Here you will find fun and useful information about Alaskan Malamutes and Wolfdog's, aka Hybrids. On this page you can learn a little about them, and access numerous links to activities and things you can do for your dogs for fun.
Pictured to the left from left to right; Odin, Mini, Nikita, Alyeska.Most of these dogs in these images, have experienced many activities.
New Additions
Mini has had the first litter of the kennels in several years. The pups were born on 6-14-2008 and were Mini's 3rd litter. We may possibly be choosing a new candidate female, or two, to bring the F2 generation lines another 9 years down the road where they in turn will create the F3 generation. The two F1 generation's were born back in 1998, and 1999. These girls are getting old now. Mini is almost 9 years old now and still looking and acting as young as ever. She has been really eager to breed for the past few years and has finally been allowed to have a litter. Her first litter pups are about 5 years old now, and you can see them here - Wily - Chilly.
Activities for this type of breed include trail sledding, backpacking, winter mountaineering including overnight storms, multiple summits, some basic weight-pulling, and much more, all for fun. View the activities page to learn more about these activities, and some that you can do with your dog.
It's been wonderful to be able to work with the Nordic type Breeds for over 17 years now. Some of the Nordic Breed's that I've had the fortunate experience to work with, in favoured order, are the Alaskan Malamute, MacKenzie River Husky, Siberian Husky, Norwegian Elkhound, Samoyed, Eskimo or Spitz, Akita, and my least favorite and the only non-preferred, the Chow-Chow.
This is The rest of the team, connected to the ATV trainer! (it has good brakes)They are currently tied up behind Rajah the best lead dog for just about any job. Pictured from right to left working back; Nikita, Timbre, Daisy, Alyeska, Kobuk and Odin to the far left .Behind the fence from left to right; Mini, Jimeny, Sitka. Notice, they are all smiling because they are exhilarated before going on this run. And the ones behind the fence don't look so happy.
Pure bred Alaskan Malamutes have got to be the most blessed domesticated animal of them all. When compared to a Siberian Husky, which most people confuse Malamutes for, the differences could not be greater. Mals are bigger AND taller than Sibes, they are MORE intelligent, they can be sometimes quite a bit lazier and laid back, they are better with families, they are less destructive, they run slower, they pull more weight, they are not as anxious, they look different, they DO NOT have blue eyes, their chest is deeper, they can be quite a bit fuzzier when dawning the wooly coat, they make better partial house dogs, they chew stuff up less, they always, and i mean ALWAYS come back when they escape unless they despise their home, and the Mals domesticated genes are as close to a pure wolf as you can get, where the Sibes genes are way off the chain from a wolf. It is said that Malamutes domestication and genes go back more than 20,000 years, as compared to 99% of other domesticated dogs whose genes go back only a couple hundred years if that, and the Sibes genes maybe just a few hundred more than that. Just think of what 20,000 years of consistently reinstilled relationships with human beings may do to a dog breed. I can sum that up in two words, "pure trust". An Alasksan Malamute is one of the most trusted breeds out there, and IS the most intelligent domesticated breed, bar none! You can tell a German Shepherd to jump off a cliff, and the Shepherd will jump, and die. This is not intelligence, this is merely obedience. It's advised to recognize the difference here. You can tell a Mal to jump off a cliff, and it will stare at you like your stupid! It knows when its near a cliff edge, and will not even get close no matter how hard you tug on it. This dog KNOWS how to use its intelligence, even if its highly against mans wishes. In other words, a Malamute is not a man slave beckoning at any command, but quite the opposite. A malamute reasons highly with anything and everything its told to do, and is highly intune wtih its instincts which it uses as guidelines. A mal is definetely not the obedience candidate, or the "Sit" "Stay" type of breed. Its best to leave these commands checked at the door, when taking these dogs into the wild. They can learn bigger and better things, but mainly teach you more than you ever knew possible, like how to follow trails buried under 8 feet of snow, and how to take shortcuts through the wilderness to save time, and how to avoid bears and other dangers in the wild such as frozen lakes and rivers. Malamutes are not house dogs! If your thinking of owning a house dog, then dont get a Malamute. However, if you understand that a malamute needs to be outdoors more than 50% of the day, needs other Nordic breeds as social partners, and are willing to keep it in a wild type environment with its packmates, and can give it a huge space to run such as a huge 3000-10,000sq ft yard, or several fenced in acres, then your on your way to experiencing the true Alaskan Malamute, and can invite it into the house for up to 40% of the day where it will willingly be a "great" partial-house-dog. These are just basic guidelines, but to have a malamute miss out on the outdoors more than 50% of the day is pure torture to the breed, and will not end up being a representative of the breed after this kind of treatment. In fact, with this kind of mis-treatment, your liable to have a snappy fat whiny creature that seems to shun the world and exhibits symptoms of depression to a great extent. Its not really hard to set up the yard to offer a good wild-type setting for your Malamute pack. To deprive a Malamute of the wild, is to deprive it of life!
A "Norge Hund" or Nordic Dog(cousins of the Malamute), that I would like to eventually have as a team member is the North Easterly Hauling Laika. It would be very nice to have a team of this breed. This particular Laika breed has had all the hunting bred out of it, and is a full draft dog, as compared to the malamute and husky who is only half draft and half hunter. What this Laikas breed temperament relates to is a sled dog that wont be tempted to veer off the trail after a rabbit while shooting down a mountain slope at 12mph pulling 1000-2000lbs of dogs and sled behind it. A True companion draft dog, N.E.'ly Hauling Laika's are tall and look sort of between an Akita's colorations and height, maybe a bit taller, with more of a Malamute-ish face, mostly white with black colorations with some uneven big splotches or spots across the face and body. This dog has quite nice and beautiful colorations. This breed is very hard to find as well, mainly because they are primarily located in Siberia and Russia. Good luck on your searches and Nordic Breed Hunts.
I have also had experience of working with wolfdog's. Having had the experience working with the Norge Hund's on their misbehaving days help to achieve the experience necessary to not be intimidated by a wolfdog when they are being aggressive, and allows to understand them easier. What you do with those skills is to reverse-the-tables, thereby enabling one to achieve the undisputed alpha position of dominance (without getting bit) over the wolf within the dog. Once this mutual respect is found, it allows him/her a nice relaxing, stress free, laid back, people friendly, beta to omega lifestyle. In essence, you learn from the wolfdog or Nordic dog, it teaches you, then you use it's ways against it when it's misbehaving as a sort of reverse psychology. These skills are imperative if considering rescuing a cunning breed of this type, and this can't be overstated enough. Simply put, there is little need to breed or create more wolfdog's, time is better spent responsibly concentrating efforts on neutering and spaying ALL wolfdog stock over 50%. There is no necessity or need for this type of animal other than sled dog use, education, rescuing, neutering, spaying, and offering our respect to allow them to live out their lives fully and happily. Wolfdog's certainly do NOT make good pets, but it would seem there's always a wolfdog in need of rescuing. On the converse, it's not advisable to neuter/spay captive wolves in rescue programs since these captive wolves genetic diversity holds future value in preventing genetic bottlenecks should the need arise for direct captive/wild interbreeding. In the latter case, the wolf in captivity would become an asset to its species as a whole.
One thing worth mentioning here, especially to those still skeptic of the wolf, is there has been little record of a pure WOLF ever attacking a man. Wolves have a healthy fear of man, and as a whole DO NOT commit UNPROVOKED attacks on man. Movies like Werewolf in London etc... have given pure wild wolves a bad rap. Those movies are based on fictitious folklore. In North America, wolves are only usually seen by man in areas where the land has been so altered by man himself, to such an extent as to threaten the very existence of entire wolf sub species. Usually, loss of habitat, or areas where the wolves wild food sources have been diminished, depleted, exhausted, and exploited are where they are the most threatened. In environmentally compromised areas due to mans activities, the wolf turns to scavenging for food, in turn appearing on mans properties that skirt true wild nature areas. A mutual respect does exists in most cases, but as we all know, not always. One problem, such as with most ranchers points of views, is that their view has become so clouded socially that they truly believe that it is their right to exploit the critical lands of endangered wild animals that share it with them, for some reason, usually as if it were a war, up to the point of man destroying the natural ecosystem's habitat altogether by eliminating the keystone species that the habitat depends on for its health. So much for the bible, which states that the Earth is our Dominion, meaning we are the stewards of this place. In order to harvest, we must sow. In other words we cant take(exploit/rape), without giving equally. It is our due responsibility as the keepers of this land. It is the only way we can sustain the beauty that we know today. When given proper territory, the wolf coexists with man and respects us like no other kinship in this world. The wolf will also sing for us now and then if we listen real carefully, but will always give us bay. Wolves are completely respected by those who truly know them and as a whole are COMPLETELY respectful of man, and always give us our space.
Wolves are wolves, and dogs are dogs. A dog is NOT a wolf, and a wolf is NOT a dog. BUT, and this is a big BUT, if you mix a wolf with a dog, what you get is a wolfdog. Following yet? A wolfdog is neither a dog, nor wolf. It is something entirely different. A wolfdog incorporates alot of the behaviour, no matter how fierce or friendly, of a regular a non-man-fearing dog, with the inheritance of the power of a wolves wild attributes, and it's pure raw hunger driven hunting instincts, therefore losing the healthy inhibitions and fear of man ever so present in a Pure wolf. This dictates a necessity of man being the undisputed alpha at his own peril, to reduce the risk of his own, when working with wolfdog's. This is how these wolfdog's get such a bad rap. I can tell you one thing, if there is anything i have noticed about wolfdog's is that they are extremely respectful of man, to the extent that a pure wolf would be, and are absolutely not aggressive towards humans. But you must understand, this comes from a fully capable young male(human being), that regularly gets physical with them when they step out of line. As I mentioned, one MUST maintain FAIR dominance over this type of breed to reap the benefits of a true companion animal. You can NOT beat respect into a wolfdog, you MUST EARN IT. So fair play is ALWAYS a necessity, and absolute dominance is necessary during the more trying times. If your not willing to get up several times in the middle of the night during your sleep time to join the pack and dominate when the fighting starts, then give up the idea of ever being able to get along with a wolfdog. Otherwise, well, the pictures should be the proof of how much fun they can really be, ONLY IF you have the TIME AND absolute physical ENERGY to spend with them several times daily. This need has never been necessary with the dog alone, or the wolf alone. In other words, the wolfdog, and other wild/domestic hybrids are looked at differently and need to be kept differently. This isn't any ordinary or easy thing to do and most are completely unexperienced and have NO idea what kind of extreme 24-7 labor they are getting themselves into.
It is well advised to keep the genes of the wild/domestic hybrids at bay, and spay, neuter, and eradicate wherever possible for the health of future populations of pure wolves and domestic dogs. By eradicating, I do not mean to euthanize. This should NEVER happen to a wolfdog, that would be extremely pitiful and poor uneducated oversight. We all need the moral responsibility to place a rogue hybrid into a rescue and ensure that it is neutered/spayed. There are many rescues that lend a big loving heart to the most rebellious wolfdog's of them all, people that realize that inside that furious heart, there is ALWAYS path to friendship. Personally, I can find and run down this path within days to a week or two, most times, when working with others wolfdog's. Those who know the breed, can tame these dogs like a baby, no matter how rogue. This is a fact!
Please rescue, spay and neuter hybrids if being used as pets. If you have wolfdog/hybrid puppies, please be responsible and neuter/spay ALL puppies, and be prepared to have this 24 hour duty of being the alpha, so the wolfdog can be on its way to a normal "dog's life". Also be prepared to take them to the proper facilities such as your local veterinarian or animal hospital, incase they are in need urgent care, or to ship them off to a rescue if they get out of hand, but please DO NOT let them find a way to the local SPCA's or your local humane societies, or they will be promptly euthanized(killed) upon arrival without a grain of hope of being given a second chance. And by all means, please DO NOT willingly "have them put down", this is not the proper way to deal with a misbehaving dog, and there are plenty of rescue kennels out there that are willing to properly kennel up misbehaving dogs and give them a happy life. Please "Contact" using the link on the very bottom of this website if you need help finding out what to do with a misbehaving dog.
