I am member of . . .

Alaskan Malamute HELP League
Help-Evaluation-Love-Placement - The HELP League is a Canadian organization, dedicated to helping find homes for abandoned Alaskan Malamutes.

Alaskan Malamute Club of Canada
This is an Alaskan Malamute-specific organization and they organize a large Specialty Show once a year in different regions across Canada.

AMAL
Alaskan Malamute Assistance League - This is the US-based Alaskan Malamute Rescue.

IWPA - International Weight Pull Association is an American competitional weight-pulling organization.

TIKO Dog CLUB (No Web site yet)
Thousand Islands Kennel and Obedience Club - This is the all-breed club where I do conformation training with Ooky, and obedience training with Ernie.

CKC -
The Canadian Kennel Club Is the primary Canadian registry in Canada for purebred dogs.

How my dogs live . . .

All of my Alaskan Malamutes are house pets. They live on couches, beds, and floors. They do weight pulls and sled dog races. They watch television. They skulk around the kitchen table self-treating. They don't fight and they don't have to be separated from each other. They can all lay on a bed, with or with out me, and have a nice nap. Without eating the bed or each other.

They have a kennel outside but they sure don't 'live' in it. They hang out in it. They wrestle in it. They dig holes in it. But LIVE in a kennel? They LIVE in the house, since they are house dogs. Pets. My furry dollies. They go for truck rides, bike rides and go camping. They have stayed in more hotels in a year than some people do in five years. They shed all of their fur in my house. All three, all at once. Twice a year. Bert hides his stuffies under our bed. There is Green Stuffy Lamb; White Stuffy Lamb; Diddly Doh (you do not want to hear the sound 'Doh-diddly-dee, diddly doh,' at 3 AM); and there is the singing Bad Dog toy (this toy sings a song with a real voice 'I'm getting nothing for Xmas, cause I ain't been nothing but bad'). It isn't a lot of fun to wake up to at 3 AM, either.

They don't eat Eukenuba, Purina or Big Red (mid- to low-quality store brand foods). They eat Eagle Pack Holistic, Innova EVO, NRG and Orijen, all high-grade super premium foods. They have a real fish dinner once or twice a week. Maybe with a raw egg, some cottage cheese and a vitamin. They also eat dead things. Every chance they get. Dead, decaying turtle is a favorite. You haven't lived until you've fished dead, rotten, smelly dead things from the mouth of a 135 pound dummy who thinks it's the most delicious meal he's ever eaten! Yuck!

Big Bert - my 135 pound Bert - eats two measured cups of food a day. My mother's Golden Retriever eats five cups of Eukenuba premium a day and he weighs 60 pounds. THAT is the difference of feeding a HIGH-QUALITY diet and a LOW-QUALITY diet: the dog requires far less food for proper nutrition.

What that means is that the additional food the dog ingests, is ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED to get sufficient nutrition. My dog's don't steal food, they are not starved from their 'meager' portions and live a pretty active life. I get almost three weeks of food for 350 pounds of Alaskan Malamute from a large bag of super premium food that cost $65 a bag. Eukenuba or Purina would cost me about $35 for the same bag. And I can't get one week out of it. It's not about feeding as little as you possibly can. It's about feeding the highest quality you possibly can. House pets or kennel dogs, you brought them into your life, you provide for their life. The best possible life you can. And if that means buying leather couches so the floor sharks can rest their weary bones in style, so-be-it! As I type this, I have two Malabrutes on two leather couches grinding away at two fresh beef bones. And five years after I bought those couches, there isn't a scratch on either of them . . . now slobber, bone leftovers and mud, well, that's different. =)

About us . . .

I've had Alaskan Malamutes for around nine years. The picture on this page is Bert, Ernie and I at a real 'sled dog race' held in Ottawa in 2005.

With the first Alaskan Malamute, Yukonjak's Tala, I did a lot of water retrieving, formal obedience and agility training, harness work and gained a much deeper understanding of canine behavior than I ever thought I would! Tala, died young, unfortunately.

A few years before her sudden death, I was given Yukonjak's Ernie, from the same Ontario breeder. He was fascinating. He wasn't interested in EVER in being the alpha dog, and he was exceedingly obedient, and as quiet as a mouse. Night-and-day between those two dogs. Right now he's in obedience training for real obedience trials.

Tala's biggest issue was coming up against any large, intact male dog, and especially an Alaskan Malamute. Ernie had to be neutered very young, something I wouldn't do now, or he would have been destuffed by the Talagator.

She was ok with neutered males and ok with females of any size or type, spayed or intact. Not the standard. Tala was not standard sized, either - she was wicketed (height measured for agility) and stood 31" at the shoulder. Now that's a 'giant malamute' - except 'giant malamute' isn't quite as truthful as it seems, there is one Alaskan Malamute, and they can be just about any size. I call them 'oversize' and NOT giant. There is no upper, or lower, end to the Alaskan Malamute standard and, consequently, there is a range of size in the breed from 55 pounds (yes, I've seen a 55 pound, fully grown Alaskan Malamute) to at least 150 pounds. In the end, all that matters is if the dog is built correctly and is healthy. When my other neutered male Malamute was being diagnosed with a thyroid disorder, he peaked in weight at 147 pounds. Now that his problem is under control, he's about 135 pounds.

Bert was my third Alaskan Malamute and he flew in from the USA. He isn't related to my Yukonjak dogs and is almost entirely Wakon Alaskan Malamute. His dad is from Wakon and is mother is only a few generations off of a seven-generation Wakon pedigree. Bert's temperament is one-of-a-kind. I do weight pulls and running with both him, as well.

The interesting thing about the current collection of Alaskan Malamutes that I have right now is that they represent three distinct lines, or 'styles' of Alaskan Malamutes: Ernie defines his Storm Kloud ancestor, a line evolved from 50 years of one breeder's work. His temperament, his size, and his physical attributes are highly reflective of that ancestry. I just love the Storm Kloud Alaskan Malamutes!

Bert however represents another Alaskan Malamute breeder's, 50+ years of work: Wakon Alaskan Malamutes. Completely opposite to Ernie, and opposite to the majority of any show line kennel. He has the longer legs, the ranginess, and larger ears. What he does have going for him are a fantastic paw structure, a perfect tail and carriage and deep brown eyes. Both Bert and Ernie are non-aggressive toward other dogs, including Alaskan Malamutes.

Ooky though is kind of a throw-back to the Alaskan Malamutes of the 1950s and 1960s, especially T'Domar and Kodara. I suppose I could work at turning her babies into something they aren't, like trying to make 'Little Ernie's' because I love what Ernie represents. But, I decided to try to preserve what is in Ooky because it just isn't around much any more - big, furry Alaskan Malamutes, that aren't 'giants,' have good bone structure and can still work for a living. I hope you enjoy my Web site. Ooky is aiming for a litter of puppies in Winter 2008.