?'s for Malamute folks, I know your out there.
 

So we recently agreed to foster a Malamute that was at a local rescue organization. The foster quickly turned into an adoption as he has crept deeply into our hearts.

The initial phone call said 3 years old and 60 lbs.
The furry idiot that showed up at our door is way bigger than our 65lb husky/lab cross and me thinks he is much younger than 3.

So, looking for some assistance from the Malamute "staff" on-site.

As a breed, in general, would you consider them "slow to mature". I am trying to compare him to our existing dog that was still a psycho puppy at 3.

I know that no 2 dogs are the same but looking for some general guidelines, or recommendations for websites where I might find the info.

He seems to still be in that transition phase from squatting to lifting his leg. I remember my dobie switched over between 1 and 1.5 years but I don't know if that can even be used as an estimate of age.

Also looking for recommendation on a hopefully Canadian Company that makes decent durable dog backpacks. We are walking 3-5 miles a day to manage his endless energy but I think a backpack with a bit of weight in it might be a way to give him the workout he needs in a shorter distance on those 40 below Jan nights (which I know won't bother him at all - it will be me that thinks the temps suck)

And finally, here is a pic.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...f/DSC04442.jpg

OMG HE IS GORGEOUS!!

Ok well where to start with our experiences, first off our Husky / Malamute male Hurcules transitioned from squat to lift between 8 - 12 month same with our Siberian Male Zues ( Hurc's daddy ). Zues is coming on 3 and still has some of the puppy side left on occasion, he's very playful. Hurc is coming on 2 and is still very much a puppy yet. If your boy is Malamute dominate in his breed he can reach over 75 lbs full grown.

The misses has looked at several backpacks and has found the PetSmart has the best ones of the store & have xl sizes. Another idea is to get a pulling harness and hook it to an old tire to drag around.

Do a search for " everything malamute " there is a site called everything husky and there are loads of links on Malamutes.

You very welcome, Huskies & Malamutes are very smart indeed. Both Zues & Roxie ( our 4 yr old Malamute/Husky ) both know how to open a closed box of large milk bones & know how to open the pantry door to get at that box. We find that are huskies are very easy to train & that includes 14 pups that we have had, we get lots of updates from the happy new parents.

Not sure what your plans are but if you had him fixed it would settle him down considerably.

OK!
NO MORE cute puppies pictures!!

You guys can get me in such HUGE troubles if I were to adopt another dog...

We have a litter of puppies coming in Dec. :)


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Let me know when they're born and post/text pic's to me so I can send them to my friend Bonnie :biggrin:

Will do Laurie.


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Love my Huskies, have had them as companions for the last 20 years. Something we've really noticed over the years is that you can not make generalizations about their behavior, each is different. Our current Husky 'Chilko', the pup in the photo below is not your 'typical' husky, has never wandered in the 6 years we've had him, has become inseparable from our 5 year old. Very much part of the family. Kodiak, the older dog was the complete opposite, wasn't a fence that he couldn't go over or under, became a master at backing out of his harness and was a runner until the day before cancer finally took him from us. Casper was a rescue dog but was too aggressive with other dogs and kids, Nanook was the most 'typical' of our dogs and also the smartest, knew how to work a crowd if you know what I mean.

Exercise is the key to these dogs, as boredom is where most of their destructive habits come from.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...289_8279_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...48239_7743.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...184_4088_n.jpg

Colin

"Exercise is the key to these dogs, as boredom is where most of their destructive habits come from."


I find this policy applies to most big "working" dogs
Looks like yours are enjoying pulling your sled and running in the cold snow :smile:

Hyper activity also comes from food coloring in dog food as well as kids food.
These color agents are toxic and some times even carcinogenic. makes them hyper active, the liver has to work very hard to process this staff.
Stay away from dog food. Give them real food if you care about them, so they will not be a psycho puppy anymore. At leas try for 30 days you will see the difference.

It is not good to give huskies / malamute REAL food as in people food. Everyday because are instinctive hunters and will start to want to hunt for that food. Being out in the country ourselfs we do not want our Huskies to go chase the neighbours cattle, attack there ducks, chickens or rabbits. We only feed ours Blue Buffalo Wilderness dog food & we do not have any psyhco puppies.

Beautifully dogs there Colin, where did you find your sled? I would like to find a couple fairly inexpensive sleds myself. The wife has been looking for good quality pulling harnesses as well.

Yea it's really hard to get that attractive brown dog food color without adding food coloring :lol:

I have always wondered how they do that?

PM Sent

Shooting Star, check out this link Colin sent me. They have dog packs that look amazing & there harnesses are incredibly affordable.

http://www.tanzilla.ca/index.htm

K 1st Grizz PLEASE NO PUPPY PICTURES! I am not allowed another dog soo pics could cost me a wife!

2nd one of the best things we have done is train our Boxer to run on the treadmill....days like today (-30) are so much easier when he can get a run in where it is warm. Without a tonne of exercise he is a house shredder!

no promises :twised:

Wow, thanks everyone for the information and pics.
Really great stuff there.
Had a quick look at the link and will dig deeper once I get home from work.

Koda has settled into our family pack very well and stolen our heats in the process. We had a wonderful and busy weekend betweeen the dogs and the tank.

It was simply histerical this weekend. We have had nice extended fall and although we have had flurries here and there, this weekend was the first real snowfall that stayed on the ground. Koda came to us from a rescue in Texas ( can you imaging how miserable he would have been in Texas in august with a coat like that) Anyway, we have a sled dog that had never seen snow, didn't know how to walk in it, he kept slipping and falling on his butt. Pawing at the stuff falling from the sky and eventually just sat there looking at the sky with a confused look on his face.
I took the shovel and gathered some into a small pile and he vas very curious....smelling...tasting... then he just dove in and started rolling around. We laughed ourselves silly watching him experience it all.

We walk him 2 x day for about 3-4 miles each and it burns off his energy and keeps him very mellow. I found a back-pack for him and he really liikes wearing it. Currently we only have a can of soup in each side but will increase the weight gradually over time.

All of our dogs get people food.....but only raw veggies and fruit and they love it. Other than that we feed Blue buffalo kibble only.

thanks again, looking forward to seeing the puppy pics in Dec.