Hi,

My girlfriend and I have decided that the time is right for us to start looking for a puppy. My girlfriend loves Mals but as I havnt had dogs before we think it may be better for us to have a different breed . My girlfriend has had labs as she was growing up and also loves this breed. I was wondering if people could tell me their views on the possibility of getting a Lab now and in a couple of years maybe getting a Mal. We have done alot of research of both breeds and know that Mals are very dominant and dont get on well with dogs of the same sex so we were thinking of maybe getting a male Lab puppy and in future getting a Mal bitch. Has anyone had any experience of keeping these two breeds together and would anyone recommend or discourage this? Also would people suggest a Mal bitch over a dog? I have heard that they are less dominant, could anyone tell me if this is true.

Thanking you all for your help,

Phil

Why not consider one of the other easier Spitz breeds? There is a wide range from in order of size more or less; the Diminutive Pomeranian, the German Spitz Klein and Mittel, Japanese Spitz, Keeshond, Finnish Spitz, Norwegian Buhund, Finnish Laphund, Norwegian elkhound (admit bias here as this is my breed :D), Chow, Siberian Husky, Malamute, Akita, Greenland Dog, Canadian Eskimo.

Some of these are probably easier to manage than Malamutes and some have similar requirements, and needs for experienced handlers.

hi phil if you want a malamute then get one a female is much easy to handle if they can do it so can you dont worry about onitall/

It is certainly true that a female is easier to handle than a male with regards to size and strength but it is not true that males are always more dominant that females. I have two females and one male and both the bitches run rings round our male. He is not allowed through doors before them, he is not allowed to drink water before them etc. If he does, then he gets growled and snapped at. Our 8 month old bitch puppy has already declared war on her mother for the top dog spot. It is a generalisation that males are the more dominant and maybe its true but don't rely on it. :)

I agree with Jayne on this. My first female Mal beat up our 4 year old Samoyed as soon as she was introduced to him at the tender age of 8 weeks! From then on she was Top Dog and he worshipped her. Having said that, both our female Mals were exeptionally easy to obedience train (except for retrieve) and did quite well in Exemption shows in Novice obedience. The current male is a right softy and is happy to let my friends' dogs into the house and watches whilst they eat his leftovers! And he is the hard one to train!;)

Jean

This brings back memories of when I first introduced Jasmine to Floyd. He was a HUGE 3 year old male mal and she was a tiny 7 week old pup. She came into the house and the first thing she did was beat him up, pinch his toys and growl at him every time he moved. She's still doing it now and has Rosie to back her up as well. Its hard to understand because Floyd is a really dominant dog who does not suffer fools gladly and takes exception to other dominant dogs, but certainly the girls rule in our house. :D

Ooh , I wonder if that is in store for me when we eventually get a bitch? It will be interesting to see what the Thug makes of a baba

:)

Melody

It's true if you have 2 females around 1 male, the male does become subordinate.But it all depends on how the male is brought up, the same as a man and a woman. If a man is brought up with 2 women what chance does he stand, so if a male mal. is brought up in a family environment you'll not see his true characteristics. he will become "babied", and his natural and proper habitat is outside nad living in temperatures of up to -50c. Living indoors with central heating will not create the right environment to be the alpha dog. My 3 dogs live with 1 bitch each and are in charge in their natural environment . i agree that you can't make blanket statements about dogs such as "malamutes cannot be guard dogs". I'd like to see someone get in the pen when I'm not around with my dogs! A friend of mine works on security with his 2 dogs (mals.) , if its in them , which it is , they can use their aggression towards other dogs so that aggression can be bought for other purposes if needed.Some people have mals. just as "loveable pets", feeding them twice a day and thats ok but they probably just got the dogs for themselves and are not thinking about the dogs, or you can go deeper and get into their minds. Then you can really understand how intelligent malamutes really are but this comes with years of experience , so think before you speak.

I've never heard of a Malamute being used as a Security dog,
It is not in the nature of Malamutes, to be aggressive towards people.:( Malamutes can be DOMINANT towards other dogs of the same sex
Therefor i find it quiet horrific to find that someone is using Malamutes as guard dogs. It is not what they were bred for :( It's just not in their nature :( and a real shame on the Malamutes behalf. My Malamute has no aggression in him. And he is a very intelligent dog.
Jmo

Jane :(

Hi Jane,

I thought I heard little Trip Trap sounds. I could be mistaken but I hope not.
Some people still like using wooden spoons don't they :rolleyes: ;)

Jacquie
:)

Best thing to do is to ignore ANY posts that you consider to be deliberately inflammatory :) This applies on all forums and to any posts

HTH

Melody :)

I think you have hit the nail on the head there Jacquie :D

Jane :)