Breed Information

		Training
		Introduction
		Wolf Hybrids
		Breed History
		Temperament
		Funny Malamutes
		Owning and Education
		Genetic Medical Disorders
		Responsible Dog Ownership

The Alaskan Malamute is a very large dog and incredibly strong breed. It is a recognized breed by the America Kennel Club under working breeds. These dogs were initially breed to haul large amounts of weight over a long and harsh distance.

A Malamute is a very solidly built dog designed for power. They are not as fast as other northern breeds but they are one of the strongest. Weight pulls are a favorite activity for a malamute. Training for weight pulling should not begin early than one year old, because this give the dog to fully develop all of there muscles and joints.

The Malamute has a double coat, which is a woolly undercoat and longer guard hair. They shed relatively light with the exception of twice a year when they “Blow” their entire undercoats. The amount of hair that is blown is incredible, but it’s only twice a year. The coarse guard hair help to keep a Malamute fairly clean and dry. The double coat provides excellent protection in the northern climates. During the summer months care must be giving to ensure that a dog is not over taxed because of the heaver coat.

An Alaskan Malamute is a very intelligent dog that gets bored with reputation quickly. It’s best to keep a variety of stimulation both physically and mentally, unless you want a dog that may miss behave because of boredom. Mals can be a handful to train but it’s well worth the effort. It’s best if you can find a trainer that has experience with a larger dominate breed. A malamute will do very good in a class if they feel like it, if they don’t try to end class on a good note and call it a day. Because of their sheer size and dominance many novice owners have had to give up their dogs because they grew up from the cute puppy stage to a full size adult with its own personality

Malamutes can be aggressive towards other dogs  because of there dominance behavior. Unless a Malamute is socialized with other dogs or animals at the puppy stage it can be very difficult to train them as a adult. A malamute can be very predatory towards smaller animals that it may regard as prey. with this behavior malamutes make watch dogs if they trained well .

The Malamute has an alpha personality, a dominance attitude that may be displayed by aggressive fighting among dogs; its size and eye level. This can be very hard to deal with for some people. Most Malamutes are small-prey oriented and shouldn't be around small dogs or cats, they get bored and will climb or dig under any weak fence to visit the neighbors or just go for a good run. They can be trained, but they must have a strong owner and an incentive - treats. Do not expect them to chase a ball without lots of training, but they will gladly put on a harness and pull your cart with no training. They are wonderful, funny, loving pets for those who love exercise and laughter.

The Malamute's body is powerful and well-muscled but not clumsy. He should tend toward a single track when he moves. His head is broad with a large skull, brown eyes, powerful jaws and scissors bite. His markings give him a wolf-like appearance. His ears are pricked and slightly rounded at the top. His tail is set high and carried over the back like a plume when the dog is not working. Coat colors may be a combination of any of the following with white: wolf gray, black, sable, or red. 

A pure white coat is the only acceptable solid color. He is a double-coated dog with dense undercoat to protect him from extremes of weather and longer outercoat to shed ice and snow. Because he sheds twice each year, his coat needs to be kept brushed and free of dirt and dead hair. Malamutes should range from at height of 28 inches at the withers and about 95 pounds for males and 25 inches at the withers and 85 pounds for females .

All original content , Copyright ©2004-2006 WestLord.com , All Rights Reserved