what pet do you have

Thunder22 · #1 12-30-2005, 10:26 PM

Don't be fooled by their stubborn nature, they are EXTREMELY intelligent. Here's an example:

When Thunder was about 1.5 years old, I took him for a walk, a long walk, and I went to a part of town that I knew he had never been before. It was snowing and we had a good 2 mile walk. After about 2 miles, I got tired and wanted to go home so I merely turned around and said "let's go home" and I'll be damned if that dog didn't lead me straight home the same exact way that we took to get 2 miles away. He never looked back up at me, and never took a tug on the leash for a hint to go one way or another. I was awestruck.

Regarding putting him in with a puppy: Thunder was about 4 when we got Nikki and they were fine together. Nikki had to learn a few lessons like don't go near Thunders food dish. Thunder eats when he's hungry, Nikki will eat anything she can get her teeth into, so when she first came across Thunders full dish after emptying her own, she got a good paw shot and a guttoral growl from Thunder that set her right straight. She made the same mistake a couple of other times in the same week that I can remember and got the same response, but she learned her lesson and it was never a problem again.

He's definitely the "alpha male" and she knows it, but they rough house all the time and so far there hasn't been any blood shed, a lot of growling and a lot of teeth baring, but nothing serious or to be concerned about. Malamutes are pack animals and are happiest when other dogs and or humans are around.

OH! 1 other thing, if you're playing tug of war or have any other interaction with a Malamute where there can be a "winner", NEVER let them win. Like I said they're pack animals, and if you let them realize that they have the "upper hand", they'll never listen to you again. make sure you stay above their head level when disciplineing them or giving them commands.

I have some other pics, I'll put them up on my site and get you a link. They're too big to post here.

Sorry for the long reply, but I learned a lot about the breed in the last 5 years, there's no reason for you to reinvent the wheel

Thunder22 · #2 12-30-2005, 10:49 PM

Nikki at about 14 weeks.

kirkX5m · #3 12-30-2005, 10:52 PM

woah!!! malamutes 101 just lectured! thank you!!!!!!
thanks for the pics also, you have two magnificent dogs! looks like we are heading to the same path with an older male / younger female combo.

i know how dogs are when they eat, you just dont mess with them! im sure maui will learn also not to mess with shanook's food like nikki did w/ thunder. ha ha ha ha. and then in a world with no frontiers, we could have the thunder/shanook boy team vs the nikki/maui team

Thunder22 · #4 12-30-2005, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirkX5m

woah!!! malamutes 101 just lectured! thank you!!!!!!
thanks for the pics also, you have two magnificent dogs! looks like we are heading to the same path with an older male / younger female combo.

i know how dogs are when they eat, you just dont mess with them! im sure maui will learn also not to mess with shanook's food like nikki did w/ thunder. ha ha ha ha. and then in a world with no frontiers, we could have the thunder/shanook boy team vs the nikki/maui team

Sorry for the "too much info"

Send some pics over when you get a chance, I'ld love to see them.

kirkX5m · #5 12-30-2005, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gresch

Sorry for the "too much info"

Send some pics over when you get a chance, I'ld love to see them.

au contaire! all your info helps a lot, helps us understand these dogs youve been loving for 5 years now and that are getting ready to share our lives with. we were devastated when we lost gina our husky last month, but as bad as it hurt, we needed to continue giving the gift of friendship and love to our little friends. how old is nikki now? is she as big as thunder yet?

Thunder22 · #6 12-30-2005, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirkX5m

au contaire! all your info helps a lot, helps us understand these dogs youve been loving for 5 years now and that are getting ready to share our lives with. we were devastated when we lost gina our husky last month, but as bad as it hurt, we needed to continue giving the gift of friendship and love to our little friends. how old is nikki now? is she as big as thunder yet?

Nikki is a little over 2 years old now, and she's about 15lbs shy of Thunder. Thunder is about 125 and Nikki about 110. The first pic i posted of her leaning over the gate is the most current pic of her.

kirkX5m · #7 12-30-2005, 11:12 PM

yah that sounds about right, thunder being 125lbs, i think our shanook is a small build, he is about 105lbs...the rescuer told us that maui mite be bigger than shanook...maybe in the 115-120 range...but we cant wait!

do your dogs live inside or outside, it must be cold where you're at! but then i always say, these dogs are snow dogs, they laugh at the cold!

pics of maui at the rescuer's home last tuesday...they had named all the pups with drink's names like cola, fanta, pepsi, dessani, sprite, that was hilarious

Thunder22 · #8 12-30-2005, 11:22 PM

WoW! Great pics! very cute!

I have a very very hard time getting Thunder in the house from September until about May. Wherever it's colder he wants to be. If there's snow on the ground it's nearly impossible to get him inside. In the summers he likes to sleep outside at night, but spends the days inside in the AC. A trick I learned from when I had a Samoyed is to fill up empty 2 liter soda bottles with water and freeze them, then wrap them in duct tape, making sure that the caps are secure. Both Thunder and NIkki will sleep with them and/or lie around next to them to keep cool in the summers. Right now thunder looks like a junk yard dog because I think he's slept in the house maybe a handful of times in the last month or so. I have to take him to the groomer this weekend and get him cleaned up.... Nikki is a princess however and has to sleep in the house

I'm praying that she keeps it up, and doesn't adopt Thunders "I have to be outside ALL the time" habit.

motordavid · #9 12-31-2005, 06:50 PM

Bluie, our Siamese: beautiful, loveable and a complete idiot!:

Ol'FatCat: 16+ yrs old, still an outstanding hunter; loves being outside...

The house loafers together:

Ol'UncMtr