The story behind
Arctic Rose Eskies....
The story behind
Arctic Rose Eskies....
One day 4 years ago I saw a beautiful white dog in the back of a pickup truck somewhere around Atlanta, GA. I HAD to know what kind of dog that was. I asked the person driving the truck what kind of dog it was and he said...a "Spitz". I went home and searched the internet for more information about this breed. While searching the internet I found out that there was no breed named spitz. There were a few dog breeds with spitz in the name, but none of them resembled the beautiful white dog I had seen earlier in the truck. I took my internet search to the AKC website under breed profiles. I started with the A's...and I found the beautiful white dog I had been searching for! The American Eskimo Dog! I was soooo happy to actually know the name of the breed! At this point in time I had no idea that you could find a dog breeder on the internet so I began searching the local classifieds. No American Eskimo puppies to be found in any of the local papers. Next stop...pet stores. I looked in the yellow pages and found a pet store. I drove to that pet store only to find they had no American Eskimo pups and the clerk told me they had never had any at that store that he knew of. He also told me that he didn't know where I could get one! I was undeterred! I grabbed the yellow pages again...found another pet store in another city. This time I called the store first. They actually had an American Eskimo puppy! I was beside myself with joy! The person on the phone informed me that they closed in 45 minutes. Just enough time for me to race to the store. I got to the store minutes before they closed. I went straight to the puppies and asked to hold the beautiful white dog behind the glass. They gave her to me...she peed on me and then gave me lots of kisses. I figured that was her way of telling me that she was the one for me! Little did I know that peeing thing would continue FOREVER! It's okay though because she is my baby...I named her Kayli ('PR' Kalypso Kayli).
A few months later I thought...it might be fun to breed my little pup when she got older. I set about finding a male pup to add to my family. This time I had gotten a little smarter and searched on the internet for a breeder. I found one a short 2 hr drive away in South Carolina. She had puppies that were 3 weeks old. I sent in a deposit to this breeder...excited to be getting another eskie. The breeder called me 2 weeks later and wanted to know if I could come pick up my puppy that week. I knew that he was only 5 weeks old and that I shouldn't be getting him that early, but she told me the other pups had already been picked up and I didn't want him to be all alone. So, I went and picked him up...much too early. I had a really hard time with Luckie ('PR' Kalypso's Justa Lil' Bita Luck) because of the early age he was taken from his mother. Now, I am not talking about him coming to my house at 5 weeks. I am talking about the breeder taking him away from his mom at 3 weeks old to "feed the litter by hand". She told me this was to get them used to people...I bought that at the time, but it is just plain wrong. Anyway, because of this Luckie had a huge problem with bite inhibition. He would bite anything that came near his mouth......HARD! I read all of the information I could get my hands on about how to break him of this problem. I didn't think I would be able to stop this behavior...I almost sold him because of it. However, my consistency with dominance training finally proved worthwhile. He stopped biting me and became a really great dog!
A short time after graduating from nursing school I decided it was time for me to have another dog. I saw an ad in the local paper for "Eskimo Spitz" puppies. I called the breeder and talked to her about her dogs/puppies. I found out that these puppies were CKC (Continental Kennel Club) registered. I had expressed concerns to her about the registry. After a short time of her telling me that the registry doesn't matter as long as you get a good dog I decided to get a puppy from her. I drove 3 hrs that day to get a puppy. I picked out the sweetest male among the 2 and named him Kody (Kalypso's Kode White). He was a beautiful miniature puppy and I fully intended to dual register Kayli with CKC and breed the two of them together. However, when Kody's adult coat came in it was curly. He also was a bilateral cryptorchid. Due to these factors, I had him neutered when he was a year old. He is a wonderful dog with a great temperment and I plan to get him certified as a therapy dog so that he can spread joy and love to those in need.
By this time, I had bred 2 litters with Luckie and Kayli and their pups had all went to wonderful homes. In December of 2004 my boy Luckie passed away from antifreeze poisoning. It was a very sad time for me and I still get very upset when I think about it. I still have many pictures, memories, and a few puppies to remind me of him.
In January of 2006 I decided I wanted another mini puppy and I thought it might be fun to try dog shows. I found a breeder in Missouri that had a male "toy" eskie puppy for sale that was show quality. I hesitated on him because I wanted a AKC/UKC dual registered puppy and he was only UKC registered. In the end, I decided to get him because he was a toy of show quality with a good price. I went and picked him up at the breeders kennel in March 2006. I named him Cisco (Arctic Rose Cisco The Kid) after his sire. He turned out to be a miniature. I have had him in a few shows, but he is not yet a champion.
In the summer of 2006 I set my sights on getting that first dual registered show quality mini eskie. I talked to many breeders and found one that I liked that had puppies available soon. I placed a deposit on the first pick male from this litter and waited until he was ready to come home. I met the breeder in Kentucky during a dog show to get this little boy. He is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to see how he turns out. His name is Caleb (Sycamore's Mischief Maker) and he will be in the show rings in December 2006.
During all of this time with my dogs I have learned a lot. I have learned how to pick a good breeder, how to evaluate pedigrees, how to train show dogs for the ring...and I have met some great people along the way. I have learned that you shouldn't breed two dogs just because they are cute and sweet. I have learned lots of things that changed my way of thinking. I hope to produce better dogs because of it. That is the story of Arctic Rose Eskies....so far. Hope to see you in the rings soon!