An important part of maintaining the
health of your American Eskimo dog is to exercise.
Your Eskie should be exercised daily, rain or shine, for at
least 45 minutes per day. For old Eskies, exercise is
very important but the duration and intensity should be
adjusted to their tempo and stamina.
Eskies
are not typically high energy dogs such as border collies.
Nor are they well known for their retrieving capabilities.
Throw a stick or a ball for your Eskie puppy to chase or
retrieve and he may look up at you wondering what you're
going to do next. Watching you perform tricks is very
entertaining for them.
American Eskimo
dogs love to perform and they love tricks. In fact, if
you have more than one Eskie, you'll find that they invent
their own tricks and teach each other. They are very
intelligent and catch on quickly. So to make the most of
your daily exercise routine in terms of fun, be sure to
include some activities that call on your Eskie to perform
such as jumping up on park benches, running across a long
log and climbing rocks. Hide behind a tree and keep
quiet. Your Eskie will love playing hide and seek with
you. Playing tag is another fun game. Chase
after your Eskie and see if you can catch him. You
would be very lucky if he allows you to catch up with him.
Then take off running away from your Eskie and you will be
amazed at how closely he will follow you.
An Eskie will try to follow you everywhere you go. I heard the
phrase "velcro dog" the other day and that pretty well sums it up. To this point, see the video on
YouTube about Lyla who leaps up and over a tall fence to follow her master while a border collie
watches in amazement. An Eskie can outsmart a border collie any day. You never knew your Eskie was so nimble!
Maybe give that backyard fence a second look.
The
nature of the American Eskimo dog is to guard its
master. So when you go out for walks with your Eskie,
you'll find that it is very protective of you. For
example, if another dog comes running towards you, there is
a good chance your Eskie will stand guard and become
aggressive towards the approaching dog especially if the
approaching dog is bigger. Your Eskie will bark and
put up a fuss to keep other dogs away. It will take a
lot of training to break your Eskie from this habit. For
this reason, it is a good idea to keep your Eskie on leash
and under control while walking in dog parks where large
dogs such as Pit Bulls and Rottweilers are roaming
free. An Eskie will never back down in a confrontation
with another dog, even if the dog is 3 times the size.
The Eskie will defend you to his death. With this knowledge,
you should never put yourself or your Eskie into a situation
that might result in a confrontation with much larger
dogs.