If you've ever own a Malamute... - Page 2

I had a half gsd, half mal.

Obviously gorgeous.

Nice, smart, sweet,  but had the mal tendency to run like a wolf.  Killed a deer and got me in trouble. 

My experience with other Mals: they are easier-going than shepherds, much,much less obedient, less likely to fuss with but more likely to kill animals, including small dogs, more likely to run away, less likely to chew something small every day, but more likely to eat the couch in an afternoon.

Simply more like a wolf, which were still being bred into them in the 20th century, as I understand it.

There are stories of Inuits staking out in-season bitches in the hope that they would be bred by wolves.  Might be true, might be another tale from the tundra. Since the breed received AKC approval in 1936, there has been no wolf blood introduced.

Sleddogs were naturally disobedient.; the mushers liked them that way. They needed a lead dog they could count on to not lead the team over thin ice or an ice cervice.  Dog aggression was common among Malamutes. They were turned loose in the summer months to forage for their own food in a competitive environment. It was survival of the fittest and a time when only the strongest males reproduced. Human aggession was never tolerated; a dog that bit a human for the heck of it was immediately killed. The only  acceptable dog bite was one received while breaking up a dog fight. Today's dog bite stats often list Malamutes in the top 5 or 10 of dogs most likely to bite. We think most of these bites are suffered when breaking up dog fights, The stats do not reflect that; a good example of how statistics  can be manupulated. Insurance companies and campground owners use those number to refuse coverage to homes where Mals live and they are banned from a  some campgrounds. due to those statistics.

When we dog breeders think we know better than Mother Nature, we tend to screw things up rather than make them better. Today's Malamute is less dog aggressive and more obedient, but would never survive in their native enviornment for the reasonsdiscussed above and for other mistakes including breeding them too big with too much angulation. too short legs, incorrect heads with short heavy muzzles and a bunch of other things. Not unlike the changes that have happened to the GSD in the last 30, 40 years. Change is not alwasy a good thing.

Blitzen completely agree with what you are saying I am always really cautious and nervous when out walking my dogs in the area it happened. The police have had a chat with the owner of the dog and put it on the dog bite register, but they are not taking any further action as I was bitten while seperating fighting dogs (fair enough).  They did ask the owner if he wanted his apologies to be conveyed to me, he said no.  So what can you say to that? 

Huaso, you can't fix stupid.

wow, can you say.... moron?  was the malamute neutered?.... wait... I meant.... was the owner neutered?

When I was a kid, my family adopted a malamute that was a stray. We called the dog Houdini because that dog could -not- be contained. It would get over , under, through, any type of fence. We never tried a six sided concrete enclosure, but I remember my dad tried just about everything but that.  It was a free spirit that was born to roam. I remember he would escape, disappear for two weeks then show up skinny - fatten up for a couple of weeks aroudn the house, then hit the road again. Gorgeous dog...but really had no need or drive for human companionship.