The Finnish Spitz is a medium sized dog with a thick coat, foxy face, pricked ears and tail curled over the back that is typical of the Spitz type. Attractive and lively, the Finnish spitz should be hard and lean under the luxurious coat, with males having a thicker coat and more prominent ruff than females.
| Lifespan: | 12 – 15 years |
| Weight: | 14 – 16kg |
| Height: | 39 – 50cm |
| Colours: | The coat comes in shades of red-gold or red brown with a lighter coloured, soft undercoat that almost makes the dog glow in the right light |
| Size: | Medium |
| UK Kennel Club Groups: | Hound |
| Family-friendly: | 5/5 |
| Exercise needs: | 5/5 |
| Easy to train: | 3/5 |
| Tolerates being alone: | 1/5 |
| Likes other pets: | 5/5 |
| Energy level: | 5/5 |
| Grooming needs: | 3/5 |
| Shedding: | 4/5 |
The Finnish Spitz is lively and alert, bold and brave with a keen desire to hunt, and to bark about anything they have seen. Loyal with loved ones and said to be excellent with children, they are clever and quick witted and require consistency in training. In Finland they are trained only to bark at their specific quarry and to ignore anything else so it is evidently possible to teach them not to bark indiscriminately, but this will require work.
Country of Origin: Finland
Bred to hunt by scent and sight, the Finnish Spitz has been a hunting dog for centuries and is still used today in Finland to track capercaillie and black grouse. In the past they also hunted large game including elk (moose) and bear.
Their position in the hound group in the UK is a little unusual as this Spitz type breed actually performs a HPR (Hunt, Point, Retrieve) role in the field. They track game by scent, then point at the game up a tree whilst barking softly and waving their tail which lulls the game into a false sense of security and alerts the hunter. As the hunter gets closer the dog barks louder and moves around the tree. The bird wishing to keep an eye on this suspicious yet mesmerising creature turns to keep it in view, and then the hunter can sneak up quietly and shoot the bird!
Due to improvements in transport and the increased mixing of people and their dogs, the Finnish Spitz was bred with other similar types and the breed was almost lost as a result. In the 1880s, two Finnish foresters, Hugo Sandberg and Hugo Roos set out to save the breed and by 1892, they succeeded in having them recognised by the Finnish Kennel Club under the name Suomenpystykorva. Roos was actively involved in breeding, showing and judging the Finnish Spitz until the 1920s, and today the breed is secure with nearly 2000 puppies registered annually in Finland.
