Melinda Shore wrote:
In article ,
Rocky wrote:

Calgary just bypassed the 100,000 licenced dog mark with Ruby,
a Great Dane, who looks like she needs to put on a few pounds
to catch up to Pan:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/sto...-licences.html


Speaking of which, do you know these guys?
http://www.urbanmushers.ca/UrbanMushers_/Home.html

They look kind of like new mushers trying to find a way to
make a living off their new hobby. I dunno. But at least
you've now got a local source of dog scooters and kicksleds.


Back to large Malamutes, I've had one coming to my daycare for
a couple of years - I've been told she weighs 120 pounds (and
I can believe it, she's easily 4" taller than 24" Rocky). She's
an incredibly nice dog, but I worry about her structure in a few
years.


Yeah, I don't understand the size fixation (or maybe I do
... ). Larger dogs have more orthopedic problems and
don't live as long, and we don't get nearly enough time
with our dogs as it is. Also, it's really important to me
that my dogs be able to stay as active as possible into
their senior years.

Hey, remember that crazy racist who got a Ridgeback because
he thought they were bred to chase black Africans and who
carried on about his dog's size? That was amazing.

He turned up frequently on the MTB newsgroup, ranting against helmets.
His nickname was "Puddin' Head".

My male Bc's sire is over-sized. 62 lbs, at the time I first met him,
prior to the mating that produced my Zane, although to my eye he could
have dropped 5 lbs to his benefit (and has, since). I loved his drive,
his overall conformation, his personality. But he was too big, at least
for a BC. Healthy hips, elbows, eyes, strong working ability, great
temperament. But he was a freakin' moose.

And I worried. For his breed he was a statistical outlier on the far
right edge of the bell curve and what penalty might he pay later in
life? And what might he pass on to his offspring? I opted to bring
home his son in spite of his sire's size, not because of it.

And, so far, so good. At the age of 7 years now Zane's joints are sound
and I've kept him thin, hard-muscled and fit. For a BC, he looks like a
big boy but weighs in at only 42 lbs. New partners at our vet's office,
used to pudgy housepets, consistently assess him as "skinny" until taken
on a guided tour of his anatomy. Skinny dogs don't have asses and
shoulders made of spring steel. Malnourished dogs don't have thick,
glossy coats and bright, wolfy eyes.

Although nominally a veteran by flyball standards, he still turns in
frequent 4.0 second runs even on Sunday afternoons, and would run every
heat of every race if he had his way.

The other frequently heard comment while listening to his heart and
lungs is, "Oh, he's so calm". Hardly. He hates the vet's office and
especially new practicioners, but he's an athlete and even when his eyes
are showing white all the way around, his heart rate and respirations
only rise into the realm of housepet normal.

I took a risk with him. His dad was out-sized but healthy, and his dam
was entirely average in size and build. I gambled and won. But I
wouldn't deliberately seek out a dog whose progenators fell well outside
breed standard, in the deliberate hope of producing a mutant, either too
large or too small for the breed. There's a basic frame size that
works, and beyond a certain point, scaling it up or down introduces
structural issues that compromise the dog's quality of life.

After reading this guy's posts about wanting either a gargantuan
malamute (in spite of a possible 7 year life span), or maybe a "marble
fox", I've come to the conclusion that this guy isn't looking for a
companion, he wants an attention-grabbing status symbol. I understand
that there are pills, and possibly surgery that can correct the
underlying issue, and I hope that he avails himself of them.

Or maybe he could just buy himself a Corvette and stuff a sock down the
front of his jeans.

"Sir! Put your hands in the air and back away from the canid!"

wrote in message
...
Can you train a Mal not to jump a 4 foot fence, even if there are
other dogs next door, by that fence? Because, I might buy my grandma's
house, and both of her next door neighbors and some other neighbors
across the street have dogs, so, would the Mal want to go after these
dogs?

If you want a dog like the ones on the wacky Wakon website, you probably
don't have to worry about them hurling their bulk over anything higher than
a cinder block. They might bulldoze through a fence, however. :-/
(Are those Malamutes actually part St. Bernard or something?)

:

I had some questions about Mals.

Real Malamutes are powered by mini nuclear reactors. They would wear down
the bionic man, then the bionic woman, then be ready for playtime.

My Malamute was 121 lbs. at his six month checkup. He wasn't bred to be
big, he didn't even have papers, he was just big. Personalitywise he was a
teddy bear, he was very intelligent but had no use for tricks or playing
fetch, he just wanted to run, and run, and run. I don't know what he
weighed at 8 mos. but he was destroying my house, chewed through the
backdoor, broke the couch by jumping on it, would knock over tables just
by bumping into them. I used to take him skiing on the weekends and he
would chase us down the hill, then back up the hill, at a dead run both
ways for 8-10 hours then go home and want to play. I managed to find him a
new home with a sled dog team. They are not animals to be taken lightly.

"Mac Cool" wrote in message
...
:

I had some questions about Mals.

Real Malamutes are powered by mini nuclear reactors. They would wear down
the bionic man, then the bionic woman, then be ready for playtime.

My Malamute was 121 lbs. at his six month checkup. He wasn't bred to be
big, he didn't even have papers, he was just big. Personalitywise he was a
teddy bear, he was very intelligent but had no use for tricks or playing
fetch, he just wanted to run, and run, and run. I don't know what he
weighed at 8 mos. but he was destroying my house, chewed through the
backdoor, broke the couch by jumping on it, would knock over tables just
by bumping into them. I used to take him skiing on the weekends and he
would chase us down the hill, then back up the hill, at a dead run both
ways for 8-10 hours then go home and want to play. I managed to find him a
new home with a sled dog team. They are not animals to be taken lightly.

Wow. If that's true, anyone considering this breed should read it.
Seriously.
--
Phyrie
Kiba the Cav's Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phyrie/...758930/detail/

Phyrie wrote:

"Mac Cool" wrote in message
...

:


I had some questions about Mals.

Real Malamutes are powered by mini nuclear reactors. They would wear down
the bionic man, then the bionic woman, then be ready for playtime.

My Malamute was 121 lbs. at his six month checkup. He wasn't bred to be
big, he didn't even have papers, he was just big. Personalitywise he was a
teddy bear, he was very intelligent but had no use for tricks or playing
fetch, he just wanted to run, and run, and run. I don't know what he
weighed at 8 mos. but he was destroying my house, chewed through the
backdoor, broke the couch by jumping on it, would knock over tables just
by bumping into them. I used to take him skiing on the weekends and he
would chase us down the hill, then back up the hill, at a dead run both
ways for 8-10 hours then go home and want to play. I managed to find him a
new home with a sled dog team. They are not animals to be taken lightly.


Wow. If that's true, anyone considering this breed should read it.
Seriously.

I've heard this breed referred to as "arctic bulldozers".