Mal Stories
Things We Have Lost Due to a Mals Need to Chew!
Two couches, a loveseat, 20 pieces of tile off the dinning room floor, Christmas lights off the tree, comforters, numerous pillows, remote controls, plants (which he really didn't eat, he just tore them up and spread the dirt from the pots all over my white bedspread.) Too many to count kids toys! wash rags, dish towels, siding for the house we left in the yard, scubbies for the tub, pictures, flowers in the yard that they love to dig up, a pair of flip flops, a pair of cowboy boots, multiple tennis shoes, in other words, Mals can't stand to be left behind when you leave! This subsides after about two years! After all of these things and many other things I can't remember, I still would never have another breed of dog but a Malamute! You have to live with one to understand!
They are also very strong. When we first got Wolf we learned quickly. We didn't have a fence at that time, but it took a little while for him to start running out of the yard, after that, Wolf never met a chain he couldn't snap right in two. So, our last option was to go to hardware store. (We didn't have the money to put up a fence on rented property.) We bought a tow chain. Although, he never broke it and Dakata never broke hers, one of their pups tore the owners porch off the house. He had already chewed through the wooden fence that connected to the neighbors yard, so they had to tie him until they got the fence fixed. It didn't work! This same pup came back to me a year later when they unexpectedly had to move and couldn't take the Mal with them. I adopted him out. Two weeks later I got a call from a vet's office. He had chewed through his collar and got hit by a car. "Not to worry," she said. "He's fine!" The dog broke his pinky toe, but the front of the car that hit him was totaled.
When we bought our own house, we fenced in the yard and put up a covered porch. In the winter, we put plastic around the porch to keep the snow and rain from coming in and they all have beds out there. It's a rare sight in the winter to get them to come in, but in the summer, it's a rare sight to see them out. They like their air-conditioning!
Do you question pack orientation?
Well, we don't! Kata and wolf have proven it over and over again. The first thing is their protectiveness of me and the kids and challenging for the alpha role, but it was when I brought home a blue merle collie puppy. Everybody told me not to do it, but I had to try. I brought her home and stuck her underneath me while walking around on me hands and knees staring at the mals, challenging them to do something. Leader of the pack was protecting it. Dakata took her in and under her wing. Wolf growled at Keeva (collie) once and Dakata attacked him for it. She claimed Keeva as her pup after that! Then we brought a stray cat in. Well, if it worked once. It did! Now Kata protects the cat. Which is really funny, because if another cat comes near the fence, Dakata goes nuts trying to get through the fence to kill it, while Georgie sits on the porch, with Wolf and Keeva, with what some would say was a kitty grin! So, in my conclusion of a Malamute mind....what alpha allows in the den must be part of the pack, no matter the species and must be protected!
How did she know?
They say that dogs know where they are supposed to be and who they are to be with and until then are not happy dogs, well this story is one that begins with a search for a female malamute. Nearing my birthday, my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday. "Bad question." I told him that I wanted a Seal and white female Alaskan Malamute. The search began all over internet for months. I finally found a breeder about 5 hrs away that was expecting litters in a couple months. I paid a deposit and waited and waited like an expectant mother. Calling the breeder time and time again (making a pest out of myself.) Then the day came that she had the pups, it would be another three weeks until I could see them! We drove the 5 hrs up on a Sunday and looked around the kennel. In a pen was this little 8 week old pup, we offered to buy her. She was beautiful. The breeder told us that she had just got her a couple days before and was going to raise her to breed. She we proceeded to pick out a 3 week old pup and then drove home for the next 5 weeks to wait. That night I got on the internet to look at mals (which had become a nightly thing for months.) I came across this web site that had pictures of pups that were ready to go! They were 6 hrs the opposite direction of where we just came home from. I pulled up the females and there was this beautiful female. My heart sank! I knew! I had already picked out another pup, but I decided to risk telling my husband I changed my mind after he had just drove for 10 hrs to pick out the other one! This pup was the one. She is supposed to be with me. I pulled up the picture and pointed to her and told him this is her! This is the puppy I've been looking for! He told me (without hesitation) to call the breeder and ask her to hold the pup until we could get there. Well, the pup had just gone to another breeder that night. She wasn't sure that she was keeping her though. She called me back within 10 minutes and told me that the lady was bringing her back. We started at 4am the next Sunday morning, because I couldn't sleep, to go get my new pup. When we got there, I picked her out immediately.
Her name was to be KNK'S Archangel Dakata Rae. We drove home and gave her a bath. She was very sad. We introduced her to Wolf and Kylie and let them get used to each other. Dakata was still upset and wouldn't eat or drink or play with any of her new toys. We then put her in the car and headed over to gramma's to get the kids. When we walked in the house there was 7 kids in the living room playing! Ignoring the other kids, Dakata ran to my son and jumped on him and kissed his face and then proceeded to my daughter and sat by her feet. Never jumping on my daughter (who has special needs.) Dakata was then happy, started eating and drinking and playing with the kids.
Now, you tell me...How did she know out of 7 kids, which two were hers and how did she know not to jump on my daughter?
(By the way...KNK'S stands for Katelyn and Kristopher's, my daughter and son)
Mal-Talk
Malamutes do talk and argue with you and sometimes even yell at you! We recently moved into a new house. My son, who was three at the time, taught himself how to unlock the doors. One day I was upstairs running the vacuum. When I finished I came down the stairs only to notice that my front door was wide open! I freaked! I ran out the front door yelling his name and heard his voice yelling... "I'm down here playing with the football." I ran to our side yard and clear down in the yard stood my son and Dakata standing beside him! Now, Dakata could have ran off at anytime, we haven't gotten that part of the yard fenced yet. But, she was there! I ran down through the yard and grabbed him. The look on Dakata's face was one I'll never forget! It was a look of pure anger! I told her thank you for watching him and then I heard it! She yelled at me the whole way back up to the front door. I kept telling her, like a little child to the mother, that "I know, I know!" But as any good mother, she kept right on yelling! When we got into the house, she wouldn't even look at me the rest of the day. When daddy got home he put a chain across the top of the door, where my son couldn't reach to open it, while I was making dinner. Dakata stood watching him and then trotted into the kitchen and gave me another talking too! Then she sat by her dad all night, mad as hell at me that I let my son run off and she had to watch him!
Now the point was that she could have run off at any time. As soon as that front door opened, even left my son in the yard and ran, or even walking back to house with me, because I didn't have a hold on her, but instead, she was too busy yelling at me!
THE TEST
One day my husband decided to test Wolf on what he would do to protect me! So I laid down on the floor on my back and my husband sat on top of me. I yelled for Wolf to help. Wolf of course came, but stood there with a look of confusion on what to do. I yelled again. You could see Wolf thinking! He looked at me and looked up at my husband and looked down at me again. In about one minute Wolf positioned himself so he was standing side by side with my husband and leaned into my husband with his shoulders. Pushing him off. My husband wouldn't budge, so I yelled for Wolf to help again. He pushed harder and harder. Finally my husband, looked Wolf in the face and what are you going to do now? And with one final shove Wolf pushed him off, no harm to anybody. Then as a joke I sat up and my husband slapped my back. Wolf, with no hesitation, stared at my husband with a look of suggestion of not to attempt that one again. Wolf then laid in-between my husband and I as we sat on the floor and wouldn't move! Protection! My husband thought it funny to raise that hand again to see what Wolf would do. I never uttered a word, but sat there. Wolf sat up immediately with that look as one corner of his lip went up to show teeth. My husband then patted him on the head and told him good boy! The only thing that my husband said after that was..."I would have hated for anybody to do that to you, but me and I won't test him again." I just laughed knowing my husband couldn't be that stupid!
If you have a Mal story you want to share, please do! I will post it on the web site with your permission.
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