Alaskan Malamute History

Evidence has shown that the Alaskan Malamute is the oldest breed in North America and one of the oldest breeds in the world. Bone and ivory carvings dating as far back as 12,000-20,000 years have shown the Malamute essentially as he is today. The Malamute’s ancestors came across the Bering Strait with nomadic hunters, who eventually settled around Kotzebue Sound in Alaska. This particular tribe of Inuits was called Mahlemiut, hence the breed name. 

These dogs were the lifeblood of the tribe. Without the dogs, the people would have had a much harder life than they had. During the summer, the dogs were used as pack animals, carrying supplies and freight, and during the winter, they were used to pull sleds, sledges, and toboggans. These dogs moved all manner of supplies and freight, ranging from kills from hunting and fishing expeditions to firewood, to purchased supplies when the nomads went into town. They were also critical in moving entire villages when this nomadic tribe moved to follow game and food sources. These dogs, however, had more important jobs than freight work. They also helped take care of the kids, guard against bears, and wolves, and may have helped hunt. 

However, one of the most important jobs the early Malamute had was a social job. The remote locations of the settlements meant that socialization was minimal outside the immediate village. The dogs helped to dispel some of this solitary confinement. Often these dogs lived inside with the family. Paul Voelker, one of the earliest Malamute breeders, stated: “Don’t forget that the Alaskan malamute for untold generations was raised with the Eskimos, pups, and kids on the floor together. I’ve seen little babies crawling in among the pups to nurse off the old mother dog.”

Because of the importance of these dogs to the communities, the Inuits treasured them as family members. Nothing describes the relationship between the Inuit and their dogs better than Jean Malaurie, the first man ever to reach the geomagnetic North Pole. He writes: “The Eskimo and their dogs form a very real “couple” and their relationship is as close as marriage. The reason is someone you marry and who marries you. It functions as a single person: the leader is the head, and the dogs are literally the torso and limbs. Without his dogs, the Eskimo is not himself, he is a widower who has lost his strength, his capacity for action, his joy in life…”

The Mahlemiuts had a good standard of life. Through hard work they very rarely suffered as much as most other tribes. They developed their dogs to have a high level of strength, reliability, and most importantly, intelligence. These working dogs allowed the tribe to have a good life. The tribe was very nomadic and constantly moved from one location to another to find more food. It is said that the dogs were fed as often as the people. Even in times of famine, the dogs were cared for. This helps to explain part of the easygoing and people-oriented personality of the Malamute. 

Scarcity and hard life made it difficult to raise puppies often. Unlike a lot of tribes, the Mahlemiuts knew this and very rarely bred their dogs. When they did produce litters, they were very selective as to which dogs were bred. They only bred the most promising dogs and proven sires and dams. Because they only had a few litters every year, they ensured that they bred only the top dogs because breeding sub-par dogs would produce sub-par puppies, which was a waste of resources.

When puppies were born, those who did not have characteristics that allowed them to survive the harsh life, simply died off. They were not given special treatment, as working dogs were necessary and pets were not. There were no resources wasted on dogs that could not thrive by themselves. This natural selection, coupled with the selective breeding, and isolated gene pool, quickly meant that the dogs bred “true to type” meaning the offspring resembled the parents. Part of this reason was, of course the isolated gene pool, but there was another factor that proved the Malamute’s saving grace later on down the road. This factor was Mother Nature herself. Primitive breeds develop without modern convenience. These breeds retain characteristics that allowed them to live in harsh environments and thrive with limited resources, hostile climates, famines, and more. The physical characteristics that the Malamute (and other Spitz-type breeds) possess allow him to live in the Arctic without dying off. As we said before, puppies that did not have survival characteristics died off, thus they were not contributing to the gene pool. As all the surviving dogs had the same physical traits, these were passed on to their offspring, who passed the traits to their offspring, and so on. This meant there was little chance of puppies born that did not resemble the standard type.

On July 15, 1741, the first “outsiders” set foot in Alaska. In the years to follow fur traders, trappers, and hunters began arriving in Alaska to set up trading posts and harvest lucrative resources. Before long, fishermen, whalers, and hunters appeared. These groups wanted to capitalize on the whales, sea otters, seals, fish, caribou, and more. 

These immigrants were immensely interested in the Mahlemiuts and their dogs. They were impressed with the stamina, strength, and abilities to survive in the harshness of the Arctic. These dogs were extremely desirable for work. However, the Inuit still were reluctant to part with or overbreed their dogs. 

By the late 19th century, over-harvesting of fish, animals, and furs, combined with petroleum discoveries helped to collapse the market for furs, whale oil, and baleen. Since Alaska was no longer profitable, the foreigners quickly left. However, they did not leave before leaving several species of animals, which the Inuit depended for survival, on the brink of extinction. In this new life, with no animals to hunt, famine hit hard, and the Eskimos who had survived foreign diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza, found themselves on the brink of starvation.

On August 16, 1896, gold deposits were found in Bonanza Creek by Jim Mason. Once again, foreign invaders swamped Alaska. This frenzy of prospectors created an extreme demand for dogs. Dogs that were strong and resilient enough to work all day every day. Dogs that could survive the harsh climate and hostile environment. Dog teams became expensive, with people paying upwards of $1,500 for a team, and $500 for a single dog. This translates to around $40,000 for a team and $13,000 for a single dog in today’s dollars. This started what is called the “Age of Decay of the Arctic Sledge Dog”.

These prices, added to the Inuit struggle for survival due to starvation, made them more willing to part with dogs. The Alaskan Malamute quickly became the most prized and respected animal in the region. However, because the Inuit had always kept such low numbers of dogs, there were still very few dogs available. Now, enter imported dogs. Prospectors and breeders were quick to cross-breed the few Malamutes that were available, with other breeds, that were more numerous. There were also attempts to recreate the physical characteristics that made the Malamute so desired. Breeding dogs like Newfoundlands and St. Bernards with local wolves did not work, and the dogs produced by such crosses were more interested in fighting than working. As more and more settlers arrived, bringing more and more dogs, any large, strong dog that could be taught to pull was added to the breeding mix.

At this time, dog sled racing was gaining popularity. The Nome Kennel Club organized an annual 408-mile race from Nome to Candle and back. This race was Called the All Alaska Sweepstakes:. Winning this race means fame and fortune. This race further led to the downfall of the Alaskan Malamute. As desirable as the Malamute was for working, he was not fast enough to race. Breeders attempted to cross the Malamutes with smaller, faster “southern” breeds to increase the speed. However, they quickly learned something. As we said before, Mother Nature herself created the Malamute to survive in the harsh and inhospitable Arctic. Centuries of selective breeding had further created the ultimate working dog. It is man’s folly to think that he can outsmart Mother Nature. Even the first generation of mixed breed Malamutes resembled the Malamute more so than the southern breeds. And in as little as 3 generations, all visible traces of the southern breed were eliminated from the offspring. However, it took dozens of generations to remove the traces of Malamute blood from the southern dogs. This is because the traits that make the Malamute so unique are survival based, and as such, they are more genetically dominant than traits that don’t lead to survival or traits that would hinder the survival of an Arctic dog.

After the gold rush, the outsiders and their dogs once again left Alaska. The native dogs suffered horribly though. The influx of strange dogs from the south brought diseases like parvo and distemper, which the Malamutes had never been exposed to, and therefore had no immunity against. Also, even though all visible traces of the mixed breeding was wiped out quickly and the dogs quickly reverted back to Spitz type, many still carried the blood of the southern dogs, and there were occasionally puppies born that could not survive. 

Natalie Norris, an early Alaskan Malamute fancier and one of the best-known female sled dog racers said about this, “The Malamute is too fine and distinguished a breed to be changed into anything but what centuries of adaptability to its environment has produced. Our efforts should be to breed not only beautiful Malamutes but as good specimens physically as were originally found in Alaska. It isn’t a question of breeding a better Malamute, but as good an Alaskan Malamute.”

The next event that affected Malamutes as a breed, and improved their fame was the famous Nome Serum Run.

Excerpt from “Howls From The North” : 

The Serum Race to Nome - In Memory of the Heroes

Nome village had appeared on the map at the end of the 19th century, during the time of the great gold rush. Located on the Seward Peninsula, its population was over 20,000 inhabitants. When gold mines closed, toward 1925, it had dropped to only 1,400 people

Nome was isolated by ice for seven months a year and the nearest railway line was 650 miles away, in the town of Nenanna. Nome was able to communicate with the rest of the world by cable, a new invention in those days. Although Alaska was an American State, mail was dispatched along roads that could be trodden only by means of sleigh dogs; the path joining Anchorage with Nome was and is still to this day called the “Iditarod Trail”. It took the best “mushers” one month to run this distance. 

On the 20th of January 1925, a radio message arrived: “This is Nome calling…Nome calling…”

The only doctor in Nome, Mr. Curtis Welch, had diagnosed a few cases of diphtheria, an extremely contagious disease affecting the throat and lungs. The Inuits were particularly vulnerable; whole villages had been devastated by the first measles and flu epidemics, serum was required and urgently!

“Seattle calling…Seattle calling…We have serum supply here…Airplanes ready to take off…” but a tremendous arctic storm was raging over Nome and winter temperatures plunged far below zero. At that time technical reasons prevented airplanes from facing those meteorological conditions. 

“Anchorage calling…localized 300,000 serum unites in our hospital…parcel can be sent to Nenanna by train…weight of the parcel is 20 pounds…could be forwarded through the Iditarod trail by means of dog teams…”

Just like this! Even though it was the 20th century, problems could not be solved by technology! Settlers had been putting their trust in brave men and strong dogs for years; they would trust them this time too!

On the following day, three children had died in Nome because of diphtheria, and other cases had been diagnosed. Times was a life or death matter! Replacement teams were rapidly organized along the Iditarod Trail.

On the 27th of January 1925, the serum got to Nenanna by train and the dog team set off on the journey to Nome…this is the story from what little has been recorded in the historians' archives.

William “Wild Bill” Shannon set off and led a team of nine Alaskan Malamutes from Nenanna to Tolovana (52 miles). He received the antitoxin with the instructions at 11:00 in the evening and left for Nenana. Besides the dogs’ panting and the shuffling of the sleigh through the snow, no other sound could be heard along the trail. The temperature was rapidly decreasing as was down to 30 below zero when Shannon left, through the night the temperatures then dropped even lower and were recorded to be temperatures of -35, -40, and -50 with the Arctic darkness. Shannon was literally freezing to death when he handed the serum over to Dan Green in Tolovana. In the archives Shannon is reported to have arrived in Tolovana on the following day at noon; he had no accidents during the journey. Wild Bill was sadly killed by a  grizzly bear a few years later.

Dan Green didn’t meet any relevant difficulty during his trip of 32 miles from Tolovana to Manley Hot Springs. The temperature was 30 below freezing point. Without any accidents, he passed the serum to Johnny Folger’s team. Johnny Folger, an Athabasca Native, traveled with his team from Manley Hot Springs to Fish Lake, a distance of 28 miles during that night. The archives report that he ran this distance in record times, but we don’t know exactly how long it took him to get to Fish Lake to deliver the serum to Sam Joseph.

35-year-old Sam Joseph, from the tribe of Tanana, ran from Fish Lake to Tanana (26 miles). He led a team of seven Malamutes; when he got to his home in Tanana, the temperature was 38 below zero. He had covered 26 miles in only two hours and forty-five minutes; satisfied with his performance he handed over the serum to Titus Nikolai. Titus Nikolai, an Athabasca Native, leg was from Tanana to Kalland (34 miles). There is no news recorded about Nikolai’s team. He passed the antitoxin to Dave Corning in Kalland. Dave Corning traveled from Kalland to Nine Mile Cabin (24 miles). Not much is known about Dave Corning’s team either. What we do know, however, is that he covered the distance at the record speed of 8 miles per hour and handed over the serum to Edgar Kalland. Edgar Kalland’s part of the trail was from Nine Mile Cabin to Kokrines (30 miles). Edgar had been a musher for the mail service and his years of experience meant that no mistakes were made during his section of the trail, but he and his team arrived in bad shape. He was welcomed by Harry Pitka at Kokrines. Harry Pitka, a Native, raced from Kokrines to Ruby (30 miles). He ran a fast team of seven dogs along a trial in good condition; the average speed was 9 miles per hour. He punctually handed over the serum to the following team, which was led by Bill McCarty.

Bill McCarty, part of the trial was from Ruby to Whiskey Creek (28 miles). The lead dog of his team was “Prince”. Despite a bad storm, the team ran at a good pace, and he passed the antitoxin to Edgar Nollner at 11:00 in the morning on the 29th of January. The recorded temperature at that time was -40. Edgar Nollner, a young 21-year-old, led his team from Whiskey Creek to Galena (24 miles) at night time. With his 8-year-old lead dog “Dixie”, and the rest of his dog team being all Alaskan Malamutes, they knew their part of the trail and never faltered. Edgar handed over the serum to his brother George at Galena. George Nollner, relay was from Galena to Bishops Mountain (18 miles). George hadn’t been married long when he left his new wife at Galena to take part in the great race. It is reported that George used the same team of dogs as his brother Edgar, who had run the previous 24 miles, and this meant that for the two sections of this trail, the dog team ran 42 miles in total during the night. George then handed over the serum to Charlie Evans. 

Charlie Evans, an Athabasca Native, was 21 years old; his part in this great race was to cover the trail from Bishops Mountain to Nulato (30 miles). He set off on his journey from Bishops Mountain at 5:00 in the morning with a dreadful temperature of -64. He arrived at Nulato at 10:00 in the morning, covering 30 miles in only 5 hours. His team consisted of nine dogs; two had been borrowed and they both suffered from groin congealment injuries during their part of the journey. Tommy Patson “Patsy”, a native of Koyukuk, from Nulato to Kaltag (36 miles). Patsy lived in Nulato. He ran on a fairly straight trail and smooth ground, the trail was used for mail transportation. He reached the highest speed in the great race, 35 miles in only three and a half hours, at an average speed of 10-11 mph.

Jackscrew, an Athabasca Native, covered the ground from Kaltag to Old Woman Cabin (40 miles). Jackscrew was a rather short man, known for his unusual strength. As soon as snow and darkness fell on him, he started running beside his lead dog to light up the path, till he passed the Kaltag Divide, where the trail sloped down to Norton Sound. He got to Old Woman Cabin at 9:10 in the evening on Friday. His average speed was about 6 miles per hour along a difficult 40-mile-long trail. The serum was then passed to Victor Anagick, an Eskimo native, from Old Woman Cabin to Unalike (34 miles). Victor ran with a team of 11 dogs. He covered a distance of 34 miles in 6 hours and got to Unalakleet at 3:30 on Saturday morning. The antitoxin was now 207 miles from Nome. 

Myles Gonangnan, an Eskimo Native, ran his team from Unalakleet to Shaktolik (40 miles). Nothing is reported about this team, which, anyway, handed over the serum to Henry Ivanoff’s team at Shaktolik. Henry Invaoff was partly Eskimo and partly Russian. After only half a mile from Shaktolik, his team attacked a reindeer. While he was untangling his dogs, the Russian Eskimo called Leonard Seppala, the greatest musher in the territory, arrived with his lead dog Togo, one of the greatest dogs in the territory, was coming back from Nome to meet the musher who was carrying the serum. When he received it, he started off at all speed down the trail. 

Leonhard Seppala traveled his part of the journey from Shaktolik to Gloving (91 miles). The 48-year-old Leonhard led a team of Siberian Huskies, the two lead dogs being Togo and Scotty. Leonhard had left Nome with the intention of intercepting the serum at Nulato. He knew nothing about the numerous replacement teams as he had already left Nome when Governor Bone had made a decision to add extra mushers to the relay. Leonhard had left Isaac’s Point on the northern side of Norton Bay, In the morning and had traveled for 43 difficult miles with a  very strong wind at his back. When he intercepted Henry Ivanoff, he took the serum, turned his team around, and started off again into the wind along the trail. The temperature was 30 below zero; he faced the strong wind and Alaskan darkness. In order to gain precious time, Leonhard took chances by choosing a shortcut onto the ice, in doing so saving 20 miles from his journey. The snowstorm was blinding. He relied on Togo for the safety of the team and not to lose the trail, and the dog yet again didn’t disappoint him. Each dog in a team plays a vital role, but it’s the leader that must guide them through. Besides being brave and tough, a leader like Togo was obedient and had a mysterious instinct for finding the track and sensing danger. 

The strength of the wind and the weight of the dogs and sled threatened to break the ice at any moment. Togo led the team through a zone with jagged edges, while the ice cracked beneath the sleigh. Only three hours later the ice would break at Norton Sound. On the northern beach of Norton Bay, Leonhard stopped the sleigh near an igloo where he had spent the night before. He put the dogs in the kennel and fed them properly, then he took the serum out of the sleigh to warm it, in the hope that the storm would ease by the morning.

On Sunday morning the temperature was yet again -30 and the wind was raging. Once again Leonhard got on the sleigh and began the race in conditions nobody would have accepted, hadn’t it been a life or death matter. When he got to Dexter’s Roadhouse at Golovin his dogs collapsed on the trail exhausted. The serum was now 78 miles away from Nome and it was Charlie Olson’s responsibility to take it to the next stopover, Bluff. In total Seppala’s team had covered the incredible distance of 260 miles!

Charlie Olson covered the trail from Golovin to Bluff (25 miles). Charlie led a team of seven Alaskan Malamutes, whose leader was Jack. Charlie had left Gunnar Kaasen at Olson Roadhouse and had reached Golovin to wait for the serum. He left Golovin at 3:15 on Sunday afternoon with a temperature at 30 below zero and winds around 40 mph. Many a time his sleigh was knocked out of the trail by powerful blasts. The dogs’ movements were increasingly getting stiff because of the cold. He stopped and covered each dog with a blanket to prevent them from freezing. In order to do that he had to take off his gloves and suffered terribly, as if so many needles piercing his fingertips. Unluckily two of his dogs finished off badly with groin congealment injuries. In spite of the storm, Charlie arrived at Olson’s Roadhouse at Bluff at 7:30 in the evening. There, Gunnar Kaasen was waiting, worried about his friend, who had faced and beat the dreadful storm.

Gunnar Kaasen, leg was from Bluff to Nome (52 miles). The lead dog of the team was called “Balto”. Gunnar was sent from Nome to Bluff to wait for the serum; while Ed Rohn was sent to Pt. Safety. On his way to Pt. Safety, Gunnar was unable to see the trail because of the severity of the storm and had to rely heavily on Balto. Kaasen had a premonition that the storm would get even worse; he would never have chosen Balto to lead his team normally. This was because Balto had never been considered an excellent leader in normal circumstances, though he was one of Seppala’s dogs, he showed his boldness when he forged ahead into the roaring snowstorm. During the trail, he even stopped to rescue his musher and team from sure death in the Topkok River. As they got to Bonanza, a terrible blast of wind swept the team out of the trail, and the sleigh overturned. After straightening up the sleigh and untangling the dogs, Gunnar realized that the serum was missing! He felt sick at heart, and, falling on his knees in despair, he frantically searched for the serum. His bare hands miraculously found it in the middle of the snow.

After he had crossed Bonanza, he covered the last 12 miles in 80 minutes and got to Safety at 2:00 on Sunday morning. Ed Rohn was sleeping and Kaasen decided not to wake him up in order to save time. The worst part of the trail was now behind him and the dogs were in good condition, so Kaasen tackled the final 21 miles separating him from Nome. He reached his destination at 5:30 on that Sunday morning…The town was saved!

He had covered 53 miles in seven and a half hours. The serum was frozen but undamaged and it was immediately used to treat the epidemic. Five days later, the epidemic had been completely halted.

Eskimo, Indian, and white mushers carried the serum in “The Great Race of Mercy”. The replacement teams had stretched their endurance to the limit. The antitoxin was passed from frozen hands to frozen hands, til the last team brought hope to the town of Nome. Exhausted and half frozen after a 53-mile race, Kaasen, Balto, and the rest of the team were immediately considered heroes in the United States. The 674-mile journey had been made in 127 and a half hours a world record.

The dogs’ glory was brief. Sol Lesser, a Hollywood film producer, brought the dogs to Los Angeles and created a 30-minute film, “Balto’s Race to Nome”. Kassen and his team then traveled about the States during the summer of 1925, but later Balto and the rest of the team were sold to an unknown producer of a musical. Two years later Balto and his famous friends had become minor attractions. It seems that the world had forgotten the “Heroes of Alaska”. Then George Kimble, a Cleveland businessman that was visiting Los Angeles, discovered the dogs exhibited for ten cents in a little museum and noticed they were sick and ill-treated. He knew Balto’s famous story and was shocked by this degradation. He made an agreement to purchase the dogs for $2,000 and take them all to Cleveland - but Kimble had only two weeks to gather the sum. The race to rescue Balto had begun!

A fund for Balto was set up. All over the nation, radios transmitted appeals for donations. Paper headlines furthered the cause of freeing the heroes. The answer of Cleveland was explosive. Lots of children collected buckets of coins; factory workers, hotels, shopkeepers, and visitors gave what they could to Balto’s fund. The Western Reserve Kennel Club made a remarkable donation. People responded generously. In only ten days Balto’s fund reached the sum for the liberation of the heroes! On the 19th of March 1927, Balto and his six companions were brought to Cleveland and were welcomed like heroes in a triumphal parade. The dogs were then led to Cleveland Zoo, to spend the rest of their life decorously. On their first day at the zoo, around 15,000 people visited them!

Balto died on the 14th of March 1933, at 11 years of age. His body was embalmed and can still be seen in the Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, where it has been preserved to recall the brave race against death. As yet, nobody can state for sure which northern breed Balto belonged to. Some people say he was an Alaskan Malamute, others a Siberian Husky, and still others say he was half Malamute and half wolf. It will probably remain a secret forever. They remember the heroic race against death and in memory of the sleigh-dogs whose “endurance, loyalty, courage, and intelligence” saved the life of Nome’s population they ran through the Iditarod in only five days, and a statue was erected with Balto’s features. It was located in New York’s Central Park and is still the most visited by tourists and children. Balto and the other dogs of the race against time shall not be forgotten; in 1995 the Twentieth Century Fox distributed the animation film “Balto”, produced by Simon Wells.

Final note:

Balto was not the real protagonist of that race against time. He had covered 53 miles in a dreadful snowstorm and delivered the serum to the town of Nome. That’s why he became famous and was given so many recognitions, but the true hero, for those who know the fact, was Togo and Leonhard Seppala’s team, who covered 418 kilometers in the middle of a blizzard and on the ice that would threaten to break and would repeatedly creak as the sleigh went past! Togo was already 12 years old when he led the team through the storm! Seppala had been Balto’s owner, but he knew that the true hero and protagonist of the great race was above all Togo. He would have liked more recognition for his ”great” dog, and after Togo’s death in 1929 at the age of 16, Seppala had him embalmed. Today Togo is in the little museum of the Iditarod headquarters at Wasilla.

However, despite the notoriety the breed was gaining, at this point the future of the Malamute as breed was uncertain. Being the natural survivor, and with Mother Nature on its side, the breed survive the age of decay better than most other Arctic breeds, even though the Malamute was initially affected worse. Things were still looking grim for the breed until a small group of fanciers turned the breed’s fortune around.

Eva Seeley was a teacher in Massachusetts. One day she happened to be reading a newspaper article about winter carnivals held in Gorham, New Hampshire. One of the events was the Chinook Dog Sled Teams, owned by Arthur Treadwell Walden. Walden was a gold rush prospector who had brought mushing to the lower 48. Eva believed that would be a hit at her carnival, so she arranged for two dog sled teams to appear in Worchester. One of the teams belonged to Walden. Though she did not know it, that was the first step to her and her husband becoming the most famous breeders of Siberian Huskies and Alaskan Malamutes in the country.

During the carnival, spectators could ride on the dog sleds. When Eva took her turn, she ended up riding in Walden’s sled. The lead dog saw a cat, and took off after it, with the team following suit. Walden had no choice but to overturn the sled to stop the team. That thrill ride enticed Eva and was the beginning of her love of sled dogs, and her partnership with Walden.

Soon she and her husband were regular visitors to Chinook Kennels. Walden gave her and her husband a dog named Nook, the son of one of his prized dogs. Several years later, Walden learned that Eva’s husband was in poor health, and persuaded them to move to his farm to watch over the place while he went on an Antarctic expedition with Admiral Byrd.

Walden’s 16 dogs were not enough for the expedition, so he went on a mission to obtain more dogs. One musher, a legend in the racing world, Alan Alexander “Scotty Allen, brought a team of dogs. As they were sorting through them, Scotty brought out two other dogs, that were larger and more powerful than the Siberian Huskies he had brought. He stated that this is what the real Alaskan sled dogs look like, and wished he had become more familiar with them when he was running in the All Alaska.

Eva was particularly drawn to one of the dogs, who she named ROWDY OF NOME. However, his name was a misnomer, as this dog has an extremely gentle and laid-back personality. Allen said he had purchased Rowdy from a couple in Nome, who had found him. Although they had kept him as a pet, it was evident that the had a lot of harness experience, and was a good teammate with all other dogs. In addition to Rowdy and the other dog Allen brought, the expedition took more than a dozen of the large, freighting-style dogs, all obtained in Alaska, leading Eva to believe that there was at least a large group of these dogs.  Fascinated with these dogs, Eva began to dream about creating a breed centered on them.

When Walden departed for Antarctica, the Seeleys began searching for more of these dogs. Luckily, through Walden, they had plenty of contacts. On a visit to Poland Spring Kennel, the Seeleys saw a dog from Dawson, named YUKON JAD. Jad was owned by Leonhard Seppala, who bred Siberian Huskies but had acquired Jad from his previous owners. Only interested in Siberians, he had no interest in slower freighting dogs. A large, strong dog, his small ears were set low on his head, his plumed tail carried over his back, and his harsh coat and heavy bones made him the type of dog the Seeleys wanted to breed. Knowing this, Seppala gave Jad to them. Jad became the foundation sire for the Chinook Alaskan Malamutes and the Kotzebue strain.

Eva’s next step was to petition the AKC to recognize the Alaskan Malamute as a breed. Wanting to have Rowdy, Jad, and her other Malamutes recognized as a breed, Eva petitioned the AKC for recognition. The AKC has several conditions the Seeleys had to meet in order to grant the Malamute breed status. First, they had to prove the Malamute existed as a breed. Second, they had to show a sufficient number of these dogs exhibiting uniform quality and traits to represent the breed. Third, the Malamute could only be shown in the Mixed class until the number of dogs was sufficient to guarantee continuity. 

Eva contacted Jad’s breeder, Frank Gough, and asked him to provide a signed affidavit that Jad was in fact an Alaskan Malamute and provide a two-generation pedigree. To meet the second conditioner, Eva persuaded other breeders to begin showing their Malamutes, Siberian Huskies, and Samoyeds in a  mixed class at some of the most prestigious dog shows in the country. The AKC officially recognized the Alaskan Malamute as a breed in 1935 and agreed to grant registration to those who had a 2-generation pedigree. Rowdy was the first Malamute to be registered. 

Meanwhile, a man named Paul Voelker was also beginning to acquire Malamutes for his kennel in Marquette, Michigan. Voelker’s love of the breed came from his days in the Yukon during the gold rush. His father became involved in the business of purchasing dogs and shipping them to Alaska to be used during the gold rush. Growing in the business, Voelker had spent most of his life breeding and training the various dogs his father shipped north. 

Wanting a change, he decided to breed a unique, rare type of dog. Having seen the Malamutes in person during various trips to Alaska, and believing this is probably the oldest breed in North America, he chose to breed the same native Malamutes, that his father’s exports almost destroyed. His dogs were of varied origins. Some were purchased from the army at Camp Rimini in Montana, some from Alaska. Others came from teams sold to Hollywood to be used in movies. A few were Mackenzie River Huskies and even 2 females from a litter of all-white Canadian Eskimo Dogs. He traveled coast to coast, acquiring dogs he liked for his breeding program.

Voelker’s M’Loot dogs were different than Seeley’s Kotzebue dogs. They were heavier and taller, with narrower chests. They tended to have longer ears and narrower muzzles than Eva’s dogs. Eva’s Kotzebue dogs were very uniform in appearance and were all gray and white. M’Loot dogs, however, due to the more diversified breeding, tended to have conformation variations and came in various colors, including black and white, red and white, seal and white, silver and white, and even solid white. M’Loot dogs tended to be a bit more dog aggressive. However, the basic structure of both lines was very similar. 

Voelker was a skilled musher and his dogs excelled as working dogs and received numerous awards for performances at various events. Four M’Loot dogs were documented on the second Serum Run to Nome. However, unlike Seeley, Voelker’s interest was more diversified than just sled dogs. He spent a great deal of effort into marketing his dogs as companions for the home as well as working dogs. He even quoted: “The best examples of the greatest breed have become perfect company dogs for the families in different places from the north in Alaska to the states exposed to the sun in Florida, California, and New Mexico in the south.”

This led to much of his success, and popularity, as he placed them in numerous homes throughout the United States as pets. The popularity of Voelker’s M’Loot dogs led other breeders to use them as the foundation dogs in their own breeding programs. 

The third bloodline of Malamutes was small and differed from both Seeley’s Kotzebue and Voelker’s M’Loot dogs. The line was started with two dogs, Igloo and Lynx, who were imported to New Hampshire, from the Baker Lake area of Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada by Dave Irwin. When bred, they produced a dog named IRWIN’S GEMO, He would later be shown to Best of Breed at Westminster, in 1941. Gemo eventually found his way to Craig Burt’s kennel in Vermont where he worked as a sled dog. Dick Hinman, a friend of Burt’s met this dog. He was so impressed with Gemo, that he included him as part of his breeding program. Only a few dogs came from this bloodline, but they made an impact on the modern-day version of the breed. 

Robert Zoller became acquainted with the breed while serving as a navy officer in Newfoundland during WWII. He returned to the States and began contacting breeders. He was first referred to the Seeley’s Chinook Kennel. After viewing the Kotzebue dogs, Zoller was not overly impressed and felt they were too small. The kennel manager, Dick Mouton, told Zoller of some bigger dogs being bred by Hinman in Newbury, Vermont, and suggest that he contact him. 

Zoller then traveled to Vermont to see Hinman and his larger dogs. Zoller recalled: “Dick Hinman was a barber and when I got there he was in the middle of giving somebody a haircut. There weren’t many Malamute people in those days, and I guess he was just as happy as I was to talk to someone about them. He sent me around back to his kennel where he had these two dogs (the older of which was Irwin’s Gemo) I looked up this hill, and there were two of the most impressive Malamutes I’ve ever seen in my life. They were chained, and I knew this was what I thought a Malamute should look like. Hinman had a litter and told me that one was the sire of the litter and the other the grand-father.”

Zoller quickly purchased a puppy from the litter that he named Kayak, and began his own breeding program, Husky-Pak Kennels. 

He quoted later: “In Newbury, Vermont, we saw an older dog named Irwin’s Gemo that we thought was the best we had run across. Once owned by Lowell Thomas, the famous explorer-newscaster. We bought his grandson, a puppy we named Kayak, and we learned these dogs were neither Kotzebue nor M’Loot; there weren’t many of them, and some had been crossed with M’Loot strain dogs. Dick Hinman, the owner, had gotten some of his dogs from Dave Irwin, another explorer. I began to call these dogs the Hinman-Irwin strain, or the third stain, although actually they weren’t a strain at all, just a few individual dogs (or perhaps a family) that were neither Kotzebue nor M’Loot.

Our main asset in those days, I believe, was a rare degree of objectivity. The Kotzebues and the M’Loots had developed fanatical followings who were too busy maligning the other side to really look, listen, and learn. We kept open minds and eventually came to these conclusions.

The Kotzebues were good type, mainly because of their heads, muzzles, eyes, ears, expression, and good body proportions. They were more uniform than the M’Loots, mostly wolf gray, usually about the same size and structure. Generally, they had good rears and bad fronts - chests too wide, out at the elbows. And most of them were much smaller than we believed the original Malamute was or should be.

The M’Loots had better size, but some were rangy and lacking in substance. Good fronts, mainly bad rears, lacking angulation, which produced some stilted gaits. Tendency toward long ears and long muzzles, with some “snipeyness” Much variation in coats and colors - long, short, from light gray to black and white, some all whites.

Dispositions differed as well. The Kotzebues were less aggressive, easier to control; the M’Loots prone to fighting, often difficult to handle around other dogs.

In short, the M’Loots were bigger, flashier, and more impressive but they had some rather characteristic faults and I felt they varied considerably in type and in quality. Kotzebues were too small, but they had uniformity going for then, and their main asset was type; as a whole, they more closely resembled the original Malamute as we believe it to be.

We easily concluded that crossing these strains with some skill, to combine their good point and minimize the faults, would produce better Malamutes than by breeding within either two strains. 

The third strain, however, could not be ignored. Kayak, unfortunately, never turned out to be another Gemo. Our second malamute was one of the better pure M’Loot bitches; she became CH HUSKY-PAK’S MIKYA OF SEQUIN. Then we really got lucky. Now in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, we found a pair of pups sired by an impressive dog named Alaska (later CH SPAWN’S ALASKA) This brother-sister pair that we bought, raised and took to the national championship became CH APACHE CHIEF OF HUSKY-PAK (Geronimo) and CH ARCTIC STORM OF HUSKY-PAK (Takoma) They were the biggest winners of their era and became milestones of breed progress.

Best of all, they had third-strain genes, they were three-quarters M’Loot, one-quarter “other” going back to IRWIN’S GEMO and HINMAN’S SITKA. Sitka, incidentally, may have been an even better bitch than Gemo was a dog, I think she deserves a great deal of credit for the quality that resulted later on.

Our pair were s large as the bigger M’Loots but a bit heavier in bone and better proportioned; in body they were almost like king-sized Kotzebues. Good coats and coloring and excellent overall balance. Heads were broad, ears were correct size and shape, and set properly on the skull. We knew this combination was superior and the show result soon convinced a lot of other people. 

But we weren’t entirely satisfied. We felt a “three-strain cross” would heavy up the muzzles and set the type. We searched for a Kotzebue of adequate size and came up with TORO OF BRAS COUP, then owned by Earl and Natalie Norris of Anchorage, Alaska. Fortunately, Toro was in the States being shown by a professional handler. He had just gone BB at Westminster. We brought him to Husky-Pak, mated him with Takoma and produced our “C” litter.

We think this was the greatest litter in the history of our breed. Five were shown and all became champions. One was Cherokee, and we think he was the best Malamute ever: three consecutive National Specially Best of Breed and three consecutive AMCA Dog of the Year awards. There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that he could have easy have gone BB at the next two specialties, for five years in a row, had we chosen to keep showing him. But we retired him as a gesture of good sportsmanship.

Cliquot - the dog shown in our official AMCA emblem - was the first malamute to win both a championship and a CDX. He was also the top winner in New England. 

Cochise - was the best in California for a time, and the sire of CH SNOCREST’S MUKLUK, our breed’s first Best in Show. 

Comanche and Cheyenne, the “C” litter females, were consistent winners, starting with the big 1953 National Specialty where, at 14 months, they were Winners Bitch and Reserve Winners Bitch. - To their mother’s Best of Breed!”

It was because of Zoller’s efforts and intentional crossing of all three strains that created the Husky-Pak line and created the Malamute that we know today. 

WWI and WWII were important events in the Malamute breed history. During WWI the French were unable to get supplies to troops. They turned to one of the oldest methods in the books, sled dogs. Scotty Allen was recruited to supply dogs and sleds and to train the troops to drive dogs. The dogs were transported in secret, from Nome Alaska to Quebec by rail car. However, there was the problem of getting them across the ocean without alerting German submarines. The noise would alert the Germans. However, Scotty trained the dogs not to vocalize while on the ship and were successfully sent to Europe. Once the dogs arrived, Allan trained 50 soldiers on how to handle and drive the dogs. The main issue was the dogs all understood English, but the soldiers spoke French, so the soldiers had to learn English commands. The dogs were divided into 60 teams, some hauled supplies, others served as sentries or Red Cross dogs. 

One team was able to haul 180,000 pounds of ammunition to a distant battery in a matter of 96 hours. That may seem like a long time, but horses and mules had taken 2 weeks to do the same job. Another team was able to help lay 18 miles of telephone wire in a single night, allowing communication with an isolated unit. Even after the snow was gone, the dogs proved invaluable. They also proved they could be hitched to narrow gauge railway cars, to transport supplies quieter and more discreetly than locomotives.

In Northern Russia and Siberia, the British Army also used sled dogs with Canadian solder drivers. Most often these dogs were used to recover wounded soldiers from the front lines and bring them back for treatment.

WWII saw even more widespread use of sled dogs for hauling supplies and wounded. One Alaskan Malamute named Tipper served vigilantly alongside his handler Marine Corporal Harold “Al” Tesch during some of the worst fighting in Guadalcanal, Guam, and Iwo Jima. The Battle of the Bulge featured these heroic dogs transporting wounded from the front lines. 

Many of these dogs also became accomplished parachutists, and were able to earn wings after five jumps. It was said that “once suspended under the canopy, they seemed to enjoy the ride…they wagged their tails, the whole time and became extremely excited every time they were strapped into their harnesses.”

Although no specific breed was preferred, most of the wartime sled dogs were Alaskan Malamutes, Mackenzie River Huskies, and German Shepherds. Many of the few registered Malamutes were sent overseas. After WWII many of these dogs were used on an expedition to Antarctica. After the expedition, a bureaucratic decision was made the dogs were chained to an ice floe and destroyed with an explosive charge, an action which almost caused a mutiny by those involved. 

The stud book was small to begin with, and so many of the registered Malamutes had given their lives in service, that in 1950, the AKC reopened the Alaskan Malamute stud book for open registration. Owners of M’Loot, Hinman-Irwin, and Husky-Pak Malamutes welcomed the decision, because prior to this they could not have their dogs registered, since the AKC only recognized the Kotzebue dogs. Eva strongly objected to this decision, and protested, as she felt that the other dogs were not breed worthy. The AKC compromised and said that owners of these dogs would be required to show their dogs until the dog reached 10 show points before registration. Voelker never obtained registration on any dogs he personally owned, but many breeders who had used his dogs as foundations for their kennels did acquire registration.

2 years later, without any warning, the AKC suddenly closed the studbook. For owners of dogs who had not yet attained the 10 points, or had recently whelped litters with the intention of showing and registering, this was bad news. They were blocked from registering their dogs. 

To prevent this from happening again, the Alaskan Malamute Club of America was founded in 1952 and applied for recognition as the parent club with the AKC. This was achieved in 1953, when the AKC informed the AMCA that it had been officially granted membership. 

At this point, breeders of the three strains all believed their dogs were the correct representation of the breed. The AMCA compromised with the written breed standard, and the standard used today shows the influence of all three strains.

Today, the Malamute, with his physical and mental characteristics, pays homage to his ancestry. His body structure is still that of a primitive breed, designed specifically for the cold climate and unforgiving environment that marked his birth. His personality and temperament are also tributes to his ancestry. In 1908, Jackson B. Corbett accurately wrote - “there are three broad divisions among the dogs of the North…The Malamutes have gained the widest fame of the three, their name being so closely linked to the interior. They are hereditary workers, their ancestors for hundreds of years back having toiled along the frozen trails of Alaskan and the British Yukon in Indian and Eskimo teams. They are ‘wise’ in the slang meaning of the word, it being a common saying along the Yukon that a malamute is ’the most cheerful worker and the most obstinate shirk’ intelligent or dense, but always cunning, crafty, and wise; stealing anything not tied down,’ These wiry sled-dogs came originally from the lower Yukon country, their name, according to the Indians, being derived from the world Malamoot, the name of an Eskimo tribe living on the Bering Sea coast, the first natives it is believed to develop the sled dog in Alaska. They typical malamute’s thick gray hair, his short stout neck, sharp-pointed muzzle, the erect pointed ears, and heavy forequarters suggest the gray wolf of the Far North, while the self reliant independence of his bearing as he stands between the traces show his decent form a long line of toiling sled dogs. With generations of workers behind him, he makes an exceptionally strong and reliable leader, in that place displaying cunning wisdom and trickery that characterizes the breed. No smoother or smarter leader exists. No other can make life so miserable for an inexperienced or cruel musher.”