Canadian Eskimo Dog

The Canadian Eskimo Dogs are said to be North America’s rarest and oldest remaining purebred breed of dogs. They are a type of Arctic breed of dogs. They are also referred to as Quimmiq in some places. They were the only way of transportation in the Canadian arctic once upon a time, but they became rare around the 1960’s. This was because of the growing popularity of manmade machines such as snowmobiles which were more reliable, efficient and much faster.

The Canadian Eskimo Dogs are well built and give the impression that they are built for hard work and not for speed. They are very athletic and also have a very imposing appearance. Like most of the Spitz breeds, they have triangular ears that stand erect. The heavy thick quantity of hair on their back is also carried over to their tails. The male Canadian Eskimo Dogs are more masculine than their female counter parts which are smaller in size with a shorter coat. The males weigh in at around 66 to 88 pounds (30 to 40 kg) and the female weigh in at around 40 to 66 pound (18 to 30 kg). They are pretty huge and furry as they stand tall at around 23 to 28 inches (50 to 70 cm) for the males and the females stand tall at around 19.5 to 23.5 inches (50 to 60 cm).

The Canadian Eskimo Dogs look a lot like wolves at first glance. This is was the case with the Coppermine Expedition crew during the 1820’s. They came across the Canadian Eskimo Dogs and saw that they had the same ears as that of wolves and they even had the same foreleg characteristics as the mighty European wolves. But during the later years of their expedition they found out a way to differentiate the two, it is by the posture and the length of their tail. The Canadian Eskimo Dogs had a short tail and it always stood in a curved position.

They have a dense and thick coat along with a stiff and soft undercoat. They have additional layer of thick fur around their neck. This is also the reason the male Canadian Eskimo Dog look a lot bulkier than they actually are as the additional fur just adds an illusion. They come in almost all possible color coats, but there shouldn’t be one color dominating the entire fur. They come in solid colors of Black, White and Silver, and most of these solid colored dogs even have white markings on their face, which makes it look like they are wearing a mask. They never have any sort of marks over their eyes, but they do tend to have nose stripes and white socks.

These dogs still remain rare, but they are slowly growing in popularity with the growth of Arctic tourism. People are using them more and more on their sleds and the tourists love taking rides in them. They like to see these dogs live and play and work in their natural Arctic habitat.