Alaskan Malamute

Friendly with people, strangers too; strong-willed.
An Alaskan Malamute
Photo: Randi Hausken
Adult male
35–42 kg
77–93 lb
Adult female
31–37 kg
67–82 lb
Lifespan
11.3 yrs
Class · Working
also Sport

What it's like

Malamutes are affectionate and playful with people, strangers included, and make poor guard dogs. They are independent and strong-willed, can be assertive with other dogs, and tend to howl or make a muttering, talking sound rather than bark much.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs an experienced owner
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Friendly with everyone
Independence
Decides for itself
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Very vocal
Prey drive
Likely to chase small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
Is an Alaskan Malamute right for you?
Take the breed matcher

Living with one

It has a double coat, an outer coat over an undercoat. Most of the shedding comes when the seasons change. Plan on a brush once a week, plus daily brushing through the seasonal moult. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

An Alaskan Malamute is a large dog, about the weight of a grown German Shepherd. Males end up a little heavier than females. Its weight is an estimate, not a published figure.

It was bred as a freighting dog, built to pull heavy loads over long distances rather than to race, and its build reflects this: heavy bone, a deep chest and large, well-cushioned feet. The head is broad, with erect triangular ears and dark almond-shaped eyes, and the plumed tail is carried over the back. A coarse outer coat stands off from a thick, oily, woolly undercoat. Colours range from light grey through black, sable and red, always with white underparts and often with a cap or mask marking on the face.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 3 months, a male Alaskan Malamute puppy is already as heavy as a grown Pug. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old. Most males grow into the size large-breed puppy foods are made for.
Fully grown
12 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
02040602m4m6m9m12m18m
02040602m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
7.3–8.9 kg 16.1–19.6 lb
7.0–8.6 kg 15.4–19.0 lb
3 months
11.0–13.4 kg 24.3–29.5 lb
10.2–12.4 kg 22.5–27.3 lb
4 months
16.2–19.8 kg 35.7–43.7 lb
14.7–18.0 kg 32.4–39.7 lb
5 months
20.8–25.4 kg 45.9–56.0 lb
18.8–22.9 kg 41.4–50.5 lb
6 months
24.8–30.3 kg 54.7–66.8 lb
22.1–27.0 kg 48.7–59.5 lb
7 months
28.0–34.2 kg 61.7–75.4 lb
24.4–29.9 kg 53.8–65.9 lb
8 months
30.3–37.1 kg 66.8–81.8 lb
26.1–31.9 kg 57.5–70.3 lb
9 months
31.9–39.0 kg 70.3–86.0 lb
27.4–33.5 kg 60.4–73.9 lb
10 months
32.9–40.2 kg 72.5–88.6 lb
28.2–34.5 kg 62.2–76.1 lb
11 months
33.4–40.8 kg 73.6–89.9 lb
28.9–35.3 kg 63.7–77.8 lb
12 months
33.8–41.3 kg 74.5–91.1 lb
29.3–35.8 kg 64.6–78.9 lb
15 months
34.3–41.9 kg 75.6–92.4 lb
30.2–36.9 kg 66.6–81.4 lb

Health and lifespan

In UK vet and lab records, the conditions below turn up more often in Alaskan Malamutes than in crossbreeds. All of them are much more likely. Mouth melanoma is also the most serious on the list, and can shorten a life. These are figures for the breed as a whole, not a prediction for your dog.
Listed by likelihood level, highest first, then by how serious it is, then by name.
  • Mouth melanoma
    Lab-confirmed cases
    Much more likely
    Impact: life-limiting
  • Underactive thyroid
    Much more likely
    Impact: moderate
Lab-confirmed: compares dogs whose tumour samples went to a lab with dogs seen in general practice, so the figures run higher than vet-record ones.

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical Alaskan Malamute lived to about 11 and a half years, shorter than the typical large breed.

Where it comes from

The Alaskan Malamute takes its name from the Malamute-speaking Inupiaq people of the Kotzebue Sound area, whose sled dogs hauled loads and hunted with them. Gold Rush crossbreeding from 1896 could have swamped the type, and the registered breed goes back to the Kotzebue line of the Seeleys' Chinook Kennels, which supplied Byrd's Antarctic expeditions, or to dogs admitted in the late 1940s11.

The Alaskan Malamute was recognised by the American Kennel Club in the nineteen-thirties. The modern breed grew from a blend of strains usually called Kotzebue, M'Loot and Hinman-Irwin. During the Second World War, Malamutes worked as freight and pack dogs and in search and rescue, and losses during the war left the breed with few registered dogs. It has since been adopted as Alaska's official state dog.

Breed standard

The Alaskan Malamute is judged against standard no. 243, in group 5, Spitz and primitive types4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Alaskan Malamute figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a large breed is most likely at the later end.

Compare with related

Siberian Husky
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Samoyed
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Akita
Spitz & primitive · Large
Chinook
Working · Large
Or compare the Alaskan Malamute with any breed you choose
Track your own Alaskan Malamute
Log a minute a day and watch them sit on these curves. Free.

Sources

Something wrong on this page?
Parts of this page were written by AI ·