Some records indicate that eight Smooth Haired Toy Terriers completed in the dog show in St. Petersburg as back as 1874.

The more generally accepted first reference to the breed appears in 1907, when 11 Toy Terriers were shown at an exhibition in St. Petersburg. The breed was popular among aristocracy. Owning a pure breed dog was a sign of wealth, with the man having hunting dogs and the ladies a companion dog, the smaller and more elegant the more valuable.

But as result of the October Revolution in 1917, the breed diminished in popularity as the breeding of dogs for companionship was almost brought to a halt, and during these times the fate of the Russian Toy Terrier was uncertain.

Since the mid 1950s the resulting contemporary Russian Toy differed significantly from the classic Toy Terrier and development of breed moved forward. It was whilst working on the breed that in 1958 a long haired puppy was born.

In 1960 the first printed description of the breed was the Smooth Haired variety Since then the breed has been growing in popularity; with the breed standard first coming into effect in 1966 under authorisation of the Ministry of Agriculture.

In November 2017 at the FCI Assembly in Germany the Russian Toy gained full recognition with CACIB status.                                                 The Russian Toy has gained popularity not only in Europe, but around the world including countries such as America and Australia.

On 18^th January 2018 the interim breed standard for the Russian Toy had finally been approved and from 1^st April 2018 the Russian Toy could at last be exhibited at KC licensed shows.