Summary

A successful Finnish Spitz dog breeder writes about life with her champion Finnish Spitz in Canada. Joan started almost forty years ago by importing the eighth dog into Canada and retired recently, after exporting the very first foreign bred Finnish Spitz into Finland. This book is a wealth of information for anyone interested in raising quality puppies or the Finnish Spitz breed. From This review is Finnish A Closer Look (Paperback) I recently purchased and read Finnish A Closer Look. This book provides excellent information on the breed as well as insight into the breeding and selection process. I had no idea how much science and research went into producing puppies that would be healthy, good-natured, and that would conform to the breed standard. Learning this increased my appreciation for the responsible and compassionate work Joan Grant has done with this breed. Some animal rights groups have left the impression that animal breeders are hard-hearted, callous puppy mills whose only interest is the almighty dollar. Although there are disreputable people who do breed in this manner, Grant's book shows that good, responsible breeders have the happiness and wellness of the dogs at the center of their work. I've come to understand how important it is to purchase a dog from a reputable breeder. Grant sprinkles her memoir of her experience with Finnish Spitz with many personal stories and experiences from other Finnish Spitz owners. These stories give good insights into the breed and how to work with it. One of the nicest features of this book is its abundance of photographs. Grant also gives good tips on training this breed. In this book, I also learned the role that dog shows play in helping maintain the desired features in this breed that enable them to continue being the alert, gentle, and beautiful dogs that they are. The underlying purpose of dogs shows is to maintain the unique abil