Progenitors of several European breeds and oldest breed of dogs in central Europe, the German Spitz themselves descended from stone age "Peat Dogs" (Torfhund), "Canis familiaris palustris R�thimeyer" and the later Lake Dweller's (Pfahlbau) Spitz. The term Spitz apply to both breed of dog and type of dog. In non-German speaking countries, the larger descendents of German Spitz (WolfSpitz) are called Keeshonds and smaller descendents (Toy Spitz) are called Pomeranians. The term German Spitz, when used for a type of dog, covers all the Spitz type dog of German origin. The Grossespitz, Mittelspitz, and Kleinspitz breeds of German Spitz type are also called the German Spitz in English.
The German Spitz type dogs are characterized by their beautiful coats as well as foxy heads. The German Spitz have a broad and wedge shaped head with a proportionally moderate muzzle. Pure black nose is round and it can be brown in brown coat Spitz. Medium size eyes are longish, slightly slanting and dark in colour. Pricked, triangular shaped ears are set high and close to each other. Medium length neck is slightly arched and covered with ruff. Back is short and straight with broad and strong loin. The chest is well developed with well sprung ribs. Medium length tail is set high and is carried upwards and rolls forward over the back. The skin is tight all over the body and is covered with long, straight, standoff top coat and short, thick, cotton-wolf-like undercoat. This double coat comes in different colours for different size Spitz ranging from grey for Keeshonds to black, brown, white and many other colours for other size Spitz.
This breed is NOT recognized by AKC.
