is why the breed club describes its dogs as versatile all-round helpers.

Samoyeds make alert watchdogs, yet their temperament makes them a poor fit for which job?

Guard dog duty suits few of them because an aggressive one is rare; they sound the alarm when company arrives, then typically quieten once they see who it is.

Which habit of bored Samoyeds does the breed club trace to how their ancestors survived Arctic winters?

Digging comes naturally to dogs the club calls excellent excavators: in their native land they burrowed deep into the snow to escape the cold.

The Samoyed takes its name from nomadic herding peoples of which vast, frozen region?

Siberia was home to the Samoyedic herders, who treated their dogs as members of the family and huddled with them in tents through the Arctic night.

Which herding breed tops the Stanley Coren trainability ranking that also rates the Samoyed?

Border Collie came first, with the Poodle next, while the Afghan Hound was consistently placed in the lowest group.

Which tier of Stanley Coren's dog intelligence ranking holds the Samoyed and the Newfoundland?

Above average is the third of six tiers: dogs in it are said to grasp a new command in 15 to 25 tries and to obey the first time at least 70% of the time.

Stanley Coren's ranking of breeds such as the Samoyed rests on a survey of which group of experts?

Obedience judges from the American and Canadian kennel clubs sent back 199 responses, so the list measures trainability more than independent problem-solving.

The Samoyed Club of America says owners often mistake the breed's independence for which trait?

Stubbornness is the label the club rejects: the dogs once had to find, herd and protect livestock alone, making their own decisions far from people.

Which name do breed standards give the light brown tint allowed on a Samoyed's otherwise pale coat?

Biscuit shading usually shows on the ears, and the American standard accepts all-biscuit dogs too while disqualifying any colour outside its short list.

How does an alert Samoyed typically carry its long, heavily plumed tail?

Curled over its back is the alert carriage, and whoever assesses a show dog is expected to see the tail up there at least once in the ring.

Under the American Kennel Club standard, which eye colour disqualifies a Samoyed from the show ring?

Blue eyes are one of only two disqualifications in the standard; the other is a coat of any colour outside its approved list.

Which colour does the American breed standard prefer for the lips of a Samoyed's upturned mouth?

Black is preferred; on puppies born with pink skin the pigment arrives as charcoal smudges within days, then deepens and spreads across the lips.

The Samoyed belongs to which family of dogs, typified by pricked ears and a thick double coat?

Spitz dogs take their name from a word meaning pointed, describing the muzzle; the family ranges from the tiny Pomeranian to the Akita and the Chow Chow.

Which explorer left his ship Fram in 1895 with a team of Samoyed sled dogs, bound for the North Pole?

Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen set out with 28 dogs and reached a record farthest north, but they turned back short of the pole and none of the dogs survived.

Which 1898 expedition took Samoyed-type dogs to Antarctica, the first sled dogs on the continent?

Southern Cross sailed from London carrying 90 sledge dogs, and the two handlers who landed with them became the first men to spend a night on the continent.

Which explorer bought nine sled dogs in New Zealand, descendants of an earlier Antarctic expedition's Samoyed-type pack?

Ernest Shackleton bought the nine from a Stewart Island breeder for his Nimrod expedition; they descended from dogs released on a nearby island seven years earlier.

Breed founder Ernest Kilburn-Scott bought a Samoyed puppy in 1889 near which White Sea port?

Arkhangelsk lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina, spreading for more than 40 kilometres along the river and the islands of its delta.

Which Danish-born British queen was an ardent Samoyed fancier whose dogs left many descendants?

Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, did much to promote the breed as a companion and show dog among British dog lovers.

The first Samoyed registered by the American Kennel Club, in 1906, came from which country?

Russia sent the first one, a dog named Moustan of Argenteau, though most American lines trace to dogs imported after the First World War.

The Samoyed descends from a herding laika bred by which people of the Arctic tundra?

Nenets herders still keep the ancestral laika, a landrace that almost died out in the Soviet era and gained an official standard only in 1994.

The Samoyed's ancestor is a laika, a dog-type name that literally means what?

Barker is the literal sense, from a verb meaning to bark, and it suits a descendant that the breed club itself describes as very vocal.

The American Kennel Club, which recognised the Samoyed in 1906, shows it in which category?

Working Group fits the club's own standard, which opens by calling the breed essentially a working dog whose job lies in cold climates.

Samoyed hereditary glomerulopathy, a disease more severe in male dogs, attacks which organs?

Kidneys fail within months in affected males because the faulty gene sits on the X chromosome, and males carry only one copy of it.

Which disease, usually diagnosed around age seven, strikes Samoyeds through pancreas damage?

Diabetes mellitus in the breed resembles human type 1: chronic inflammation or an immune attack destroys the cells that make insulin.

Samoyed owners are urged to flag vet records because the breed reacts badly to which medicines?

Sulfa drugs, or sulfonamides, bring on adverse reactions more frequently in the breed, so the national club wants the warning written into every dog's file.

Besides knitting, shed Samoyed fur is sometimes used to make gear for which outdoor pastime?

Fly fishing is the unlikely answer: the shed fur is sometimes tied into the artificial flies that anglers use as lures.

In the sled racing that Samoyed clubs promote, which spoken command tells a dog team to turn right?

Gee means right and haw means left, while hike sets the team moving; mushers can teach all three on off-season walks with the dog in harness.

Which eye shape does the American breed standard require of a Samoyed?

Almond is the required shape, set deep and well apart, while round or protruding eyes are penalised in the show ring.

Which facial feature does the American Samoyed standard say must not be removed for the show ring?

Whiskers are to be left alone under the standard, which also demands a muzzle with real depth, neither coarse nor snipy.

The American standard likens the Samoyed's large, long, flattish foot to the foot of which animal?

Hare is the model: the long foot has thick, tough pads and protective hair between the toes, whereas a round, cat-like foot counts as a fault.

Male Samoyeds carry a heavier version of which collar of thick fur around the neck and shoulders?

Ruff is the term, and it frames the head; the standard prizes a weather-resistant coat over sheer quantity of hair.

Which term describes the seasonal process in which a Samoyed sheds its dense undercoat in clumps?

Blowing coat happens once or twice a year, yet fine hairs still drift off all year round and cling to cloth.

Samoyed hereditary glomerulopathy is a model for which human disorder that also causes hearing loss?

Alport syndrome involves the same kind of fault in a collagen gene on the X chromosome, which is why affected dogs also lose some of their hearing.

Century-old dogs related to the Samoyed came from which peninsula whose name means end of the land?

Yamal specimens about a century old matched local dogs from 850 and 2,000 years ago, showing an ancient Arctic lineage living on in the modern breed.

The languages of the peoples who gave the Samoyed its name belong to which family?

Uralic is the family; the label Samoyedic survives from an obsolete term once applied to several indigenous herding peoples of the far north.