thinking of getting an alaskan malmute

[daisybee]

Can anybody tell me about malmutes. I have wanted on since I was young and I think I may be making some headway with my husband. I saw one the other day that was huge, I loved it. What are the pros and cons of owning one? Do they get along with other dogs? are they hard to train? do they like to destroy things? any info will be helpful.

[Danegirl2208]

Malamutes are great dogs.. but they can be quite a handful, i have a friend with 5, and let me tell you they keep him busy!!! heres a GREAT article you should read..and good luck on your desican http://www.alaskanmalamute.org/PublicEd/newown.asp

[wolfsoul]

Malamutes are lovely dogs, but they take alot of work and patience. They were bred to think for themselves, and so they are hard-headed and stubborn, and often find destructive ways to amuse themselves. They need alot of mental and physical stimulation to keep their minds and bodies busy. They are often dog-aggressive (especially males), though they are usually good with people (they make horrible guard dogs). They are escape artists and need a solid fenced yard, and they may dig underneath the fence. One shouldn't be loose in a dangerous area as their recall is often not very good. In other words, these are strong dogs that need strong owners -- you have to make sure you are able to care for this type of dog. They are sweet, affectionate dogs, but they are high maitenenance and the majority of people can't deal with them.

[Glacier]

Malamutes are great dogs, for the right owner. I own one purebred and several mixes. They are stubborn, hard-headed and independant. They can be exceedingly hard to train. If you don't make it interesting to the malamute, he won't do it. He may know perfectly well what you want, but refuse to do it anyway. They have little interest in pleasing their owner.

Generally, malamutes do not get along with other dogs of the same sex. A mixed pair tends to work better. One of my females hates every other female dog on the planet, but she's fine with most males. The other female hates every dog she's ever met regardless of sex or breed. My male is a little more laid back, but he will not back down from a challenge. A malamute fight is not fun to break up. Learn how to do it right before you get one!

Malamutes have a high prey drive. They hunt squirrels, mice, and cats. Two of mine have learned that they can not hunt the cats who live in my house. The other one can not even see a cat without loosing control. A cat outside of the house is dead in seconds. If you have cats or other small furries, you need to be very, very careful.

Malamutes need very secure fencing--six feet high and preferably with a section buried underground. They love to dig and will happily dig under a fence. They are not trustworthy off leash, for the most part. A loose malamute is a lost malamute. Like huskies, they lack any homing instinct and are unlikely to return on their own. NO amount of training will make a malamute reliable off-leash.

A bored malamute can be highly destructive. They are a working dog and need exercise and stimulation. If they don't get it, they will amuse themselves--by digging to China, escaping, or chewing anything they can get their teeth into.

They shed alot too!! They are pack animals and like to be with their pack. If you don't like hair in your house, on your clothes and in your food, don't get a malamute. They can survive outside on their own, but to thrive they need to be part of your family!

That said, they are goofy dogs with a great sense of humor. They like attention and a well bred, well socialized malamute should show no aggression to humans. They aren't a great fit with very small children as most mals have no idea how big they are. My male weighs 130 pounds and thinks he is a lap dog! They are a ton of fun. They will force you to get out and enjoy even the coldest of weather. -40C is about perfect to my boy! You will never be bored with a malamute!

If you are going with a breeder, please do not go with one who is breeding "giant malamutes". The Giant is not recognized and no reputable breeder breds soley for size! I do alot of work with the Alaskan Malamute HELP League. If you are in Canada and considering a rescue, please check out www.malamuterescue.com There are many great malamute rescue groups in the States too.

[zoomer]

Malamutes are great dogs, for the right owner. I own one purebred and several mixes. They are stubborn, hard-headed and independant. They can be exceedingly hard to train. If you don't make it interesting to the malamute, he won't do it. He may know perfectly well what you want, but refuse to do it anyway. They have little interest in pleasing their owner.

Generally, malamutes do not get along with other dogs of the same sex. A mixed pair tends to work better. One of my females hates every other female dog on the planet, but she's fine with most males. The other female hates every dog she's ever met regardless of sex or breed. My male is a little more laid back, but he will not back down from a challenge. A malamute fight is not fun to break up. Learn how to do it right before you get one!

Malamutes have a high prey drive. They hunt squirrels, mice, and cats. Two of mine have learned that they can not hunt the cats who live in my house. The other one can not even see a cat without loosing control. A cat outside of the house is dead in seconds. If you have cats or other small furries, you need to be very, very careful.

Malamutes need very secure fencing--six feet high and preferably with a section buried underground. They love to dig and will happily dig under a fence. They are not trustworthy off leash, for the most part. A loose malamute is a lost malamute. Like huskies, they lack any homing instinct and are unlikely to return on their own. NO amount of training will make a malamute reliable off-leash.

A bored malamute can be highly destructive. They are a working dog and need exercise and stimulation. If they don't get it, they will amuse themselves--by digging to China, escaping, or chewing anything they can get their teeth into.

They shed alot too!! They are pack animals and like to be with their pack. If you don't like hair in your house, on your clothes and in your food, don't get a malamute. They can survive outside on their own, but to thrive they need to be part of your family!

That said, they are goofy dogs with a great sense of humor. They like attention and a well bred, well socialized malamute should show no aggression to humans. They aren't a great fit with very small children as most mals have no idea how big they are. My male weighs 130 pounds and thinks he is a lap dog! They are a ton of fun. They will force you to get out and enjoy even the coldest of weather. -40C is about perfect to my boy! You will never be bored with a malamute!

If you are going with a breeder, please do not go with one who is breeding "giant malamutes". The Giant is not recognized and no reputable breeder breds soley for size! I do alot of work with the Alaskan Malamute HELP League. If you are in Canada and considering a rescue, please check out www.malamuterescue.com There are many great malamute rescue groups in the States too.

I was thinking of you when I saw this thread, I was like, Glacier needs to reply to this, LOL.

[Iilo]

I echo all of what Glacier said. That's the textbook Malamute for you.

However, I am lucky enough to own a Malamute-that-thinks-he's-a-Labrador. He comes with typical Malamute traits (he's increasingly dog aggressive as he gets older, which is something I absolutely do not like or tolerate... ) but he's rather *soft* for a Malamute.

If you're seriously looking into getting one and it is your first dog, I do not recommend going to rescue (as I'm sure most people on this board will/would do) *unless* you're going to get a very stable, older (and matured) dog.

It takes a lot of moxie to live with a Malamute, imho. They are hard to train (though definitely not impossible). My boy was trained in formal obedience and has his first real trial this weekend. We had no difficulty training any of the commands except "down." I brought a training tool called a clicker into the mix and he actually finally understood what was asked of him.

Getting along with other dogs has a lot to do with both socialization and whether or not the dog is intact. Even if the dog is altered, if it was not altered at an early age (before the first heat for females, around 6-8 months for males) the dogs I have come into contact with still have the tendancy to be dog aggressive without a lot of training and general WORK. I have no problem with dogs that are most decidedly in Rien's "pack" (his girlfriend, CoCoa who lives with him 24/7 as well as my aunt's little dogs who visit often). New dogs are... a challenge that we're working on.

As for destroying things... Rien's a typical boy, he likes to take things apart. He's not as destructive as I've heard Malamutes can be. He hoards socks and he finds pens to take apart, but other than that he's a good boy. However, he gets a good amount of exercise and lots of mental activity -- a tired Malamute is a happy Malamute, and a bored Malamute is a destructive Malamute.

This breed is most definitely not for everyone -- I can't express that enough. I would like to echo Glacier's statements about "giant Malamute" breeders. These dogs are more prone to health conditions and usually their "breeders" are in it for the profit. A good, healthy Malamute with drive and ability to pull a sled should be around 26"

My boy is definitely the best thing in my life. He puts a smile on my face every day and wakes me up with gusto. I don't know what life will be like without his woo-woos. But it took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to the point where he is my sweetheart companion and he's still not the perfect family Labrador.

[bckrazy]

I totally agree with Glacier! My Uncle has 2 Mals, a female and a male, and they are in no way "easy" dogs. They're big, head-strong, stubborn, and high maintenance in a lot of ways. My Uncle's dogs refuse to go outside in the hot weather, they spend hours and hours brushing them out, and they have been through lots of Obedience and a behaviorist to handle them with other dogs nearby on walks. They are from a wonderful breeder, though, and have been socialized so much, so they're great dogs with people of any age and they're trained to ignore strange dogs.

Is this your first dog? Definitely meet as many Mals as possible, and talk to lots of owners & breeders about their dogs. This is a very hard first-timers dog.

[GreyhoundGirl]

I agree, Mals are really..... head strong unless well-trained. I used to have one that was really destructive, too. ( would you adopt an older one or get it as a puppy ?)

[dab_20]

Glacier said it really well. I would get an adult and mature dog because then you know the personality and everything of the dog, with puppies the personality will change. Hope you make the right decision, whether it's to get a Mal or not.

[Iilo]

I strongly disagree with the suggestion to get an adult Malamute unless it is completely free of all behavior problems.

With an adult Mal, it's a crap shoot -- you may have a dog with a weird past, or simply one that hasn't been raised correctly.

At least with a puppy YOU are the one who "changes" their personality.

[Aurie]

For those of you who have Mals now, does yours talk? I remember our neighbor had one when I was a kid. He would do this growling/talking thing to people he liked. It used to freak out my friends. I would take them over to meet the dog and he would 'talk' to them. They swore it was a giant wolf about to devour them. Just wondering if that is a typical Mal trait or just some quirky dog that lived next door

[Glacier]

For those of you who have Mals now, does yours talk? I remember our neighbor had one when I was a kid.
Just wondering if that is a typical Mal trait or just some quirky dog that lived next door

It's a very typical malamute trait. They are talkers. Mine almost never bark, but they make all kinds of other sounds. Heyoka is often the leader of group howling sessions. He actually carries on converstations as he follows me around the yard. He talks to the other dogs, to the cats, to the neighbor's dogs, to himself, to people who visit, and God Forbid he is left alone--the mournful "i'm so loney" howl can be heard for miles!

[Glacier]

I strongly disagree with the suggestion to get an adult Malamute unless it is completely free of all behavior problems.

With an adult Mal, it's a crap shoot -- you may have a dog with a weird past, or simply one that hasn't been raised correctly.

At least with a puppy YOU are the one who "changes" their personality.

My malamutes have all arrived as adults--between 18 months and four years old. I'd take an adult over a puppy any day, even one with known behavior issues, but I have issues with puppies. I adore other people's puppies. No desire to ever raise one of my own again(pretty much the same way I feel about human infants! ). Earle's puppyhood completely cured me of puppy fever!

If you get a puppy from the wrong source, it's just as big of a crap shoot as an adult. A well bred malamute puppy would more predictable.

[Iilo]

Glacier,

Yes, sorry... I forgot to add a puppy from a REPUTABLE breeder, though as long as you steer away from the Giants it isn't TOO hard to find a good breeder in Mals. As a member of about every Malamute-List and Forum there is out there, I've heard one too many horror stories about first-time-Malamute (and sometimes even first time DOG) owners getting a rescue Malamute with a shady past. It's much "safer," imo, to start with a well bred puppy -- any problems it ends up with YOU'VE created and you're completely aware of its past.

As to them "talking".... yup. Rien's not a howler (police sirens only -- not firetrucks or ambulences), but he's certainly a "wooer." I find it completely endearing, but the public's reaction to it does get a little obnoxious. Yes, of course, ma'am, he wants to eat your baby. That's totally why I bring him out into public. Thankfully, even Ri's woos aren't CONSTANT... he only woos when he wants something (but he does want things often, and it could be anything, from a pet to dinner). And unfortunately, since we do have another dog in the household, he barks. He didn't until the first time he heard our CoCoa bark (she's a quiet one unless there's an INTRUDER GASP). And then he was like, "Oh, really? COOL!"

[buttercup132]

I strongly disagree with the suggestion to get an adult Malamute unless it is completely free of all behavior problems.

With an adult Mal, it's a crap shoot -- you may have a dog with a weird past, or simply one that hasn't been raised correctly.

At least with a puppy YOU are the one who "changes" their personality.

So your saying all the Mals people got as puppies that ended up being abndonded for no reason, the ones who were given up because they"chew" or because they dont match the furniture should be left in a shelter to die and not have a chance just because you dont know its past? Every dog has issues but we can correct them with work. With a puppy you have to potty train it, obedience train it and house train it. So why not put that effert into a dog whos sitting alone in a shelter wondering why his family left him?
What happens if the puppy develops behavioral problems?You would have to fix them just like one form a shelter....
Unless shes panning on showing the dog I see no reason to go to a breeder...