Here are some fun and fascinating facts about Finnish Spitz that will surely surprise a lot of people!
The Finnish Spitz has been the National Dog of Finland since 1812 when its first breed standard was formulated. These canines are highly admired and adored in their home country and they have become immensely popular in several other Scandinavian countries as well.
The Finnish Spitz canines have been called by a lot of different names since they came into existence. Some of their more famous nicknames and aliases are the Barking Bird Dogs, the Finnish Hunting Dogs, the Finnish Spets, the Finkies and Suomenpystykorva which means ‘Finnish cock-eared dog’.
In the past, when these pooches were born, they were heavily used for hunting purposes. But, unlike many other breeds who use their sense of smell or vision to find their prey, these canines hunted by means of barking. They were mostly used to hunt small birds and games and their role was to alert the hunters with their distinctive bark about the position of the prey.
Finkies have a dense, short and soft undercoat and a straight, harsh and decently long exterior coat. Their coat is mostly found in bright colors like Red and Gold and it is fairly weather-resistant in nature as well. Also, the male Finkies are known to have a slightly heavier and denser coat than their female counterparts.
At birth, the Finnish Spitz canines possess a fairly dark-colored coat in which there is a whole lot of black present. But as they grow up, this black shade gradually fades away from their coat and at around two years of age, their coat completely turns to bright red or golden color.
Finnish Spitz canines are believed to be the result of selective breeding of Spitz-type dogs. When a group of tribal people known as the Finno-Ugrian tribes wanted a dog that would help them in their search for food, they started breeding the dogs that lived around the central Russian region. And, this breeding process led to the birth of very first true ancestors of the Finnish Spitz canines that we see today. These canines are known to have migrated from one place to another for several thousand years in the past.
Because of advancement in the field of transportation, several new breeds of canine came to the Finnish region. And, with that, the Finkies began mating with these other breeds and gradually, over many years, they almost became extinct as a distinct and true breed. But thanks to the efforts of a Finnish Sportsman named Hugo Roos who realized the value of a true Finnish Spitz, this breed saw a revival. Hugo Roos decided to breed two genuine Finnish Spitz, which resulted in a true Finnish Spitz progeny, and thus as time passed by, their numbers started growing and after almost thirty years of cautious breeding, the modern-day Finnish Spitz that is known to us now was born.
After existing for several thousand years, the Finkies were finally recognized as a distinct breed by the American Kennel Club in the year 1988, which is not that long ago considering the time these canines have spent on this planet.
Finnish Spitz canines are known for high barking tendencies. These dogs love to express themselves and they do so by means of howling or barking. They are also known as the Barking Bird Dogs as they are quite vocal and are always looking to display their barking prowess.
The Finnish Spitz dogs are fairly intelligent in nature and they are known to be independent thinkers and because of that, they can be a bit stubborn and willful, especially if a novice dog owner is involved. But this behavior can be easily controlled through proper training and guidance.
In Finland, there is a barking competition that is organized each year to determine the “King of the Barkers.” Many Finnish Spitz canines compete in this competition and after various rounds of effective barking, one Finnish Spitz pooch is crowned the “King Barker.”
After several DNA-based research programs and evaluations, it has been discovered that the Finnish Spitz canines and Taimyr Wolf, which is a different species of Wolf from the Gray Wolf, share some commonalities among their DNA fragments.