- Pure white
About the Japanese Spitz
Origin: Japan
- Typical life span
- 12-16 years
- Size
- Small — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 5-11 kg
- Female
- 4.5-9 kg
- Height
- 30-39 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Spitz and primitive types
- Origin
- Japan
- Also called
- Spitz Japones
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What is a Japanese Spitz?
Small to medium-sized spitz-type dog with profuse, pure-white double coat, fox-like face with pointed muzzle, and plumed tail carried over its back. This lively companion dog has an alert, friendly disposition.
Japanese Spitz history and origins
Developed in Japan in the 1920s-1930s from various spitz breeds including large white German Spitz dogs brought to Japan around 1920. The breed was developed through selective breeding for friendly temperament and white coat, first exhibited in Tokyo in 1921. After World War II, the breed standard was unified by the Japan Kennel Club.
Japanese Spitz appearance and size
Males typically weigh 5-11 kg and females 4.5-9 kg.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Companion dog
- Behaviour and temperament
“Intelligent, cheerful, keen in sense. Noisy not permitted”
Quoted from FCI standard n°262. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Small
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Companion dog” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 2 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 3 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Japanese Spitz
What you get with the Japanese Spitz
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Companion dog”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Intelligent, cheerful, keen in sense. Noisy not permitted”
What you are taking on
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “The foreface, ears, front of forearms and part below hocks are short haired, and the rest…”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard. 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 · Japanese Spitz
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.
Coat
Outer coat straight and stand-off.
Undercoat short, soft and dense.
The foreface, ears, front of forearms and part below hocks are short haired, and the rest covered with abundant long coat, especially from neck to shoulders and forechest covered with beautiful frill, and the tail also has long profuse feathering
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.
Shortened from FCI standard n°262 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Japanese Spitz in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Japanese Spitz
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Japanese Spitz on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Japanese 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 Japanese 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.