Spitz - Working Dogs

Working Dogs

Through selective breeding, spitz-types have been developed to fit three purposes helping humans: hunting, herding, and pulling sleds.

The larger and more powerful breeds such as the Akita Inu, Karelian Bear Dog, Norwegian Elkhound and Swedish Elkhound were used for big game hunting, helping humans kill moose and brown bears.

Smaller breeds such as the Finnish Spitz and the Lundehund were used in Scandinavia to hunt birds and smaller mammals.

Three of the largest spitz types, notably the Alaskan Malamute, Canadian Eskimo Dog and the Greenland Dog, were used to pull sleds up until the 19th century. During that century, when fur trapping and Dog Sled Racing became lucrative businesses, the smaller and faster Siberian Husky came to be used more frequently in Canada and Alaska. The Finnish Lapphund was used by the Sami people.