Finnish Spitz historical pedigree research

Key facts

Project report

14 November 2019 [source]

Database scope reported then

More than 78,000 verified pedigrees [source]

Cross-border agreement

2006 [source]

A reconstruction with named researchers

In its November 2019 report, the Finnish Kennel Club described a project that made more than 78,000 verified Finnish Spitz pedigrees accessible in its breeding database. That is the reported project scale in 2019, not a current population count. The work began with Taisto Collanus and continued under Pertti Korhonen, with database development by Mauri Kumpulainen. Identifying the people and project date makes this an auditable piece of registration history rather than an anonymous claim that every early pedigree is complete.

Database conventions preserve documentary differences

The report explains the SF prefix used for nineteenth- and early twentieth-century records and a separate entry type for officially unregistered ancestors included in pedigrees. This matters because a searchable database record can exist without the dog having held the same sort of original certificate as a modern registered dog. Researchers should transcribe the identifier and entry type together. A reconstructed relationship and a contemporaneous registration are both useful evidence, but answering which one is present prevents an online family tree from acquiring more certainty each time it is copied.

Names and population agreements belong on the timeline

The Kennel Club places the first standardised Finnish barking bird dog entry in 1892 and the Finnish Spitz name in 1897. The breed standard separately records a 2006 agreement between Finnish and Russian kennel organisations concerning the Karelo-Finnish Laika and Finnish Spitz. This later agreement is a registry-history event, not a retroactive proof of identity for every dog previously described by either name. A clear timeline keeps the original name, documentary category and later administrative decision separate. Users can then distinguish the history of a working population from the history of the database that now presents it.

Common questions

Sources & further reading

References for this guide. Rules and services can change; check the responsible organisation for current details.

• Finnish Kennel Club: historical pedigree project (opens in a new tab)
• Finnish Kennel Club: Finnish Spitz standard (opens in a new tab)

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