Food

Your Spitz’s ideal dish is a bowl of well-cooked – but not gluey – rice with various vegetables (onions, carrots, lettuce, etc.), togther with raw or barely cooked meat chopped or minced. 
You can substitute pasta for rice. Meat, rich in protein, always is the staple and your Spitz will need 20-30 g. a day of beef per each kilo of weight as well as veggies and rice of course. 
To vary the diet you can give him cheese – a food rich in fats and calcium. Avoid pulses; the ideal fruit is an apple which also helps to keep teeth clean. The yolk of an egg swirled in a soup together with some meat is an ideal meal although limit it to once a week. From the age of 2 to 12 months the dog should have two meals a day. After that once a day is sufficient. Food must be tepid or at room temperature and never cold.
Never, ever, give your dog milk, biscuits, sweets, chocolate or any other form of sweet food which could lead to serious health effects on the small animal and must be avoided at all costs.

Hygiene

As soon as you’ve bought your puppy your troubles are just beginning because you’re going to go mad trying to find that miraculous cure to keep your carpets and floors clean. 
In fact, teaching your dog washroom habits is not so difficult and can be quite quick if you bear a few tips in mind. Firstly, you must know that puppies usually defecate half an hour or so after eating or waking up. When you’ve pinpointed the right time it will be sufficient to place him on the piece of newspaper, or whatever you’ve reserved and make him stay there until he’s done the job. Once finished make a little fuss over him: stroke him and tell him what a good guy he’s been. You’ll be surprised how quickly and with a little patience he’ll learn where his master, or mistress, wants him to do his dirty work. However, sometimes and sooner or later your dg will pee in the wrong places and you’re going to have to punish him in a correct and efficacious way. Firstly, you must punish him immediiately, it is pointless 
and ineffective punishing him two hours after he peed as the dog will only be confused as to what is happening. The best way to deal with his disobbedience is to take him by the scruff of his neck and shake him – exactly as his mother would do ! You shake him and at the same time say “NO !” in a firm, decisive tone. The same word and tone you must always use when you want to stop him doing something forbidden. You’ll find this system will always work. 
Don’t, for example, try to place his muzzle in his excrement – what may be repugnant for humans may not be so for dogs.

Teeth

Tooth problems, especially for small dogs, begin at around the age of 6 or 7 months when the existence of milk teeth create problems for the growth of final teeth. The best advice here if you have problems is to consult your vet.

Grooming

Grooming a Spitz, in spite of his long, thick coat is not a difficult job. It’s enouggh to brush him a couple of times a week. You can bathe him twice a year, althoughj, if you want, once two months is OK. But you must use the right cleanser. We’ve found that Crisp Coat shampoo for rough coats is the best product.
PLEASE NOTE: make sure the dog is perfectly dry after you’ve washed him.