Finnish Spitz

Grooming Tips

This handsome redhead has a double coat of a soft, dense undercoat covered by long, straight, harshly textured guard hairs. The Finnish Spitz is a naturally clean dog, but he does need some grooming. He should be brushed with a slicker brush at least once a week to minimize shed hair around your house, and bathed every three to four months.The rest is basic care. Trim the nails as needed, usually once a month. Brush the teeth frequently for good overall health and fresh breath. Check the ears weekly for dirt, redness or a bad odor that can indicate an infection. If the ears look dirty, wipe them out with a cotton ball dampened with a gentle, pH-balanced ear cleaner.Begin grooming the Finnish Spitz when he is very young so he learns to accept the handling and fuss of grooming patiently.

Exercise Tips

Because the Finnish Spitz was developed as a hunting breed, these dogs have high energy levels and fairly high needs for exercise. This breed requires at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily and he will appreciate being trained for hunting or other dog sports.

Feeding Tips

The Finnish Spitz is a small- to medium-sized breed so he should be fed a high-quality commercial dog food diet formulated for dogs of his size. It is also important to consider that this breed is very active so you may need to feed him a working or active breed formula to meet his high energy needs.

Health Tips

This is a healthy breed with a life expectancy of 12 to 15 years and a low risk for developing hip dysplasia. There is a breed predisposition to Spitz dog thrombopathia, which causes chronic intermittent bleeding.

Trainability

The Finnish Spitz is a smart and active breed, so they generally respond well to training. The key, however, is to start as early as possible to get the breed’s barking tendencies under control.This breed is generally friendly by nature but they can be a little aloof around strangers, so early socialization is recommended.They respond well to positive-reinforcement training methods with adequate repetition and consistency. These dogs are capable of learning new things quickly so take advantage of that during the first few months you have with your puppy.

The Finnish Spitz dogs were originally known as the Suomenpystrykorva (the Finnish Cock-Eared Dog) and the Finnish Barking Birddogs.About 2000 years ago they were brought from the Volga River area of central Russia to what is now Finland, and are considered the National dog of Finland, and are mentioned in several patriotic songs.They were used to hunt small game. When the dog would find their pray they would alert the hunter with their distinctive yodel type, ringing bark, pointing with their head in the direction the animal was in.The breed is more popular in Scandinavian countries and less popular in the USA, most likely due to their reputation of using their bark to alert their masters. The Finnish Spitz makes a good bird dog. It was first recognized by the AKC in 1988.