Can anybody help on this very sore subject about the
Malamutes tail we currently showed our puppy and i
thought his tail was as the breed standard which is curled
over the back but not tight at his
last three shows he has been beaten by malamutes
who's tails are tight and curled like Akita's can anybody
help on this subject.

Geordie

Hi Geordie,
Its true that the breed standard calls for a tail like a 'waving plume' but a lot of dogs do have tighter tails which is not as it should be by the standard. But in shows the tail is only a tiny part of the overall picture of the dog. When a judge looks at a dog he is looking at many things..its head, its body, its muscular condition, its balance, its drive etc etc and of course the tail. If your dog is in the ring with another one identical (in the judges eyes) to yours in every way but yours has the better tail, then your dog will win. But if the other dog has better movement or better bone then regardless of the tail, it will win over yours. The judge is looking at the overall picture and the tail is only a small part of that picture.
I hope I've made sense, the judging of dogs is always a contentious subject :D

Hi,
If look here (click on Discover Dogs) you can find the Alaskan Malamute Standard which should answer your query.

Don't forget there is more to a dog than its tail! :)

Hi Geordie , you can always Register with us , there are quite a few Malamute people on the board and we are a friendly lot :)

Melody :)