Hi Guys

A quick question on behalf of my sister who has no computer access at mo due to redecorating.

Right, Emma has (like myself) 3 German Shepherds, 2 males and a female and has decided that she would like to complete her doggy family with another female and has fallen head over heels with Mals.

She has been researching the breed for a while and has been ringing round breeders asking questions etc and seems set on having a pup in the near future.

Emma lives in a rural area with land to exercise her dogs, which currently get about 3 hours per day both on lead and off. All dogs live in the house and get on fabulously well, one of the males is entire. She works from home so dogs are rarely left for more than the odd few hours here and there.

Anyway, as you lot are the font of all knowledge i promised her i would get some advice from any mal owners on here.

So, i would like to know all good points and bad points on the breed, is there any truth in them not liking other breeds etc, what health tests are required, any reputable breeders (not sure if i am allowed to ask that but word of mouth is always a good place to start).

Look forward to hearing from you ;-)

Have P.M ed you.Loads of Mally peps at Paignton Champ Show today.So otherwise engaged!

Hi Michelle :)

There's a few points I would put forward from your post....

Firstly, your sister has a mixed pack already. Mals don't necessarily dislike other breeds, it tends to be a dislike of dogs of the same sex. They are very much pack animals and as such they will endeavour to climb the pack order. When they reach adolescence they can decide to cause trouble with any dogs of the same sex and this is where problems start. However, if your sister neuters early on and is consistent in her training and discipline, she stands a fighting chance on having a Mal mix into the pack.

You say she lives in a rural area and exercises on and off lead. Mals aren't generally known for their recall and must NEVER be let off anywhere near livestock.

Health tests for Malamutes are hip scores and eye tests for hereditary cataracts. The Alaskan Malamute Club (AMCUK) has a code of ethics which they ask Mal breeders to abide by. Still a numerically small breed, most successful breeders show and/or work their dogs. Make sure the breeder registers the pups with the KC and only show interest in breeders who endorse the pedigrees and offer lifetime support.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions :)

Hi thanks for your replies. As she is after a bitch rather than a male would you recommend spaying early on, her gsd bitch has not been spayed yet but was going to be done in the next few months.

As for training, she has got her sheps trained to a high standard and the new dog will also be trained from puppyhood as well as doing agility and flyball. The area that she lives in is her own land and has no livestock so that is not a worry and as far as i am aware is completely enclosed.

Are mals not allowed off lead due to no recall or am i thinking of sibes??

Any more info would be great guys

Ta x

Thought I didn't see you at the show today Joan.Mind you bit of a drive for you!Nice venue this year.Lots of room.Don't Know where Michelle lives but maybe she and her Sister could look up a few Mal owners at some local shows.Jude.

sorry Cedric the ferret pressed send twice!!

Hi, we live in Kent. There seem to be a lot of Mal breeders in Essex, mind you Emma is not bothered where she has to travel to for the right pup. How do i find out about shows in this area??

We were entered at Paignton but Womble's lost every hair of his undercoat and so to spend abut £100 to travel down there and back was just too much - really missed it though :-(

Michelle, can you make it to Newark at the end of Spetember? The Malamute Club champ show is on and everyone will be there ;-) Probably over 200 Mals in one place :-D

Malamutes tend to have selective hearing where recall is concerned. To allow a Mal off lead anywhere near roads or livestock is asking for trouble. BusyDoggs? on here does agility with her Malamute and obedience but I think even she would admit that Noobs has her off days - generally when she spots the ice cream van outside the ring :-D

My neighbour has a 1 year old male and he gets on great with my staffy bitch and loads of other dogs but if he takes exception to another male there is blood on the dancefloor ;)  I suppose that is like many breeds though. My staff is definitely worse than him for attitude

He is absolutely adorable and so affectionate but definitely needs a firm hand.  he is the most arrogant dog I have met in my life and swaggers around like this is his world.  He does what he is told - but in his own time and sheds hair like nobodies business but is absolutely stunning and has a great temprament.  It is not a breed I would have considered owning prior to knowing my neighbours dog but he is a total honey.  I have been walking him for the last few days as his owners are away and have had the 2 dogs on a coupling and what a pair they make swaggering down the street together.

His recall can at times be really bad and he is always on red alert looking for other dogs and he can pull like you wouldn't believe - or maybe you would as he is a sled dog - doh!  Sorry I can't point out the bad bits as the one I know is adorable.  Maybe someone else will have a more realistic perspective.

Hi :)

I have a mixed pack - a male Mal and a male Bc and a female Lab, Mal and often a female Border Terrier.

Yoru sister will need to be prepared that at some point her Mal could fall out with the other bitch - spaying appears to make little difference .... is she able to seperate if needs be?

Of course it may not come to that - mine are very friendly and at the moment I have two more bitches staying here - a GSP and a Golden retriever - everyone gets on great.
Mine are particularly laid back and everyone knows the house rules ..... mine are both very dog tolerant and we walk regularly with a group of Mallies - all from the same family and never a cross word - but mine are perhaps unusual ..... they are from placid friendly lines thought which may or may not have anything to do with it.

I have mine off lead and have never had an issue with recall although as Joan mentioned at shows my girl has left the ring when she spotted an ice cream van and twice disappeared at shows during heel free when she spied her Irish Terrier friend ...... but my GSD did similar naughty things too :)

For me the worst part of Mals is the fur .............. omg the fur .............

Hi Michelle :-)

I have a 6yr old Mal bitch - she is fab and a total character! She has by no means been an easy dog but we wouldn't be without her. She lives happily with my Cavalier & Samoyed (both bitches) although she doesn't much care for other dogs - she used to be ok with them until she was attacked by an off-lead dog. However just recently we have had friends round with their dogs and after an initial grumble she has been fine.

She is extremely friendly with people and loves everyone she meets, she's a big softie and loves attention. Unfortunately she has a condition which means we can no longer take her for walks which is really sad, but when we did, we didn't let her off the lead as her recall was abysmal, she developed selective hearing and if she wanted to go somewhere, there was no stopping her!

She is very strong willed and if she doesn't like something she will let you know. I blame this on my OH training her as a puppy and not giving her enough discipline - she is very intelligent and knows how to get round us!!

I would second Julie and say the worst thing about her is definitely the hair!! She is moulting at the moment and the hoover is constantly out - and we always say in our household that meals just aren't the same without a Malamute hair in them :-D

She also loves to dig and came in yesterday from a particularly amazing digging session - we are currently referring to her as "Coal miner" as that's what she looks like!!

Malakai has pointed you in the right direction for health tests etc....I would definitely say make sure your sister gets her Mal from a reputable breeder as there are some not so good ones out there who are breeding for the wrong reasons. Going to shows is a great idea so she can meet some of these lovely dogs first hand and speak to the breeders and exhibitors - I have found them to be a very friendly and helpful bunch :-)

We met a Mal puppy bitch in PAH a couple of weeks ago, what surprised me was the size! This pup was 8 weeks old and was about the size my bernese had been at 11 weeks! I hadn't appreciated how big mals were. The pup was beautiful though and very friendly :-D

Mals should not be enormous - sadly lots of the less reputable breeders are breeding from the biggest stock around because of course in their crazy World - bigger is better ....

>> As for training, she has got her sheps trained to a high standard and the new dog will also be trained from puppyhood as well as doing agility and flyball. The area that she lives in is her own land and has no livestock so that is not a worry and as far as i am aware is completely enclosed.

Most Malamute recall issues are not to do with lack of training, in fact a lot of the Mals I know are trained to a high standard, it is more the fact that they have selective deafness and people will not take the risk. I do agility with one of mine and whilst I trust them off lead during agility, she isn't allowed off lead on general walks. Her recall is very good (especially in training situations) however she also has selective deafness and a fairly high prey drive. If your sisters area is fully enclosed then that will be fine (mine are allowed off in fully enclosed areas).

As Malakai said, our club show is at the end of September and there will be several Mal owners and breeders around for you to talk to. Bournemouth show is on this Sunday if you want to pop down, there is a fairly good entry for this one seeing as it isn't a CC show (62).

With regards to reputable breeders, everyone has their own idea of what constitutes a reputable breeder and if you ask all the Mal people on here to recommend breeders we would probably all come up with different ones :-D However you will want to look for breeders who breed for temperament as well as health and type if you want to minimise the chance of the Mal falling out with the GSD's. Whilst I am not a fan of early neutering and prefer to leave it until after they have matured, I will acknowledge that it could help the pack structure if she was spayed earlier on.

Good luck in your search :)

>> We met a Mal puppy bitch in PAH a couple of weeks ago, what surprised me was the size! This pup was 8 weeks old and was about the size my bernese had been at 11 weeks! I hadn't appreciated how big mals were. The pup was beautiful though and very friendly :)

A well bred Malamute should not be larger than a BMD - was the pup male and your Bernese female?

No, both female, and our bernese is breed standard height :-), I have to say she was beautiful and had gorgeous colouring and markings. Maybe the owner was a bit mixed up with the age (or I've forgotten just how big Bramble was at 11 weeks), as adults the breed standard heights are certainly similar, but I couldn't remember them being quite as big as our last bernese when we used to show! (I think the woman said the pup was one of the smallest in the litter too :-o )

I don't know, I have seen some HUGE malamutes in my time!  There's a "husky X GSD" near me, so the owner says; to look at it I think it's mal X GSD and it is great dane sized.  No exaggeration, it is absolutely enormous.

And a few years back a pure mal came into PAH - was a whacking great thing.  Big seems to be popular these days. :-(

Husky crosses always seem to be bigger than huskies OR Malamutes ..... Current puppy farmer trend is HUSKAMUTES and I have never yet met one that didn't dwarf my Mals - no idea how or why it happens that way - seems illogical!

I don't think i've ever seen a mal do flyball, sounds like quite a challenge! Are mals ever ball orientated?

My bitch loves flyball and is ball obsessed :) :) My boy is too dim to follow what goes on in flyball :)

My boy is too dim to follow what goes on in flyball

or maybe too intelligent to chase after a ball when there are soooo many others to do it for him :-D :-D