Skip to content
Breed RadarBeta

About the German Spitz

Origin: Germany
Size
Small — from its typical weight
Weight
Male
3.6-12 kg
Female
3.6-11 kg
Height
23-38 cm
FCI status
Recognised by FCI
FCI group
Spitz and primitive types
Origin
Germany
Also called
Spitz Aleman
Known hereditary risks
3 documented conditions, with the test for each

About

What is a German Spitz?

Compact, lively spitz-type dog with abundant double coat, fox-like expression, and characteristic plumed tail carried over the back. Available in multiple size varieties with alert, attentive demeanor.

German Spitz history and origins

Descended from ancient Stone Age 'Peat Dogs', considered the oldest dog breed in Central Europe. Developed in various sizes throughout Germany as vigilant farm watchdogs and companions, with FCI recognizing multiple size varieties sharing common ancestry.

German Spitz appearance and size

Males typically weigh 3.6-12 kg and females 3.6-11 kg.

What the breed standard says

Bred for
Watch and Companion dog
Behaviour and temperament
“German Wolfsspitz Keeshond is always attentive, lively and extraordinarily attached to its owner. It is very teachable and easy to train. Its natural distrust of strangers and lack of hunting instinct make it the ideal companion and family dog and watch dog for home and farm. It is neither timid nor aggressive. Indifference to weather, robustness and longevity are its most outstanding attributes. The”

Quoted from FCI standard n°97. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.

Breed reference from The Dog API.

Characteristics

Size
Small
Exercise needs
2 of 5
Easy to train
—
Amount of shedding
4 of 5
Grooming needs
4 of 5
Good with children
—
Cost to keep
—
Tolerates being alone
—
Intelligence
—
Health of breed
3 conditions documented

Pros & cons

Pros & cons for the German Spitz

What you get with the German Spitz

  • Purpose stated in the standard: “Watch and Companion dog”
  • The standard describes the breed as: “German Wolfsspitz Keeshond is always attentive, lively and extraordinarily attached to its owner”

What you are taking on

  • 2 serious inherited conditions are documented, mainly in breathing and hormones & metabolism. The health guide tab has the test to ask for on each.
  • High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “The backside of the front legs is well feathered, the hind legs have ample feathering…”

Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; University of Cambridge Canine Genetics Centre / Tracheal Collapse. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.

Characteristics

FCI standard · German Spitz

Coat and colour

FCI publishes 3 coat varieties for the German Spitz, numbered here in the standard’s own order. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.

Coat

German Wolfsspitz/Keeshond has a double coat: Long, straight and firm standing off top coat and short, thick, cotton-wool-like undercoat.

Head, ears, front side of front and hind legs and the paws are covered by short, thick (velvety) hair.

The rest of the body has a long, rich, hairy coat.

Not wavy, curly or shaggy, not parted along the back.

Neck and shoulders are covered by a thick mane.

The backside of the front legs is well feathered, the hind legs have ample feathering from croup to hocks.

The tail is bushy.

Hair must not look like being modelled

Colour

  • Preferred
  • Permissible
  • Undesirable
  • Disqualifying

Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.

Wolfsspitz/Keeshond

Base colour

Grey-shaded

  • Grey-shaded is a silver-grey with black hair-tips.
  • Muzzle and ears are dark in colour, round the eyes well defined <spectacles> shown as a delicately pencilled black line slanting from outer corner of eye to lower corner of ear, coupled with distinct markings and shading forming short but expressive eyebrows
  • mane and ring on shoulder lighter
  • fore- and hind legs silver-grey without any black markings under the elbows or stifles, except slight pencilling on the toes
  • black tip of tail
  • underside of tail and trousers pale silver-grey

FCI varieties

FCI does not recognise every combination of variety and colour. Its own list is below; ask a breeder which one their line is.

Which colours FCI recognises for each variety of the German Spitz
Varietywhitebrown blackorange grey shaded other colours
Giant spitzRecognisedRecognisedNot listed
Medium size SpitzRecognisedRecognisedRecognised
Miniature SpitzRecognisedRecognisedRecognised

FCI also lists Keeshond (Wolfspitz) and Pomeranian without a colour breakdown.

Measured at 15+ months · Height at the withers (cm)

Size classification

Height at the withers, stated as a target with a tolerance. Each variety should have a weight corresponding to its size.

152025303540455055
  • Keeshond43–55 49 ± 6 cm
  • Giant40–50 45 cm ± 5 cm
  • Medium30–40 35 cm ± 5 cm
  • Miniature24–30 27 cm ± 3 cm
  • Toy18–24 21 cm ± 3 cm

One range per size, for both sexes.

Height at the withers in cm. Transcribed from FCI standard n°97, read 2026-08-31.

Shortened from FCI standard n°97 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.

What the standard penalises

What a judge marks the German Spitz down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.

Disqualifying faults

Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.

  • Any dog clearly abnormalities.
  • Gap in fontanel.
  • Overbite, underbite, crossbite.
  • Ectropion or entropion.
  • Ears not fully erected.
  • Definite white markings or spots

FCI standard n°97

Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the German Spitz in general; any individual animal can differ.

Health guide

Health & screening guide for the German Spitz

Known hereditary risks for the German Spitz breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.

3 conditions documented

Health checklist (PDF)

Bones & joints

Patellar luxation

Monitor

The kneecap slips out of its groove, causing an intermittent skipping gait that can progress to lameness and arthritis in severe, unmanaged cases. Documented specifically in the POMERANIAN (the smallest German Spitz variety): a large UK primary-care study found Pomeranians had the highest patellar luxation prevalence of any breed studied.

What to ask for

No DNA test exists, as this is a developmental trait rather than a single-gene one. Ask for the sire's and dam's own veterinary patella examination findings, or an OFA patellar luxation evaluation

1 source

Breathing

Tracheal collapse

SeriousInherent to the breed

The cartilage rings holding the windpipe open weaken and flatten, causing a dry honking cough that worsens with excitement or heat and can progress to real breathing difficulty. Documented specifically in the POMERANIAN, alongside other toy breeds such as the Chihuahua and Pekingese.

What to ask for

No DNA test exists. Ask for the individual dog's and its parents' veterinary history of chronic cough or a prior collapse diagnosis

1 source

Hormones & metabolism

Primary hyperparathyroidism

Serious

A benign parathyroid tumour drives excess hormone production, raising blood calcium and causing excess thirst, urination and weakness; untreated, it can damage the kidneys or cause bladder stones. Documented specifically in the KEESHOND/WOLFSPITZ (the largest German Spitz variety, often registered as a separate breed).

What to ask for

A commercial DNA test exists but its underlying research has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal and comes from a single laboratory, so a 'clear' result should not be treated as definitive; ask whether the breeder tests, and also request blood calcium results on the sire and dam

2 sources

How long the German Spitz lives, in the records

German Spitz Mittel

Median survival 14.0 years

95% confidence interval 13.3–14.6 years, from 96 recorded deaths among 231 dogs

Mortality hazard 0.59 (0.49, 0.73) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.

Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.

McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.

Keeshond

Median survival 12.3 years

95% confidence interval 11.6–13.8 years, from 55 recorded deaths among 168 dogs

Mortality hazard 0.84 (0.65, 1.1) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.

Few deaths recorded for this breed, so the figure is imprecise.

Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.

McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.

Pomeranian

Median survival 12.2 years

95% confidence interval 12.0–12.5 years, from 1,170 recorded deaths among 2,907 dogs

Mortality hazard 1.03 (0.97, 1.09) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.

Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.

McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.

Gallery

No photographs yet

This is where German Spitz owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.

A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.

Puppies

No puppies listed right now

No German Spitz breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.

Sections