The Beginning

THE BEGINNING : How we got into Mals and why we didnt show much

Oden was our first ever Mal. We had moved into our home that we had built on 7 acres in late 1989 and after approx a year decided to get a dog. My husband wanted a Doberman and I wanted a Cattle dog as we had both had these breeds in our lives before we met, so it was a stalemate for a while. We then saw an ad in the paper for 'wolf type' dogs so went to investigate and fell in love with the puppies so we bought a male home to become one of our family. Not knowing anything about an 'Alaskan Malamute ' we spoilt him and he became our 'alpha ' , little did we know it. We couldn't go to the breeder as we had problems getting paperwork which was sorted after a while, so we asked the local dog obedience club who just said that Mals were not good to train, we needed to know more so I found out about the Victorian Malamute club and joined after talking to some nice Mal people down there. They told us how to retrain Oden [ he was 12mths by then ] and we got to work doing it , was hard at first but very rewarding in the end with all involved much happier when the situation was resolved and we became 'alpha' to him, he then knew what we expected of him.

He was only shown a couple of times, taking a BOB over nice dogs but really didnt like the ring as at that stage the males would be have to kept seperated most times due to their grumbling, all that time ago the temperments were not as good [ this was the early 1990's ] as they are in general now as we have come a long way in breeding better tempered dogs .

He was used at stud a couple times to a Huskypak bitch and we kept one his girl pups , Candy. Oden passed over the rainbow bridge when he was 12yrs old with me siiting in the vets stroking him as the vet inserted the needle to put him to his final rest as he deserved to go gently and unafraid. It was the hardest thing I had ever done but do it for all my beloved dogs, I will and do.

The nicest thing was that he loooved car rides and had been so happy for his last day on this earth to go for a drive even if it was to the vets, he enjoyed himself immensely, weak as he was due to kidney failure he perked right up when helped into the car.

Rest in Peace my beloved boy and thank you for your help in learning to love this breed as I do now .

Kokodah aka KOKO

We talked about getting a friend for Oden and after talking to someone in the Vic.Malamute club was told that 'Huskypak' kennels was moving up to Queensland so got in contact with them and bought a puppy , a girl for Oden to befriend .He was VERY happy .

We showed a couple times but Koko had a lot of extra white on her so didnt do well or particulaly like the ring so we stopped showing and just enjoyed the dogs company at home .I was just trying to learn to show so also wasnt very good .LOL !

She also developed hip dysplacia, not so much was known about it in those days and even if both parents pass their hip tests a puppy can still get it , sadly . Koko never showed any signs of slowing down or pain, she just bunny hopped when she ran too fast, she was a
'piglet' with food so I had to keep her slim for sake of her hips . A learning curve for all us .She was desexed so no 'accidents' could happen as we didnt want pass it on to progeny ,thats for sure, and didnt want to breed just because we had a male and a female and 'could '. That has NEVER been the purpose of our kennels.

Koko was happy just being a 'pet' and she spent lots of years here until at just under 12 yrs age had to be sent over the rainbow bridge in the same way as Oden , with me by her side until she slipped away . The hardest part is that it DOESNT get any easier each time you have to do it , sit with your friend, companion and family memeber and let them go to a better place as they are old and will be in pain if you dont do the right thing for THEM and let them go before they are.

Candy

Candy was Oden's daughter

Oden was mated to one of the Huskypak girls, Tuffy and we decided we would take pick girl instead of a stud fee as I was still a
bit interested in showing a Mal, very green but willing to try , I might add. So Candy was shown for a while, getting a nice RUBOB to her father and bitch challenge over older dogs at only 9mths of age , there were many more Mals shown then than now, which is unfortunate as nice to see more in the ring .

Candy developed a back problem with one her discs so also stopped showing as became sore every now and then so I didnt want put her through running around the show ring, I was naive as didnt know much about dog chiro's etc.

Sadly she was only 4yrs old when we lost her as she got pymettra and was operated on , her uterus was huge and we got a phone call from our vets to say she was fine and recovering from her op. only to get a call back 1hr later to say that she had haemoraged inside for some unknown reason and they had to try sedate and operate again but her heart couldnt take the stress of the anestetic and she
had died on the table !

I couldnt go to pick up her collar and lead or pay the bill for weeks, my vet had said not to worry about it until I could come and not breakdown and cry. My last view of Candy was leaving the vets after I had had to push her into the crate as she was a bit scared of it never having been in one before and then getting told to go so she wouldnt keep seeing me and getting upset. That was the last time we would see each other and I always hope she knew I was doing it for her own good as I felt sooo bad that I had been mean to her shoving her in that crate and leaving her , all the time thinking I was doing best thing for her , not knowing it would be last ever time I did see her and that she died without me there to reassure her.

I ALWAYS crate train now and tell my puppy families to do it as well . I never want have do that to a dog again!

So Candy , you are always held in my heart even if I couldnt hold you at the end. I grieve for you still, you were a young dog and should have had many more years here with me but we will meet again over the rainbow bridge ...... x x x

Klondyke

We rescued Klony from a family that had children and when the children went to school mum was then able to do part-time work , well Klony had NEVER been on his own before that and decided to howl his lungs out everytime he was left alone. The local council had given them their 2nd warning about the noise neighbours were compaining about, on the 3rd they would come to take the dog away and put him to sleep , so we rescued him.

He was an entire male that had' Huskypak' lines but was never bred from. He wasn't on hisown here so stopped whinging after a while and played happily with Koko and Oden until he was also 12yrs old and he was sent over the rainbow bridge with me in attendence due to kidney failure , we loose so many of our older dogs to that. Thanks for those years of love , Klony, I am so grateful we got to rescue
you.

Klony had one ear down when we got him at 5yrs old due to being pulled about by his ear as a young pup by a small child which had damaged it but after a few years here of straining to listen for our neighbours dog , whom he hated for some reason , his ear again stood up !

That was the end of an era of 'pet' dogs just living with us and us all enjoying ourselves as happy family without doing or attending any show other than going to the Ekka to see dogs and friends we knew when they came up to show , this was to last about 10 yrs .

Oden and Koko Chillin Out