Following on from a different topic, I'd love to hear from Mal owners on here.  Good and bad points(particularly bad)(forewarned is forearmed!!).
How trainable?
Off lead issues?
Living with other pets(bitches with bitches, smaller dogs, cats, kids)
If a kid leaves a gate open do I need to drive 12 miles to find the dog, or will it come back when called?
That sort of thing!!lol
Oh, why do you get different coat lengths? And is a longer coated harder on the dog in this climate?
If I were to get a bitch, would she get along with the bitches I have now or would I need to bring in a dog?
Are bitches easier or dogs to own?(I've heard the bitches are more 'guardy')
That's all the questions I can think at the moment but if you can think of anything I might not have thought of to put me off, bring it on!lol.  Oh, my garden is slabbed and gravel(tiny bit of grass but it's the dogs for hiding toys/bones etc so I don't care)
Thanks

Let me know your email address and I'll send you lots of info to put you off ;-)

PM sent.  :)

Info sent :-)

Cant you put it on here for all to see????? We need people to say it as it is, not rose tinted versions :) :)
LEa :)

It's about eight pages of info. If anyone wants copies you're more than welcome to email me :-)

Just the highlights please lol

Please be careful with Mals and epilepsy. A friend of my sister bought a Malamute pup, and then another pup a couple of years later and BOTH are epileptic.

Maybe they chose the wrong breeder, but epilepsy can't be tested for, and depends on honesty and openness from breeders to avoid it. If breeders can't or won't share information then it becomes impossible for anyone, even clued up puppy buyers, to know where to go.

TBH, you are right.  We should have honest, what-this-breed-is-like-to-LIVE-with, facts on here for new owners!  From the training to the shedding, feeding to exercise.  Instead you get met with fact lists which tell you where the breed originated! If you don't know easy things like that, you should be looking for puppies!  I always look at how/where and why a breed originated first as it tells you a lot about instincts.  But a down-to-earth guide would be great.
Because Jackies list worked.  Mals are NOT for me  :)  Can you imagine we took off the rose tinted glasses and wrote what each breed is REALLY like, not your old perfectly trained dog, but your teenage rottie or poodle? That would be fabulous info that can't be found easily.  No wonder so many end up in rescue!

Jacquie is very experienced and I would suggest if people are interested, then they should contact her for her document :-) I thought it might be fun to try and answer the specific questions posed here though.

How trainable? Depends on what amount of time you're willing to put in. There are Malamutes who are very well behaved, their owners spend a lot of time on it. In general though, Malamutes do what they want, when they can be bothered and once they've weighed up the possible benefits or consequences. Throw a ball and they might go and get it... you may or may not get it back. If you throw it again, they are more likely to look at you as if you're mad! Malamutes work better with positive reinforcement, aggression can be met with aggression. Imagine living 12 years with a toddler....
Off lead issues? The general rule is DON'T. Malamutes were bred to think for themselves and it saved many a life on the ice flows, this stays with them and despite many an owner saying proudly how their Mal is different, there are just as many stories of the one time they just spotted something and were gone, sometimes with tragic consequences. The rule is that unless they are in an enclosed field, keep them on lead. That's why so many owners have bike attachements, scooters, rigs, or run with their dogs.
Living with other pets(bitches with bitches, smaller dogs, cats, kids) Any well bred Malamutes should be perfectly well behaved around people, young or old. They are "triers" though and it's important to be in charge of them. Around children, it's important to supervise as with all breeds - this is a large breed and can easily knock a child over, they are quite good at taking adults out too! They can have same sex aggression and many Malamute owners live with seperate groups because of this. With smaller pets it depends. This breed carries a high prey drive and they may be happy to live with cats etc that were in the house when the puppy arrives but with chase the neighbours cat if given half a chance. Every dog is different though and there are owners who integrate their Mals into a multi pet household and others who have Mals living happily together with pets for years and then one day....
If a kid leaves a gate open do I need to drive 12 miles to find the dog, or will it come back when called? Make sure your tank's full. A Malamute requires a secure area, preferably with a 6 foot fence.
That sort of thing!!lol
Oh, why do you get different coat lengths? And is a longer coated harder on the dog in this climate? There are 3 basic coat genes, non carrier of the long coat gene, carrier of the long coat gene or long coat. If you breed two carriers, you are likely to get a proportion of long coats. My long coats don't really suffer any more than the normal coats, my black and white bitch suffers in sunshine more than the greys. During summer, you have to be up early to exercise, before the temperature rises.
If I were to get a bitch, would she get along with the bitches I have now or would I need to bring in a dog? Unless you are able to keep dogs in seperate living arrangements further down the line if things go wrong, you should consider the opposite sex to the dogs you have now. Neutering can help but isn't a guaranteed fix.
Are bitches easier or dogs to own?(I've heard the bitches are more 'guardy') I've heard various ideas but in truth, I can't say either sex is better or worse than the other - it's down to individual character.
That's all the questions I can think at the moment but if you can think of anything I might not have thought of to put me off, bring it on!lol.  Oh, my garden is slabbed and gravel(tiny bit of grass but it's the dogs for hiding toys/bones etc so I don't care) You should be careful with gravel when the pup is small but as any grass will likely soon be gone and replaced with a series of holes, mud and mounds, slabs are a good option!

OH MY DAYS!!!!! I nearly choked when I read the 'make sure your tanks full' comment!!
TBH, Mals are far to alike the Akita.  I can handle it but I would rather not have a dog aggression thing or an off-lead runner.  Saying that, our Akitas were all allowed off-lead and although dominant, would ignore any dogs that they were told too.  Very obedient.  But I prefer an easy life these days!
We also have a fully enclosed garden but all it takes is an open door and someone not closed the gate and off he would go!

That kind of honest Q&A thing is something sadly lacking.

Jacquies (Sorry about my previous spelling)(that was supposed to be my mums name but by the time my granda got to the reg office, he'd forgotten how to spell it so she got a completely different name!lol) Info sheet was very helpful too(a lot to put on here).  Anyone thinking about a Mal should PM this lady for a copy!  PS  I can't believe that owner hid in cupboards! I nearly wet myself with that mental image!!haha.