hi all

i was wondering if anybody here is using malamutes for hunting, and had any special tips.

im a dog trainer and got 20+ years of expirence with hunting dogs, buth the malamute is a new challenge for me.

the pup will be at my place in 4 ½ weeks, and i start the first training and selection in 1 ½ week at the kennel.

anything you can share about the breed i would love to know.

best regards

peter

........What are you going to train it for .???????In my experience they are naturally gifted at things like eating cell phones and hand held VHF radios ,, killing cats ,,,killing birds ,,,fighting relatively constantly ,,,,,,,,running game animals to death .,.,.,sleeping ,,,,,,,if they have a good coat on bare ice @ 40 below and not melting a ring in the ice ........................................But .......they can sure be good bear dogs who will fly thru thick , thick, conifer brush to fight a brown bear and run it off ...............They will naturally do things to a big bear that a hound will run from ......................I think it,s just a natural thing with them ...............If you can get a husky and mix it with a golden retriever thats about the best I,ve found ,,, Maybe a wolf / golden retriever cross ........................................If you are asking about an official bread then I don,t know weve got lots of dogs that are called huskies that really don,t look like they are ,,,but they can sure run ...............when a husky hunts it has a plan of eating what it,s hunting ,, or at least killing it ...........I don,t know if they would hunt like a game dog does .....???????? thats my 2 cents worth ....

Hunting big game with a dog in Alaska is only allowed in two circumstances: "for the hunting of black bears under a nontransferable permit, issued to a person who qualifies under the permit coditions established in (Alaska Statute) 5 AAC 92.068; and a single, leashed dog may be used in tracking and dispatching a wounded big game animal" (2007-2008 Alaska Hunting Regulations, pg. 16). With that said, the bulk of hunting dogs seem to be like Gummy's half breed - a little of this and that for general purpose woods romping. Lots of duck retreiver/rabbit hound/bear protection/hiking companion types.

I'm not into sled dog racing but I think the serious racers don't use malamutes (they're more like a tractor than a race car) and the vast majority of malamutes in the state are pretty much for show.

I might catch some flack for it but it seems to me that most "working" dogs in Alaska these days don't do much more than shit, howl, and fight amonst themselves than anything productive. I've never understood trying to make pets out of any animal type bred for work.

How about Karelian bear hounds?

I have only lived in Sitka and Barrow so I have limited concepts on what Alaskan dogs look like.

In Sitka it's some kind of retriever, and in Barrow it's either a sled dog or some kind of fi fi house dog.

quote:

Originally posted by PWS:

I might catch some flack for it but it seems to me that most "working" dogs in Alaska these days don't do much more than shit, howl, and fight amonst themselves than anything productive.

Sounds kind of like alot of guys here on AR

KC

Peter, they are a big breed of a dog. Smart and tough but not fast as sled dogs go. I have never heard of them being used as a hunting dog-that is a curious thing for sure.

Hook a number of them up on a gangline and they will work all day - they eat alot is one disadvantage if you have alot of them.

Enjoy you're pet.

ok this was my first expirence with the breed.

i was slegdeing with a friend in norway when he got the call, that a turist had run into a moose and could he please go kill it(besides him catering to turists with dogslegdeing tours, he was also the sweissdog handler in that region) so he asked if i would join him for a little hunting in the morning(it was almost nightfall)stupid question.
i got picked up the next morning at my hut and we vent driving for a ½ hour before we arrived at the place where the car crash occured.
we unloaded 3 dogs(alaskan malamutes) and he gave me a belt, a 5 meter line and a dog.
he then put his lead dog on the trail and it went silent away on the track, he then asked me if i was cool with the concept of one dog pulling me on the skies. i nodded and was thankfull that he couldent see my face looking bewilderd back at him in the darkness.

with a HEP, off we went into the dark forest, anybody having expirence with a skilift would know this feeling where you relax and let the dog pull you along with very little effort, the lead dogs traks was getting vicible in the snow, as first light dawned.
we followed the tracks of both dog and moose in the silent forest, wich is one of the most magical moments i have ever expirenced.
There was very few blood drops in the track, just enough so we knew that we were on the right animal. After 3-4 miles we heard the dog make sounds, a barking haul of sorts, a short distance from us in the forest.
Bjoern offered me the rifle for the coup de grace, but i declined as i dident know anything about the weapon in question. it was a remington rolling block in 50-70.
we snuck closer to the animal as the dog was working it by keeping up the barking and hauling, working around it, so the brize couldent alarm it, we came in at about 50 meters and saw a pinn moose with a broken rear leg standing in some small birch.
Bjoern checked where his dog were and then took a quick shot at the moose, KABOOOOM and a large smoke cloud later, i saw the moose bowl over in a way, i never saw them do it, when i shot them with my .30 class guns.
With the animal down i thought that we were in for the work part and then some, but to my supprice we just took the moose out, and tied the legs to the body. bjoern then proceded to fasten the lines from the 3 dogs to the head of the moose.
JEM he ordered and the dogs pulled the moose nice and easy through the snow with us coming up from the rear.
after 30 minutes we had a stop, made a fire and had lunch and took a short nap while the dogs were resting.
after rest and lunch it was getting cold and late, so we set a faster pace making it back to the car in an hour and a half or something like that.
the moose whent in the back of the pickup and we went home to a couppel of hours of skinning and butchering, before we could get fed ourselves.


in the nordic countrys a lot of us use a dog, when stalking, it is the best tool in the thick stuff because the dog show you a lot that it can smell but you cant see yet.

i trainede hunting dogs for a living for awhile, but only do this as a hobby now. i just got a bit bored with the "normal" hunting breeds so wanted to have a go with the malamute.

the pup will be here in 4 ½ weeks and i start the selection and pretraining in a few weeks.
small bloodtracks etc..

i just had the idea that it being a natural breed in alaska you might have used it there.

thanks for the answers so far i will keep you posted on the development.

regards

peter

p.s. all the photos are in the dog section, the tread is called: the new one

,You were SKIJOURING......Do you by chance have any pictures you could post.......There are people who do that sort of thing up here ........Many of them arn,t on the web tho .................The big 50 kilo and heavier dogs are best for that sort of work .... Same with skidding logs ....

quote:

Originally posted by shagunse:
,You were SKIJOURING......Do you by chance have any pictures you could post.......There are people who do that sort of thing up here ........Many of them arn,t on the web tho .................The big 50 kilo and heavier dogs are best for that sort of work .... Same with skidding logs ....

shagunse yes we were doing it before i heard of the term, im sorry i dont have any pictures to share, they are at my ex wife, and she is like a black hole, nothing comes back out again.

i really like the breed and this is my first chance to have my own to work with, so im pretty exicited about this pup.

also my hunting has changed, from a shitload of fowl into a lot more deerhunting.

best regards

peter

Peter, I am interested in your project since I once owned a malamute. He was given to me as a puppy at nine months old and was already named "Mr. Mac". At nine months he weighed around 85 pounds and was so clumsy he could barely walked up stairs.

This friend of mine raised them for show he said if he ever got one that he could not use that he would give it to me. This one was perfect except he had an underbite which ruined him for show. He was beautiful; red and white instead of the typical gray/white/black colors. When fully grown, he topped out at 125 pounds.

Since they were bred for hard work, they really don't have a lot of affection for people like many hunting breeds. They seldom come when called and basically have a mind of their own until you harness them up. Then it is amazing to admire their capability.

I trained mine to walk, heel, and sit with a leash and "choke chain". When Mac was a pup, he would not walk with me on the leash so after dragging him across the yard a number of times, he decided it would be better to get up and walk. And then sit. But that took some time and a little treat after he would finally sit. When we scolded him for chewing up a rug or something, he would immediately sit to please us, or so he thought.

He made us a wonderful pet for 11 years and was great fun to wrestle with. And he actually did get out in the woods a time or two and chase deer. He would eat anything. One time a raw sweet potato we were kicking around on the floor that he was chasing and playing with was just left there while we went to work. Next day I saw this pile of orange looking crap out back and could not find the potato! That was some kind of inefficient digestion. Once my sliding glass window was broken out by a burgular. Its the kind of safety glass that breaks up into little squares. Well Mr. Mac ate a bunch of that too. Found it in his feces when I actually saw him eating some while I was cleaning it up! It did not phase him.

When travelling, we carried him in a big open type crate in the back of my truck and when in a parking lot, he would really draw a crowd. Folks assumed he was a wolf. ?'s by the millions.

Once a friend came up to the fence asking my ex-wife where I was and Mr. Mac promptly walks up and pees on his feet through the fence. The guy has a great sense of humor; just stands there and says "Hey Luanne, your dog is pissing on my boots". She says "Yea, their a little bit muddy".

Good luck with yours. Your post caught my eye and I had to read it since my all time favorite pet was Mr. Mac. I'll probably never make it to Alaska so I never read any on that topic. We live in South Arkansas and spent half of our time just trying to keep the poor thing cool and sweeping up dog hair. He prepped us well for our first human child. Merg

I just couldn't resist aren't they kind of easy to hunt all tie up like they are.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
I just couldn't resist aren't they kind of easy to hunt all tie up like they are.

yes but they are not behing a high fence when hunting them only tied up so it must be okay

peter

hi merg

here is a picture for you, to jog the memory of mac.

just waiting for the mother to release the baby so we can maul and eat him


it will either this one, fargo


or this one, frodo


best regards

peter

.........Fargo looks like he will be a force of nature .. ......I,ve had 3 huskys thet had that same look in their eye ....Now Frodo looks workable ....This will be very interesting to see ....Please do keep us posted ...

i will gumboot.

i will start the selection process later this week, to see which one would be the best bet.

yes fargo has a look to him and he seems to be the pack leader there, thats good in some ways and lousy in others. we will see still 3 weeks of testing to go.

best regards

peter

a few new pics 5 weeks old now.



damn they are getting big

............That Fargo ,,,,he looks at you like you might owe him money ...Frodo,s cute ,,,,,,

You might consider one of these guys. He is a West Siberian Laika. The breed is well known throughout Norway, Sweden and Finland.

hi richard

thanks for the suggestion, im am set on the malamute though. i like the laikas, have hunted with them in sweden, and they are great dogs.
i just need one with a more powerful build thats all.

regards

peter

hi all

niicky and i was at the kennel today, this is getting to be better and better.

the boys greeted me by having a tug of war with my boot.

then we went inside, where i snuck me to a picture of niicky, she was long gone in puppy heaven.

then i sat and did some tests(stupid excuse for playing with puppies)

and frodo desided to maul me, he is so big now.

as of today fargo is leading the race, but frodo is very close.

peter

and the winner is (besides me)

FARGO he came in at the last tests far ahead of frodo, wery strong prey drive and a abillity to focus far better than his age would allow.

he allready knows who to punk to get affection and treats

real focus and a good stare

good build and movments

best regards

peter

........Very nice !!.. They sure do grow fast ....Fargo has the look of a lead dog , where as Frodo has a team dog look .,.,.,.,What type of harness will you use ...????

a normal soft x, the skijouring wont be after he is 2 years old so he is done growing.

the blodtracking will be the first order of the day.
this is how we do it in denmark

http://www.schweiss.dk/page13.aspx

best regards

peter

i will be picking him up on sunday, then the real work will begin. he will be 7-8 pnds by then, a big boy.

best regards

peter

I used to belong to a Rod & Gun Club where we had quie a few watefowl hunters and most of them brought their dogs to the range whenever they came. There was the usual amount of posturing, growling, walking stiff-legged amoung the dogs as you might expect and once in awhile there was a half-hearted fight that was quickly handled. This changed when a new member showed up with a fairly large Chesapeake Bay Retriever who quickly became the Alpha male and like to try and pick fights to the point we had to caution the owner on a couple of occassions --- my goodness was he proud to have the toughest dog around---and he was the "boss" dog without a doubt.

That all changed a couple of months later when we got a new member who had a very large Malamute who was very well-mannered and basically ignored the other dogs. It wasn't long before both the Chessie and the Malamute were at the club at the same time...the fight, if you could call it that lasted about 10 seconds and the Chessie took off while the Malamute got petted a lot for whipping the bully.

hi all

i got him home this sunday, and all is looking good, he has settled in with the GSP and they are having fun together.
i got a hernia op monday so im writing this from my bed, but i will post a few pictures as soon as i can stand up withot the feeling of being stabbed in the groin.
bill i have the same expirence regarding the fighting whenever you introduce a mal the fighting stops real quick. they do have a calming effect because of there sice and attitude.

best regards

peter

niicky my whife just put him on the scales today, almost 9 weeks and 22 pounds, strength in numbers.....

best regards

peter

......My wife was talking about getting a pup last night ,,, [ Like we need another dog ,].,.,.,.....I may start looking around for a Golden retriever adult not spayed female to breed my Oscar with ...................Peter , I,m glad hes growing like a weed .............

here are a few new pics of the boys playing.


the proud leader and his sidekick


rough housing


please remove this annoying little prick, he got sharp teeth

enjoy

peter

Great Picts!

Peter,

Lovely pictures ... thanks! They bring back memories.

I have had two Malamutes. They were great dogs. I am not a dog trainer ... and they had exciting youths. One of the guys ate a couch at one point.

But, as they matured they would walk the woods with me and did a daily trot with me as well. They were very human oriented and I was their human I think. Was not unusual for one of them to be lying with his head on my lap while I watched TV.

Both made it to 14+ ... and I miss them terribly. Enjoy your puppy and be patient. They can be wonderful pets!

he crossed the +40 pnds. line this week, man he grows fast.

he has been out with me looking for scrabes from roebuck on my grounds and just sitting watching deer, he is doing pretty good although a bit vocal from time to time, hopefully he will be there when i shoot the first one this year, then i will put him on the track as practise.

best regards

peter

so it has been awhile since news about balto were shared.

first off he is not so littel anymore he has crossed the 100 pounds line and then some.
he is about this high over the shoulder(the barrels are 28")


he is camera shy or im not as good as niicky :crazy:


good track !!! he is very honest with his tracking, if it is a fresh track he is all over it, if it is old he couldent be bothered.


he found the deer, now he needs to stay down ahh well he is not 1 year yet


i will get better to post pictures, he did his first live track this summer only 150 meters but aced it and proud as hell tryed to pull the roe buck back to me :grin: :grin:

enjoy

peter

Peter, he's a stunningly beautiful dog!!

Peterdk:
Absolutely beautiful!!!! Ya better keep a very close eye on him 'cause if I ever was in your "neck of the woods", he might end up "puppy napped". Just kidding.
I know how ya feel about him. I've a Husky sled dog (only 1, thank you very much) and he's a real character in his own right. I've always had a soft spot for the northern breeds - even as a kid. In fact my boyhood hero was Sgt. Preston simply because he had Yukon King. Anyway, I'd say you've got a top of the line partner there. Best, Bear in Fairbanks

quote:

im a dog trainer and got 20+ years of expirence with hunting dogs

Are you A Rifle or Bow Hunter

I bet they have a nice pelt.

Peter ;; Great looking dog ,,, sure do grow fast ,,,, Did you change his name ????

gumboot
yes i had to, fargo and sako was to close for comfort for the boys when i growled...
so my daughter desided that balto was a good name for him, and he had no objections so balto it is.

cheers

peter

me and the boys looking for sign of deer.
im 6 foot 1" just for comparison.

Looks good , ,,,nice weather you have there ....