HISTORY OF THE ALASKAN MALAMUTE |
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"At the turn of the century sled-dog racing
became popular in Alaska. If there was one activity for
which the malamute was not ideally suited, racing was it. The
powerful, heavy-boned malamute was capable of pulling great
weights fro great lengths, but it wasn't built for acceleration or
speed. For this and for other expedient reason's malamutes
were breed with variety of lighter, faster dogs"and purebreds
were almost lost."
We should observe that purebred did not mean then with it
means today. Eskimos did not keep stud books, nor did the
Mahlemuts have signs posted by their dwellings that read,
"stud service to approved,registered bitches only." Indeed,
bitches in heat were sometimes staked out for wolves to
breed, wrote one historian.,"and the toughness and adaptability
of the malamute stock was replenished." The notion that there
were "purebred " malamutes in Alaskan during the last century
or the early year of present on is a quaint, but imprecise,
fantasy."
http://www.petpublishing.com/dogken/breeds/malamutes.html |
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"This is he sled dog of stamina and
strength rather than speed. It gets is
name from the malamute tribe, an Inuit
people of northwestern Alaska, these
nomadic Eskimos used the dogs to haul
their possessions between camps.
The breed type was stabilized in the
1920's and accepted for showing in the
American Kennel Club in 1935. After that
it gained immense recognition because
of it's use as a war dog."
http://www.dog.com/breed/alaskan-Mala
mute.asp |
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"The most celebrated of all Eskimo
dogs was the malamute, a type bred by Mahlemut tribe, which
lived near Kotzebue Sound on the
northwest coast of Alaska.
(Kotzebue, ironically, was a
German opera librettist and
playwright noted for his superficial
and often sensational melodramas
and comedies.)
"The Mahlemuts' dogs, according
to one observer were less"wild and
more tractable than other arctic
strains, and were capable of a
variety of tasks from pulling
sledges to hunting seals to chasing
down polar bears.
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Malamutes were further distinguished
their strength, reliability, wide-ranging
of colors and unique marking. Their
ancestors are thought to have
migrated from Siberia to Alaska across
the Bering land bridge in the company
of nomadic tribes.
More than twice
the size of Texas, the Bering land
bridge connected Siberia and Alaskan
until rising seas dumped 800 feet of
water over it 11,000 years ago, when
summer temperature in that part of the
world were sight to 11 degrees
warmer than they are now.
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Such was the prowess of the malamute that Eskimos who lived inland traveled down the
Kobuk and Noatak river to Kotzebue Sound to trade furs for dogs and supplies. Thus did
malamutes find their way to other regions of Alaskan and even to adjacement parts of the
Yukon, where they gold diggers and some of the dogs that had accompanied them to the
Yukon made the malamute' acquaintance 100 yrs ago. ( Additional testimony to the
malamutes hegemaon was the use of the word malemutes to indicate any freight-pulling
dogs."
http://www.petpublishing.com/dogken/breeds/malamutes.html |
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