Finnish Spitz
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| Other names | Finnish Hunting Dog Finnish Spets Finsk Spets Loulou Finois Suomalainen pystykorva Suomenpystykorva |
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| Origin | Finland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Notes | National dog of Finland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification / standards | |||
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| FCI | Group 5, Section 2 Nordic Hunting Dogs #49 | standard | |
| AKC | Non-sporting | standard | |
| ANKC | Group 4 (Hounds) | standard | |
| CKC | Group 2 - Hounds | standard | |
| KC (UK) | Hound | standard | |
| NZKC | Hounds | standard | |
| UKC | Northern Breed | standard | |
A Finnish Spitz (Finnish language: Suomenpystykorva) is a breed of dog originating in Finland. The breed was originally bred to hunt all types of game from squirrels and other rodents to bears. It is a "bark pointer", indicating the position of game by barking, and drawing the gamer animal's attention to itself, allowing an easier approach for the hunter. Its original game hunting purpose was to point to game that fled into trees, such as grouse, and capercaillies, but it also serves well for hunting elk. Some individuals have even been known to go after a bear. In its native country, the breed is still mostly used as a hunting dog. The breed is friendly and in general loves children, so it is suitable for domestic life. The Finnish Spitz has been the national dog of Finland since 1979.
The remains of dogs that have been found in Finland and dated from 8,000 years ago are similar in size and shape to Spitz-type dogs.
Nearly all dog breeds’ genetic closeness to the gray wolf is due to admixture. However, several Arctic dog breeds show a genetic closeness with the now-extinct Taymyr wolf of North Asia due to admixture. These breeds are associated with high latitudes - the Siberian husky and Greenland dog that are also associated with arctic human populations, and to a lesser extent the Shar Pei and Finnish spitz. An admixture graph of the Greenland dog indicates a best-fit of 3.5% shared material, however an ancestry proportion ranging between 1.4% and 27.3% is consistent with the data. This indicates admixture between the Taymyr wolf population and the ancestral dog population of these 4 high-latitude breeds. This introgression could have provided early dogs living in high latitudes with phenotypic variation beneficial for adaption to a new and challenging environment. It also indicates the ancestry of present-day dog breeds descends from more than one region.
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Wikipedia