- Dog suitable for owners with some experience
- Basic training required
- Need to be aware of potential health issues
- Enjoys active walks
- Enjoys one to two hours of walking a day
- Medium dog
- Some drool
- Requires grooming every other day
- Chatty and vocal dog
- Barks and alerts to visitors/anything unusual
- Could have issues with unknown dogs but gets along with known dogs
- Gets along with other pets with training
- May need additional supervision to live with children
- Needs a small garden
- Can happily live in the city
- Can be left occasionally with training
The German Spitz Mittel breed can be prone to:
- Patellar luxation
- Multifocal retinal dysplasia¹ which is an inherited eye condition that can seriously affect a dog's vision.
Priority Kennel Club health schemes and testing:
None but there are several recommended schemes that the Kennel Club recommends which can be found here.
¹A. Clop et al, 'Identification of positively selected sites in the goat kappa casein (CSN3) gene', 2010, Animal Genetics
Key Facts
Lifespan: | 13 – 15 years |
Weight: | 7 – 11kg |
Height: | 30 – 38cm |
Colours: | Comes in a variety of colours and variations |
Size: | Medium |
Kennel Club Group: | Utility |
Ratings
Family-friendly: | 5/5 |
Exercise needs: | 4/5 |
Easy to train: | 2/5 |
Tolerates being alone: | 3/5 |
Likes other pets: | 3/5 |
Energy level: | 5/5 |
Grooming needs: | 3/5 |
Shedding: | 4/5 |

Personality
Active and alert, the German Spitz Mittel is a happy, confident dog with an even temper and should show no signs of aggression or nervousness. They adore human company and love to be included in any family activity. They do not enjoy being left alone and do not make a good companion for people who will regularly leave them. Whilst small, they are intelligent and should be kept entertained and content with training and exercise. A bored German Spitz is liable to be a very noisy and irritable house-mate!

History and Origins
Country of Origin: Germany
Descending from larger Nordic herding dogs such as the Samoyed, which were taken to Germany and Holland by the Vikings during the Middle Ages, the German Spitz Mittel is, not surprisingly, the middle sized of the five recognised German Spitz types.
By the 1700’s the German Spitz became a fashionable pet of British society, and were used to produce the smaller Pomeranian (and then later to improve the increasingly tiny Pomeranian then struggling due to its very small size).
There are five sizes of German Spitz types recognised by the FCI, the Wolfspitz (Keeshond), the Giant Spitz, the German Spitz Mittel, the German Spitz Klein and the Pomeranian.
Due to the very close ancestry between the Mittel and the Klein, whilst breeding between the two is no longer permitted, occasionally a Mittel litter will produce a Klein pup, and vice versa.

Did You Know?
- Spitz type dogs have been around a long time. Skeletal remains of spitz types have been found associated with human settlements from five to six thousand years ago, throughout Central Europe. Whilst now their behavioural traits can differ from the companion type tiny fluffy spitz’s to the hunting spitz’s willing to take on boar and bear, to the sled pulling spitz’s of the frozen tundra, in form they are all recognisably “spitzy”, with their foxy faces, pricked ears, plush coats and curled tails.