In Almaty suburb in Zhursyn Uralkiyev's house a pure-bred bitch Kyrgi pupped. The tazy dog gave birth to 10 puppies.

These creatures are just a week old. It is unclear yet if they will become owners' pride or considered unsuitable.

Puppies are nursed as if they were babies. However, in one year it will become clear which of them are the best, and which are a bit weaker.

It takes a lot of time and money to breed dogs, but for the owner Zhursyn Uralkiyev it is something like patriotism.

"Tazy is a native Kazakh breed", he says. "They were bred by our ancestors, and aruakhs (spirits of ancestors) approve of what I do."

Breeder Konstantin Plakhov cannot say anything about aruakhs, but he has started to breed tazy 20 years ago. Today the president of the National Club of Kazakh Tazy Breed has come to inspect his chargees.

The zoologist meticulously examines every puppy. Breeders are tough people. The most important thing for them is breed's evolution.

Tazy breeders of Almaty province meet often. All their talks revolve around dogs.

Konstantin regularly examines dogs, notes down all the information and takes pictures of them.

Then he decides which bitch to mate with which male. Almost like God. But this power was not given to him from above, but from scientific knowledge.

By the way, the breed Tazy is not registered by FCI, so it is as if it does not exist. In order for it to be register a huge work has to be done, and here Turkey is in front of us. They consider Tazy to be their aboriginal breed too.

6 years ago Konstantin Plakhov and Yestay Tuganbay joined their dogs, knowledge and love for breeding and opened a kennel in Kargaly village of Almaty province. Now Konstantin is responsible for scientific approach to breeding.

...and Yestay takes care of practical and financial matters.

Tazy were highly appreciated by nomads and could even enter human's dwellings. At the same time, tazy are not demanding or greedy for food. One of the ways used by Kazakhs to determine the quality of dogs was to see how the animal ate. Tazy eats neatly from a bowl without dropping a piece on the floor!

Adult dog needs 0.5 kg of meat or 400 g of dog food per day. Even the best specimen would become an invalid if fed only with bread and water, as often happens in auls (villages).

Tazy's kennel has to be comfortable...

Clean...

And warm... Special air conditioning systems keep required temperature.

This is the alfa-dog of the pack called Begarys, son of famous Pilen. However, we were told in private that he falls a bit short of his father.

Youngsters already breath down Begarys' neck.

These are still young male and female, but judging by the signs they promise to become pride of the breed and main breeders.

But the most interesting thing for both males and females of Taza breed is not love, but hunt!

Seeing open car door, the dogs jump in and start settling inside without invitation. They already know that if they have been let out of the enclosure and a car is parked nearby, it means that they are up for hunting!

Tazy breeders discuss the route, tactics and strategy of the hunt. It has been decided to hunt foxes. There was an easier and closer option - to hunt hares, but we insist on foxes.

On the way along old Karaganda highway we drive into a small village to take horses.

Part of our group continue astride and, having separated from us, ride in the steppe.

The first to sense an animal was Yestay's favourite, Sulu.

Then the situation unfolded in full pelt. Affectionate and friendly dogs turned into pitiless hunters.

Tazy can gain speed up to 80 km per hour. A fox does not stand a chance.

There is no place for mercy during hunt. Having caught up with an animal, tazys immediately kill it.

Due to these traits kazys became almost mythical creature for nomads. During the years of hunger they were saving people from starvation.

Pay attention to how the dog looks at its master. It is waiting for a signal to start the hunt. If it does not come the dog will not attack. If the owner waves a hand, the dog will begin the chase.

Even having heard the command, tazys do not immediately obey, but as if think it over. It is the main difference of aboriginal breeds from "civilised": they are more independent, they can think and analyse. They are hard to train. As Konstantin tells novices, they will not be bringing you slippers.

Hunt with tazy does not assume any weapons to be used. Only a man, a horse and a dog.

Before Kazakhs used to hunt with both dogs and hunting birds. Modern tazy breeders do not like burkut falconers. They say that poorly trained birds attack tazy or even people while hunting.

And also tazy breeders from the South do not like their counterparts from the North. The latter strive for larger size of dogs and mate tazy with European hounds. It damages the breed.

That is all, the hunt is over. The master has the bag. It is time to rest.

Until the next hunt.