Welcome to the Spitz (German/Japanese) Breed Information blog

This is a blog devoted to the lovely Spitz breed. We will try to provide information for all spitz family, Japanese Spitz, German Spitz, Finnish Spitz, Pomeranian. Feel free to contact us to send us your dog pictures.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Finnish Spitz Dog Health Issues, Grooming and Living Conditions

Health Issues. Thanks to the careful and responsible breeding of the Finnish Spitz they suffer from very few health problems and are generally a fairly robust dog. On rare occasions though they can suffer from luxating patella, which is when the knee cap slips out of position, epilepsy and hereditary cataracts. They can also suffer from hip dysplasia and elbow dysplasia. Their average life expectancy is around 12 to 15 years.


Grooming. The Finnish Spitz has an almost self-cleaning coat and only requires brushing around once a week. However, they do shed seasonally for a few weeks twice a year, during this time they will need to be brushed daily to remove all the excess coat. This process of removing the old coat will help the new coat to grow out in a better condition, also excess undercoat can cause skin conditions.


Living Conditions. The Finnish Spitz prefers a cooler climate and can be relatively inactive indoors. They can do well in an apartment but do need daily walks and plenty of attention. They are well suited to family life and get on well with children and other pets. It's important to train them well and to make sure that the dog knows it is not the one in charge, or they can become dominant and even aggressive. They are loyal to their family and, due to their breeding, bark when they have found game, they make excellent watch dogs alerting the family to trouble, however they do not make good guard dogs.

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