Living With Malamutes in the House
this page will be updated soon
For someone who loves their Mals as much as I do, there is no other place for them to be! When I get up in the morning and walk towards the stairs there they are looking up at me jumping with total excitement. They follow me around and wait patiently for their food. The look on their faces is so great when I say: "Do you want to eat?" Wolf's head tilts & her ears go straight up, while Timber does what we call the jumping on her toes dance! Upon placing their bowls down, it's a race!-for Wolf that is! No sooner am I back at the sink cleaning up to find Wolf behind me looking for more food. There is no dog, or person who eats faster then her. She then lays down and pretends not to be watching for Timber to finish so she can pounce upon her bowl for any leftovers.
After they eat I usually turn on the computer, they follow and lay down close by. That does not last for long though, they both usually end up under the computer desk and play a game of "teeth", this is a game that looks like vicious fighting but the only thing that gets hurt is me!! (Not on purpose of course.) When I am finished at the computer I sign off and the voice that says: "Goodbye" on AOL alerts Timber & Wolf that it is time to get up and leave the room. Who said Mals are stupid!
When I go out for a few hours, I say "goodbye" and they run to the front window to watch me drive away. One time I went somewhere and then drove past my house and they were still looking out the window! They are precious. "You leave malamutes in the house alone??!!"...Yes! They are fine, and usually do nothing but sleep when we go out. "You don't put them in crates when you go out??" Unlike most people who say their dog's crate is a haven or their own place, our mals hate the crate - (you would hate it also if your first 3 to 4 months of your life were spent in one with very little time out of it?) I won't remind them of the dog store prison they lived in for way too much of their baby months.
"Surely, your dogs must have done some mischief!" Ha!! One morning I came down stairs to find what you see in the picture above! It once was a cute little wreath that hung on the window that they look out of....I think I slept exceptionally late that day and Wolf got tired of waiting for me to feed them so she helped herself to a window snack! The wreath looked so funny when I found it, I could not get mad~nothing they do really gets me mad. Not even the time I came home from vacation to find that Wolf (again!), had eatten apart my living room rug! Not to worry someone was here to watch them while I was away-(I just think Wolf was upset that I was away and ate the rug...hey don't you eat rugs when you get upset? I guess it is a malamute thing!! just kidding!) So, in the picture below you can see how we handled that problem. We bought a new rug and a fence for the living room! We found the cutest little post and rail garden fence that fits perfectly. They can't go near the rug or furniture and we can easily walk over it. Look how totally confused they are by it!
"Do your dogs get to go out side often and exercise?" Yes, Timber and Wolf can go out side anytime they want and they can come in the house anytime they want. They have a huge run around pen where they can run, sleep, play & dig holes till they reach China! I have read that malamutes are great escape artist, and will dig to get under a fence. I truly believe that our mals are so happy and content that the thought of escaping does not occur to them, I think if they were locked in their pen full time, that they just might. What is there to escape to-they already live in doggy paradise. As far as exercise, we attempt to take them for walks every night--correction! They take us for walks. Malamutes have this burst of energy up front with an excitement that would light up the sky and they are off and running whether the person on the other end of the leash is running with them or on the ground dragging behind.!! By time our walk is half way over they have calm down enough for us to be able to hold the leash with one hand!
"What about their coats, don't malamutes who live outside have fuller thicker coats for the winter?" This is true, but our mals are pets, not show dogs or sled dogs. Timber and Wolf CHOOSE to be inside with us, and frankly we are happy about that, because we want to be with them.
The fact that our mals live in the house we get to see every funny thing they do and hear every hysterical song or "conversation" they have. A typical event that happens every day is they will be laying on the floor and all of a sudden Timber will start growling very deeply like a bear while staring at Wolf in the other room, this always means "I feel like playing the 'teeth' game". Sometimes Wolf ignores her!...With two malamutes living in the house there is little need for the television, they can be so entertaining and so very VERY funny! There has not been one day since we got them that we have not laughed less then ten times a day.
"Any disadvantages?" I think the main disadvantage of mals living in the house is trying to eat without them knowing... I have found myself actually hiding a snack under my shirt or behind my back so as not to be caught by them. I have been successful only a few times. One second they are sound asleep, but as soon as they hear something that "sounds" like food -forget it, they are wide awake and at your feet~and since they ACT like they are starving they will stare at you till you give in and share your food. Dinner time is always exciting-so we have lots of baby gates in our house for different reasons, to keep out, AND to keep in. The most important baby gate is the one in the hall that leads to the front door. Everyone who lives in this house or comes to visit KNOWS that gate gets shut first before the front door gets open--not exactly a 10 mile an hour road we live on.
Another disadvantage is the Mal-Bunnies that are everywhere. Mal-Bunnies? An affectionate name we mal owners have given to shedding malamute hair. Vacuuming everyday is a must. There was a time that they were allowed to sit on the furniture but the loose fur was way too difficult to remove, so that little fence I mentioned earlier took care of that! (It's always nice to give out complimentary lint brushes to your house guests at shedding time!)...oh yeah, another disadvantage is when we forget to lock the gate to the pen when it is pouring rain-we then become the proud owners of muddy brown mals! But we don't realize this till they are standing inside the house about to shake it all off!! UGH!!!!!!!!!
Timber is what I call The Perfect Malamute, now Wolf on the other hand....ahhh...she is a typical malamute for her age. Recently I have noticed a lot of my stuff missing!! I usually find the missing items when I go to clean up their pen. I have, or shall I say HAD quite a collection of country rabbit dolls and such. They aren't so easily recognizable though when I spot them outside, they are all ripped to shreds! (Most likely she thinks (or pretends) that the doll is prey and she is hunting.)
As I finish writing this page both mals are fast asleep, Timber on my feet under the computer desk and Wolf out on the throw rug in the kitchen.....what joy!! I wouldn't have it any other way. Missing dolls and all!
