WHY I have Malamutes........Why oh Why ???


We lived in Australia (with NO intentions of getting a dog) and hadn't owned a dog since our last rescue had died a few years previous.

Husband spotted an advert in the Freeads paper for an 'Alaskan Malamute' for $600 (about £400 then).

I REPEAT we had NO intention of getting it, but we had never heard of the name of the breed and thought it was a crossbreed, and were intrigued. We called the guy, got address and went to 'Have a Look' to see if it was a purebred that actually existed.

I'll make it brief :

We arrived and heard a dog howling behind the house, and when we looked down the side of the house, we could see a large, skinny dog, chained on about 1/2 foot of chain to a brick wall. We knocked the door, the scary looking man greeted us, pushed his 2 Staffys behind him and went to get the dog from the garden.

he brought her out and my god I could have punched him there and then, and WHY I didn't I'll never know !

The dogs ribs were poking out, she had barely any fur left on her body, she was emaciated, she was covered in bites, gashes, wounds and plenty of scars, was scared stiff and could barely walk. It was clear what she was being used for !!!

I asked to walk her, to which the man clenched his fist to the dogs face and told me to do the same if she pulled. I cringed.

I snatched the dog from the man's hands, Nodded to my husband, heart pumping, and strode toward the car and got in, my husband following.

The man stood and watched us drive away without paying for her !!! (Before anyone asks, I don't condone stealing dogs, but this dog deserved to be stolen !!)

We took her straight to the vets.

We STILL had no idea what this dog should look like, and it took us just under a year for her to recover from her ordeal (physically and mentally) and grow the glorious coat of a Malamute, so that we could see her in her full splendour.

Strangely, it was during the time she had no coat that we fell in love with her, as a breed, when we started doing research on the breed temperament and traits, looks didn't come into it and was just a bonus afterwards.

Unfortunately because of her age and a heart murmer, we couldn't bring her back with us, but she is now living a happy retirement with my parents in law in Australia.

(I do miss her )

And SHE is the reason we fell in love with Malamutes.