London, the Alaskan Malamute
I realized I never posted pictures of my boys, so I figured I'd... do that thing. I love to show them off. :X
An alarming amount of people seem to think London is a Sibe even though he's on the larger end for his breed (113 pounds). People who know he's too large to be a Sibe will often ask if he's an Akita. Then, of course, there are the people who ask if he's a wolf or even a coyote. I've even heard "Malamute, those are the dogs that are part werewolf, right?" while walking downtown.
London isn't very typical of his breed, apparently. I've been told this over and over and over again, but I'm not exactly sure what it means. He is every ounce "I'm-bigger-than-you-aren't-I-cool" Malamute.
And a nobler creature has never been seen!
4 months old, watching the waves on Block Island for the first time.
Don't be fooled. This is his "I see food" face. (4 years):
An alarming amount of people seem to think London is a Sibe even though he's on the larger end for his breed (113 pounds). People who know he's too large to be a Sibe will often ask if he's an Akita. Then, of course, there are the people who ask if he's a wolf or even a coyote. I've even heard "Malamute, those are the dogs that are part werewolf, right?" while walking downtown.
London isn't very typical of his breed, apparently. I've been told this over and over and over again, but I'm not exactly sure what it means. He is every ounce "I'm-bigger-than-you-aren't-I-cool" Malamute.
And a nobler creature has never been seen!
4 months old, watching the waves on Block Island for the first time.
Don't be fooled. This is his "I see food" face. (4 years):
Comments
What a gorgeous boy! Look like he'd be great for cuddling...
He absolutely loves cuddling... but only on his time! When it come to sleeping at the end of the night, he wants as much space to himself as he's afforded.
He's one good looking guy though!
Is London's tail curly as said in the standard, or straight? It's kind of hard to tell in those pics
@ Calia: I think his tail is sort of like a smile and a frown. Sometimes it's curled over his back and other times it's straight, but he rarely swaps between the two. Once it's down, it's down. Once it's up, it's up. It's normally straight and down inside the house and when were' on walks, but it'll curl if he sees something that interests him or if he's running.
This video is loud and there are a lot of dogs barking so you might want to turn the volume off:
And London learns the "safe" distance to beg for food from my coworker in this vid:
With his "girlfriend", Nala.
Passed out in the lobby at work.
The boys -politely- beg just outside the kitchen.
Don't worry people think Saya my shiba inu is a husky or husky puppy. lol
In this case, his daycare girlfriend is an Akita named Nala.
I wanted to share this picture because I absolutely adore Nala. She has got to be one of the sweetest Akita I've ever met. She hardly seems to know she's an Akita most the time, but then again, she grew up in daycare. Now that she's older, she's getting that "Akita streak". She won't LOOK for trouble, but when another dog decides to have a problem with her, it's almost as if she goes "uh, excuse me! I don't know if you noticed, but I'm an -Akita-" and the other dog says "why yes, you're right, I've made a terrible mistake, excuse me while I... go over there as fast as I can."
Nala is gorgeous too! And yes, I think that's a very Akita trait, at least among the AAs. I find them to be pretty friendly and sweet with people, mostly, and they absolutely notice other dogs, but they tend to mind their own business. Unless another dogs messes with them, and then...yep, you called it: "I am an Akita!" (I love the way you phrased it--made me laugh out loud and so accurate!).
At least I find this to be true of Akitas with an even temperament....sweet, not aggressive, but don't mess with them. I was watching the Akita speciality show this past week, and all the Akitas were minding their own business, and someone brought a min-pin or something like that in, and the little dog started yapping and posturing at an Akita, and suddenly 20+ Akitas were on high alert....None of them moved, none lunged or anything, but you could see that everyone of them was ready to go if need be.....It was a sight to see. (And thankfully, the woman with the yappy dog left--apparently her dog wasn't bright enough to notice that, hey, surrounded by Akitas, so maybe posturing like that was a bad idea).
eta: one more thing: at the dog show, I ran into exactly the thing you noted above: my friend said "why are there two Siberian huskies in the ring?" Um....because the big one is a Malamute? I thought of this thread when I kept hearing that.
She won't LOOK for trouble, but when another dog decides to have a problem with her, it's almost as if she goes "uh, excuse me! I don't know if you noticed, but I'm an -Akita-"
>> Nice description, well said! This is exactly how I found our 4 Akita Inu to be. Not quarrelsome trouble makers at all, but when provoked they would "finish it".
Actually, this is how I find our Kai Ken and Molosser-types to be too.
ETA: Akita have this self-important nobility to them that I have not found in many other dogs breeds that's I've been around. I did really like that quality in the breed.
Shiba have a similar vibe but they can be so quarrelsome that they just come off as "jerks". IMHO
----
I actually referred Nala's owner to the forum so hopefully we'll see him around (I think he was looking for advice about something). He has two Akita - Nala comes to camp and I know her very well but I've never seen his other Akita. He's very nice - wonderful to talk to.
Again, London proves how he is a paragon of his breed - the very picture of nobility and grace:
We'll finally have his CGC done by next Saturday (as long as the trainer isn't booked - I'm waiting for her to get back to me) and I'm already looking for people able to do the Therapy Dog testing in my area. I think the only place I could find around here wants you to do a six weeks of one hour lessons a week (and pay $150) before the testing can happen.
http://www.tdi-dog.org/HowToJoinUpcomingTests.aspx
as for therapy dogs, i would just love to get Xee trained as a therapy dog, which would be perfect, since i work in Geriatrics! i think it would be great to take my pup to work with me every night. i wish i could train tala in it as well, but he is too shy. good luck with the training/certification
I think malamutes are wonderful.
I LOVE the first photo of him in a "Sit". Classic! I see he is enjoying a boba smoothie -grins-. Handsome young man!
@JessicaRabbit - a pit/malamute sounds ridiculous and adorable all at once! I would have loved to see it.
@ShikokuSpirit - London does love the tapioca balls... but I'm not sure they're the best thing for him since I don't know what they use in theirs. It doesn't stop him from scouring the pavement for the balls people spit out or drop. He's a fiend.
Here's more of London, aka The King of Everything.
On his quest for domination over stone walls:
King of the Laredo:
AND he went as the Big Bad Wolf to my Riding Hood on Halloween (but mom botched his "make-up"):
I've been so busy I haven't really been able to drive/make any of the TDI tests but there's one coming up on Dec 10th I'm hoping to make. It's just so hard for me to get Saturdays off but it's the ONLY test that's up for the state of Mass (and there are NONE in Rhode Island up there - silly tiny state that we are).