Originally used as a guard dog/ bird dog, the breed developed into a purely hunting dog later on. The breed was thought lost to cross breeding until the late 1800s when remote villages offered non diluted specimens. Known in the past as the Finnish Barking Bird Dog, the breed barks at a bird until it moves, then follows the bird and continues barking when it lands. The barking is so important to this breed that Finland crowns a ‘King Barker’ from the breed every year.
These dogs are barkers. That is what they do all the time. They can be dominant and stubborn. They often bond with one person to the exclusion of all others. They are bright and attentive. They like to play and hunt. They will, in fact, hunt whatever and whenever possible. These dogs do not do well with cats.