The Facts
When someone buys a dog they can expect to live with it for at least 12 to 15 years , so it makes sense to ensure that the breed of dog you want is suited to you and your family and your life style, if you are reading this section then I assume your particular interest is a malamute or a sibe, while no amount of writing will ever compare to the real thing, I hope to help you make the right and wisest decision for you and your family and for the dog.
There are few breeds that need more careful thought than that of the Malamute or of the Sibe , firstly because they are not an easy breed to handle in the first place and secondly because they don't settle into second homes easily , therefore all responsible breeders will take every effort to make sure the dog is placed in a suitable environment and that all prospective owners are fully aware off both the good and bad points of the breed. Its far easier to big up all the breeds good qualities whilst over looking the real snags, it may only have one bad quality you don't like, but it will eventually drive you mad to live with that snag every day of your life and will soon start to grate on your nerves and so become a real issue to live with on a daily basis.
Often people have said to me well if they really are that bad how come you have so many of them , well to that I say I'm more stubborn and more stronger minded than my mals and sibes. I am also not farced about vacuuming ten times a day and I do not want a dog to boss about, to use as a guard or to generally do party tricks < sit, stay, come, give us a paw, down, fetch, wait.
I'm not saying that a mal or sibe cant ever learn these things but whether they choose to do it all the time or at the time you want them to perform is a different thing all together, all puppies love throw and fetch, but the day will surely come when your mal or sibe thinks you threw it, you fetch it.
I like a nice home, but im not obsessive about it, you have to be a bit free spirited and in tune with nature and like to be a bit of a nomad to live happily along side these fine breeds and to be owned by these breeds rather than you owning the breeds. These breeds definitely are not for the house proud or the control freak. You really do need to be fair, firm and loving, you need to gain the respect of these breeds, not command it, else they will do notta thing for you, and will develop selective deafness to your voice.
All in all, to me, the good traits out way the bad ones, they are my companions and its their independent spirit that makes them more interesting to me. I have shaped my life and changed my life to suit the requirements of this breed purely because I love them so much, what I lost in material goods, soft furnishings, plants and grass, can never match what these dogs have done for my spirit and my physical and mental health.
So for the record I am gonna stipulate all those snags that unscrupulous breeders forget to tell you about and if you still fancy one at the end of it all, I hope you will find as much happiness pleasure and love with the breeds as We have.
First off, yes malamutes and sibes moult at least a twice year. It's as bad as you allow it to be. If you don't groom your dog daily you can liken a full shed to someone tearing your mattress up and garnishing all your food with hairs. If you like to be a pristine and a snappy dresser, think again. Also your visitors may not be as excited about your dogs as you are, especially when they jump all over them giving them a generous covering of hairs. Carpet and soft furnishing are not good furniture choices for the mal or sibe owner ,instead laminate flooring ,tiles , leather sofas and blinds are more suited. Get used to layering up, as mals and sibes don't do central heating and roaring fires.
What your mal or sibe will look like if not groomed properly when blowing their coat .
Second thing, mals and sibes make terrible watch dogs ( with the exception of your mally watching you eat ) so don't be fooled by those who say they do. The malamute may be a little more cautious of some humans more than others, but if it is generally nasty and vicious, then there is something very wrong with it , these breeds are people dogs. The mal may, on a rare occasion, warn you of an intruder, but your sibe would welcome them with open arms and tea and biscuits, so if you want a dog to protect you or your property these breeds are not for you.
They only serve to look the part, a mal or sibe can be a frightening sight to the un-knowledgeable. Both mals and sibes are good visual deterrents simply because they resemble wolves, but if you want something that will attack, your better off looking elsewhere. I always know when some one is at the door or around as my dogs start talking, woo woo this and roo roo that, but tails are always wagging. I have a bull mastiff to look after the guarding, though I must admit my mals do seem to be able to detect unscrupulous characters and do treat some people with caution. So it is my philosophy that if my dogs do not like you, then I probably shouldn't either.
Some people think it is an asset to own these breeds as they do not bark,( which you may think is great if you live in a built up area like an estate ) but they are far from silent breeds and have a catalogue of noises. Males can be particularly vocal, though it is safe to say that the single dog will rarely be noisy, maybe howling along to the occasional ambulance, police or fire engine siren.
But it is not unusual for both mals and sibes to copy or mimic a neighbors nuisance barking dog and perfect the act of barking to a T. Once you start adding dogs, especially dogs and bitches, things can get very noisy. Some breeders have to resort to injections to calm the males down when a bitch is in season. I choose to kennel my dog at boarding kennels to save my neighbors from any disturbance.
A friend of mine fell out with half his neighborhood over the ruckuss his dog made night and day because his bitch was in season. And the dog could decide do this because your neighbors dog is in season or because they are bored or lonely, so please don't ever think they are a quiet breed, mals in particular love to talk and to answer back .
Mals and sibes, like many dogs, like to chase things ... cats , rabbits , birds. You may be lucky to have the extremely laid back sibe or mal that cant be doing chasing or has excepted yours and yours neighbors cats and learnt they are out of bounds, but in all honesty such dogs are far and few between.
So letting them off lead can be hazardous, especially if they end up in a field full of live stock or poultry. I only let my dogs off lead when I am sure I have there sole attention and nothing to distract them. Especially my mals, they are very obedient in general but can be very naughty to other dogs, in particular the little ones like the terriers and yorkies.
They never actually start it, but these little dogs are always feisty and argumentative and I am always worried that it will be like yap yap yap yorkie terrier, then "sorry mate" no more yorkie terrier. As most malamutes will retaliate to an aggressor immediately and when you have two mals together, they can think they are invincible.
On the other hand I am often frightened my sibes will get attacked, as they are for the most part, friendly to other dogs. So if like me, you want to exercise your dog off lead, you will either have to go at the crack of dawn before the streets are aired or late at night, if you live in a safe area to do so.
I often take my dogs on a midnight hike and we all thoroughly enjoy it, and it suits us just fine, they often go midnight swimming whether summer or winter, and they get to run freely and use up some of there energy. Far better than strolling the streets on a lead. Though they do love to stroll the streets on their leads and get loads of attention from every passer by :)
The next big issue is trainability. Whilst puppy training is always recommended, don't be down hearted if you tend to be at the bottom of the class. The mal and sibe are far from stupid, and are in fact very intelligent, but sadly they are free spirited and free willed and will only do as much as they feel like and often only when they feel like it.
They are not however un-trainable, they may sit twenty times when told to, then decide on the 21st sit that they prefer to stand and stand they will. In all honesty I think my male sibe Storm is extremely obedient and better behaved than all six of my boxer dogs, but every once in a while, even he will try his luck by refusing to get in the car after a run and standing just far enough away as not to be able to reach him. Luckily, if I get in the car and ignore him, he jumps straight in, as he thinks I am going without him, so they are not completely unruly. They are not dogs that do commands just to show off your training skills to your mates.
You will need a garden with secure fencing not hedges and conifers, proper chain link or feather edge, possibly gravel boards at the bottom, and if you like a well kept garden tennis lawn and flowered borders and decorative pots scattered around the garden think again.
Mals and sibes love to dig, they dig to keep cool, they dig to get warm, they dig dig dig, just for the love of it , and no you will not be lucky enough to find a placid one that won't, they all do. As for your plants you could have a two hundred foot square garden, with one plant pot, with a small plant in it somewhere, and they would find it and shred it to pieces.
My dogs even managed to dig the concrete out of the borders that once housed my prized selection of shrubs, till they smelt the soil beneath and dug that out then rolled in it for sheer fun.They ate the trellis that once was covered in jasmine and clematis before they ate that. So unless your garden is big enough to divide into "your" garden and "their" garden expect your garden to look a glorious shade of Grey ( concrete slabs concrete posts , concrete gravel boards etc etc etc ) Believe me they only need five minutes to annihilate your garden. They are also very clever escape artists.
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Lastly if you think the snags aren't too bad, just make a final effort to go meet a few mals and sibes in the flesh. Go meet a breeder, have a lengthy chat and spend a good few hours seeing what the dogs are really like especially when they are blowing their coat.
A full Malamute shed could easily fill a few black bags. Truly ask yourself can you give these dogs at least an hour a day of exercise rain snow or shine ? As these are not breeds of dog that you can rely on your kids to take for walks. Both breeds are extremely strong and some Malamutes weigh in excess of seven stones, stand over 2 ft tall, and can be as big as 5 ft, and more standing on their hind legs. They can pull heavy loads in the region of 20 times their own body weight over vast distances, so your child will be no problem to drag around. Not to mention the absolute real issue of dog napping, grown ups have been known to get mugged for their dogs. Do you really want to hand the responsibility of looking after such an expensive dog into the hands of a child ? And possibly risk putting your child's life in jeopardy ?
If your still here and still not put off
by the breed and think you have what it takes to own, rear and love one
of these magnificent breeds then I wish you much fun and happiness and
hope you get as much pleasure as I get from owning mine.