Canadian Eskimo Dog

Also called the Canadian Inuit Dog or qimmiq, this is the dog that carried Inuit families across the Canadian Arctic, and one of the rarest breeds here: a 2008 estimate put the purebred population at about 300. Snowmobiles, disease and the disputed killings of Inuit sled dogs between 1950 and 1970 nearly finished it. Choose one only if you can offer real pulling work and accept a strong-willed, pack-oriented dog. The reward is helping keep a true Arctic working breed alive.