Page 40 - ShowSight Presents- The American Eskimo Dog

THE AMERICAN ESKIMO DOG
The American Eskimo Dog has been in the United States since the 1800s and some evi- dence has shown it to be here possibly during
the 1700s. The breed came to the United States by way of Europe, Germany in par- ticular, with the immigrating settlers. At that time the breed was known just as the “Spitz”. The word spitz is a German word that means “point”. It meant that the ears of the dog would come to a “ point” when the dog was alerted. The term Spitz also
referred to a “type” of dog that categorized many of the Nordic breeds. When the anti German sentiment arose during the World Wars, the term “Spitz” was replaced with “Nordic”. The two words Spitz and Nordic are interchangeable.
The Eskie was first registered with UKC in 1913, as just “Spitz”. With the anti Ger- man sentiment arising, many of the Ger- man breeds were chastised and some of the breeds even had the breed names changed to pull away from the German heritage. The “Spitz” name was changed a few years after it was registered with UKC to
American Spitz, then to American Eskimo Spitz and finally in 1926, the “Spitz” was completely taken off of the name. The name “American Eskimo” came from the kennel name of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, who were very well known breeders at that time. It was thought that if the name was com- pletely changed, no one would know that the breed was ever called a Spitz, nor know of its German heritage. After that time, the history of the breed became quite obscure.
In 1969, UKC divided the breed into two varieties, Standards and Miniatures, denoted by weight. In the late 1970s the
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By Diana L. Allen