The beginning of the Taigan standard might be tracked back to the Ordinance of Minister of Industry of the Soviet Union in 1947, when it was decided that every soviet republic was supposed to have its proper home breed. In 1964 prof. A. Miniukhin, elaborated the first ever written standard, which was adopted by the Canine Council of the Soviet Union. Prior to this, in 1953 in Moscow, Y. I. Shereshevskyi released a book – Sighthound hunting – which was a result of a vivid hunting traditions with these dogs – as hunters using the sighthounds were organized in kolhozs, partially supported by the state. Unfortunatelly the purity of the breed was not a priority and one could encounter mongrels of the Middle Asian Greyhound Tazh (Tazi) and the Kyrgyz sighthound Taigan, which eventually could make the breed come to an end.

The newly adopted standard was aimed at stopping this detrimental trend. Gorbatchev’s liberalization of the Soviet Union contributed in the stimulation of the interest in history and culture of respective republics, thus also in Kyrgystan. The Taigan as an element of the Kyrgyz heritage become a central point of interest for the Dog Hunting Department of the Union of Fishermen and Hunters led by a biologist named Almas Kurmankulov. Since 1987 the pure-bred Taigans have been collected and registered. A new Taigan standard was proclaimed on February, the 1st, 1996, after Kyrgystan had turned into an independent state.

In 2001 the National Society Kyrgyz Taigan was founded and next the organization was supported financially by enterpreneurs and hunters. The society keeps archives of the registered dogs, carries out the breed reviews and the working trials. Moreover it is responsible for signing contracts with its partners, who concede the decision about the breeding of the dogs to the society. Thanks to such an activity, every single puppy is judged by a canine expert and every adult Taigan must pass working trials.

On June, the 2nd, the FCI has enabled the participation of the non-FCI breeds in shows organized by its auspices. Thanks to this, the Taigan may be presented in shows organized by any FCI member as long as the representatives of such a breed are placed in a separate section of a show catalogue and as long as the dog has a pedigree issued by one of the FCI members. With the end of the USSR, the Taigans, so as the Tazhs, were presented solely in dog shows in former soviet republics. The FCI statement gave rules to the situation of new and emerging canine organizations in every single country, which was joining the FCI.

In 2005, in Kyrgyz capital city – Bishkek, an organization called Kyrgyzcynology was founded, it arose from a Doberman Club “Style”. The organization aimed at joining FCI, thus from the very beginning it adopted rules and regulations of FCI. In the end of 2005 Kyrgyzcynology issued the first brochure on canine matters, wherein the first 5 pages were dedicated to Taigans. There was a short text on the breed as well as some colour pictures showing Taigans in dog shows and in the nature.

Also in 2005, a Department of Dog Hunting of Fishing and Hunting Union, which was responsible for the Taigan as an organization, joined Kyrgyzcynology, and that was how the breed become the point of interest of a canine society. After the fusion, Kyrgyzcynology, applied for the membership in FCI, which is still in the process of consideration.

If the Kyrgyz Kennel Club joins FCI and if applies for the Taigan recognition, it will be likely to modify the breed standard in accordance to FCI rules through the Standards and Scientific Commissions of the FCI.

The FCI recognizes over 300 dog breeds from various countries but the number of applications for recognizing new breeds is growing. That is why some of the FCI activists came to think about the ongoing procedures. There are some thoughts of a long path for the recognition and introduction of
types.

The long path of the breed recognition would create three-stage registration prior to the official FCI recognition. The first stage would be the local recognition, where the breed would be presented in dog shows without notes and the shows would be commented. This stage would be aimed at breed standardization. In case of the negative evaluation by FCI, the breed would be let only to national shows and it would be called “a regional type”. The second stage would be applying in FCI. On this stage, after the positive evaluation, there should be seven independent lines bred, also the closer and further relations to other breeds should be determined. The third stage would be an emerging state, wherein the specialist (but not breeders) would consider, if the population at hand is a breed or just a variety or type.

The long path of the breed recognition has only been the discussion factor for the time being, not an official statement of FCI. The FCI itself quotes pros and cons. On one hand one thinks how to stop an enormous number of new applications, but on the other one admits, there are breeds which are worthy to be recognized.

As long as the membership of Kyrgystan in FCI has still not been approved, one cannot say which will be the mode of the Taigan recognition. FCI itself is quite vague about the future policy. But as long as the Taigan has become fairly popular in his homeland over the past years and the show and hunting population is growing and as long as the Taigan has been recognized locally by some FCI members, then if the activities of the Kyrgyz canine experts continue, one can think that show possibilities might be good.