# Alaskan Malamute walking and aggression.



## VarrosSaz (Jun 7, 2013)

Our boy is 2 1/2 and un-neutered. When he was 6 months I took him to 12 weeks of puppy classes, that he passed and had no problem with and of the dogs. Except for making his territory everywhere. He also has got on great with our neighbours and families dogs. Which have been different breeds and some spayed, some not. 
It was only when we took him away with us for 2 weeks that we noticed some issues. 

We introduced him to a springer and cocker spaniel. The introduction did not go down well and we separated them, until we went on a walk. After a while we took them off the lead, and there was some initial growling, they were more interested in running about. Varro clearly wanted to play with them.

The next day we went to the beach. That was going brilliant until Varro ran up to me, and the cocker spaniel was quite close and barked at him. This led to a horrible fight. The Springer jumped in, and in my husbands opinion, saved the cockers life. My husband and his cousin were able to split them up. They were all promptly put on the lead and marched home. (All dogs were fine).

Then today on another walk, he was off the lead and ran up to a dog who was on the lead. A Labrador. Another brief fight broke out then Varro tried to hump this dog. Much to our embarrassment and an angry lab owner.

I have since read on these forums that Mals should be kept on a lead at all times, which I will be doing. But I just feel so shocked and now worried that this could become a regular occurrence. 
Although we live on a remote farm, he does have regular socialisation with dogs he now knows. But could he turn on them too? At home he is the most lovely, caring, family (well pack) dog ever. He's very well trained and obedient at home. But it feels like this has gone out the window.

I almost feel like I don't know my own dog any more and would like to nip this issue in the bud. I feel anxious if I need to take him out myself now, which he'll sense, so confidence in knowing what I'm doing is key.

Suggestions and advice are appreciated!


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## Owned By A Yellow Lab (May 16, 2012)

Firstly you are right to now keep your Mal on lead - at least for the time being, if not permanently. He can't run up to other dogs and attempt to hump them 

I have no experience with this breed but I've heard Mal owners say their dogs can display same sex aggression. Possibly that is what is happening here a bit or it may simply be that your boy didn't get on with a few dogs that he's met - this happens with most dogs at one time or another.

You mentioned that a 'horrible fight' broke out at one point, but say both dogs were totally fine afterwards? I am no expert, but I think that in a 'real' dog fight, there would almost certainly be injuries...

I think I'd be inclined to try and find a good trainer who only uses positive methods, and get their input.

Also, hopefully SLED DOG HOTEL or MALMUM will see your post and offer some guidance 

Best of luck - you sound like a really decent, responsible owner, I'm sure with a good trainer any problems can be improved


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

VarrosSaz said:


> Our boy is 2 1/2 and un-neutered. When he was 6 months I took him to 12 weeks of puppy classes, that he passed and had no problem with and of the dogs. Except for making his territory everywhere.


This is where originally you may have gone wrong. Malamutes need early socialisation and training from the word go from very young. If he didnt start classes until 6months and only went for 12 weeks. They need ongoing socialisation and training well past that. The worse time to own them and they are more of a handful is usually end of year one through year two and can be up to about 3 years. Often when younger maybe best part of the first year they can be very amicable to all dogs. Once they start becoming sexually mature and as they mature still more you often find they are not so tolerant.
They can be known for same sex aggression more then anything, and wont usually tolerate pushy other males especially and often more so if the others are entire, if they dont like one, they will either throw a challenge or if the other dog throws a challenge its not often ignored.



> He also has got on great with our neighbours and families dogs. Which have been different breeds and some spayed, some not.
> It was only when we took him away with us for 2 weeks that we noticed some issues.


Different situation and entity strange dogs he doesnt know and in a different situation/environment to what he is used too so could be the cause there.



> We introduced him to a springer and cocker spaniel. The introduction did not go down well and we separated them, until we went on a walk. After a while we took them off the lead, and there was some initial growling, they were more interested in running about. Varro clearly wanted to play with them.
> 
> The next day we went to the beach. That was going brilliant until Varro ran up to me, and the cocker spaniel was quite close and barked at him. This led to a horrible fight. The Springer jumped in, and in my husbands opinion, saved the cockers life. My husband and his cousin were able to split them up. They were all promptly put on the lead and marched home. (All dogs were fine).


Do you know if the spaniels were male and entire or at least the cocker? I would perhaps expect it possibly more if they were or the cocker was. It could also be that as the initial meeting didnt go well, he was not as relaxed as you thought he was even though he may have appeared to have been after so it didnt take a lot to spark a fight. I notice too that you said the dogs were fine, sometimes things can look horrendous but if there is not injuries which a Malamute is more then capable of with especially with a smaller dog or even two it may not have been quite as bad as you thought.
If one of the dogs was a bitch any chance she could have been approaching a season. Sometimes dogs will kick off over a bitch. Even if an in season bitch has been about and been waked and left the scent about in pee it can set male dogs off and cause fights.



> Then today on another walk, he was off the lead and ran up to a dog who was on the lead. A Labrador. Another brief fight broke out then Varro tried to hump this dog. Much to our embarrassment and an angry lab owner.


Is it usual for him to try to hump dogs on a regular basis? If its out of the oridinary and something he doesnt usual do then it makes me wonder more if its down sexual fraustration or a bitch in season about somewhere especially as he is entire.



> I have since read on these forums that Mals should be kept on a lead at all times, which I will be doing. But I just feel so shocked and now worried that this could become a regular occurrence.
> *Although we live on a remote farm, he does have regular socialisation with dogs he now knows. But could he turn on them too?* At home he is the most lovely, caring, family (well pack) dog ever. He's very well trained and obedient at home. But it feels like this has gone out the window.


The bit in bold could also offer a clue. Has he lived on the remote farm since a pup and thats where he has spent most of his life/ time and is it where he has always done his socialisation with a circle of dogs his always known?
If he has then again that may be your problem. If the remote farm and familiar dogs is all he knows from puppy hood, until 6months where he only had the puppy classes for 12 weeks where he was in a different environment f hour a week tops, then has spent most of his time in a remote farm area her knows mostly since, this may have been why you have only had this problem now and why its happened when you took him away for the two weeks. He was a fish out of water in a situation and environment he didnt know with strange dogs unknown to him. Dogs can appear and get agressive and act up out of fear and uncertainty when they are stressed more.



> I almost feel like I don't know my own dog any more and would like to nip this issue in the bud. I feel anxious if I need to take him out myself now, which he'll sense, so confidence in knowing what I'm doing is key.


Suggestions and advice are appreciated![/QUOTE]

Are you back home now in his familiar environment or still on Holiday? If your still on holiday I would see what he is like when you get back home, or if just back keep him on a lead and monitor him closely for a couple of weeks. If he calms down again then you have your answer.


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## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

Mals can be very reactive to strange dogs, they can even be reactive to ones they live with too. I was reading on a Facebook Mal group only yesterday how a members bitch Mal suddenly turned on her bitch JRT who she has lived with since a pup, a few months previous she also attacked their male Mal. I've heard stories of them fighting while working together on a rig from another owner too. My bitch Mal has attacked four of my dogs and I have kept her separated for almost seven years now, I have baby gates in the house and a divided back garden because she has caused damage in the past. 

It's something that can happen out of the blue, one lady's bitch set on her male because he sniffed the same patch of grass she was sniffing and it was obviously 'hers'! Unfortunately their reactiveness to dogs is known to be a breed trait and often doesn't fully appear until maturity, neutered or not. A dog that has been fine as a pup and adolescent can suddenly start to be 'picky' with who it chooses to mix with. The biggest downside to the breed IMO. 

The trouble with Mals are they are known not to back down in a fight, so if they feel any kind of threat from a dog no matter how subtle they will defend themselves. Bitches are usually far worse than males whether spayed or entire. 

My dogs are all spayed/castrated and its made no difference to the Mals and their reactiveness towards dogs. In fact your boy is probably better off left entire because if he is reacting through insecurity of strange dogs he could be a lot worse without the support of testosterone. My boy Flynn has been assessed as non dog aggressive but fearful, so he is deemed fear reactive and now mostly will be nervous if we're out and he hears a dog barking, keeps looking behind and tail down even though we don't see dogs where we walk. But if he's confronted by an aggressive dog or a dog that is reacting at him he gives it all he's got - the fear then turns to equal aggression. 

Definitely keep him on lead because not only is their recall very unpredictable (even if he's usually good) but they are too strong a dog to put other dogs at risk. When my boys had a set to the noise was horrendous because they are a very loud breed anyway but it was just 'handbags at dawn' as neither actually hurt the other, just covered each others neck with slobber. It sounded terrifying though and neither stopped til we dragged them apart. The girl on the other hand means business and has drawn blood on all she has attacked, luckily we've been present and stopped her. I never leave the Mals together if I'm not there or at bed time because they can kick off in excitement too. 

I know what you mean with them being wonderful with we owners and people in general and I love the breed but def would never have another bitch, heard too many stories about them, boys on the whole are far more chilled but with strange dogs they too can be a handful. 

I'd get him assessed by a good behaviourist and not one who believes in dominance as that will worsen your situation and once assessed go by the advice given. I took Flynn to group training classes which helped him share a hall with six other strange dogs. It did help with his reactivity but Mals don't take to an hours worth of boring old sit, stay, down, close etc. etc. and after a dozen or so sessions flatly refused to even go into the hall and was dusruptive so I stopped going. 

There's a group on Facebook called Malamute Matters and they have group walks and meets all over the UK. They will always help with an uncertain dog and will welcome you on a walk while fully understanding the problems you are having, many have 'been there' too. If you're on FB join the group and youll get lots of support and advice as well as perhaps meeting up and socialising with his own breed. I'm told Mals get on far better with their own kind and especially when walking in groups because its similar to working them.


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## VarrosSaz (Jun 7, 2013)

Thanks for the advice, I've joined that FB group. I'm always looking to get tips and ideas on how best to train/develop Varro.
We're still on holiday, went on a nice walk yesterday. I had him on the lead the whole time and it was brilliant. Although he could further his lead training. A man walked past with a wee terrier, and although Varro's ears went up and he was obviously curious, I made him sit and wait for him to walk past (narrow path), he didn't growl, which he never did anyway, but I was wary. So I gave him big praise and fuss at how well he'd behaved.

Neither spaniel had been done, so it was testosterone central for the males. Albeit all the dogs are fine, it still looks horrible when you see your dog fighting another forte first time, with the noise and slabber like you say. With the lab, I'm not sure what sex it was, but again humping is something he's never done before. So I wasn't sure if it was a dominance thing or not.

I totally get your point with the socialising thing. I guess he's been socialised weekly with a bunch of friends/family dogs that he now knows, and it's like play group to him.
I do believe you're right with the 'strange environment'. We've stupidly assumed that because he's fine in other areas, that he'd be okay too. Big learning curve for us. 
I love this breed of dog, but they're no spaniel or lab. And especially in these environments it will take constant work!


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## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

Glad you've joined the group because they also have meets you could go to. Lovely breed but you're right they are a big learning curve and not like any other breed I've owned. Since I have three they must have something going for them eh? One good point is they're generally quiet dogs, apart from the occasional howl offs at sirens they don't make a sound when callers come - wish I could say the same about the little ones.


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