The smooth-coated dog has a short, shiny, close-lying coat. The long-coated variety has a longer coat and profuse feathering in the ears, legs and tail. The feathering or 'fringe' on the ears is usually 3 to 5 cm long, can be straight or with a slight wave. The first official breed standard of the two varieties was written in 1966 in Russia.The breed was nearly wiped out twice; first in the 1920s with the rise of Communism due to the toy dog's traditional link to the aristocracy and again in the 1990s with the influx of foreign breeds following the fall of the Iron Curtain. The AKC Russian Toy Dog Club of America added the word 'The' to their name and became The Russian Toy Dog Club of America (TRTDCA) while the UKC club retained the original Russkiy Toy Dog Club of America name (RTDCA).In August 2013, AKC stated that the two clubs RTCA and TRTDCA must combine into one club to represent the Russian Toy breed in the AKC.