Malamutes love to work, and have loads of fun doing it! The more you put into your dog the more you and of course they get out of it! Here is a list of activities we do here at Luponooshka, and a few other activities we are yet to try!

Agility

Agility is a great way of bonding with your dog and really reinforces commands and control over your dog. We started training once Lupo had reached 18 months and after a rocky start and his “independent” streak, we can now do pretty much the whole course but he will refuse to do the walk over and the seesaw. We are there to have fun and therefore i will not force him to do it if he really doesn’t want to, so for now he sits next to the apparatus and we walk to heel past it and sits at the other end and we carry on. I will eventually work back up to him doing these, but taking it small steps at a time.

Obedience Classes

You may think that obedience isn’t an activity, but to us it is one on one time with each dog, they get a whole hour of time just to me where my focus is the dog i have with me at the time. Lupo in particular loved obedience and would Woowoo when we got to the class. Obedience is not only good for owner dog relations, but also a great way to keep dogs socialised, especially malamutes, who are not known for getting along well with other breeds. In Obedience we practice the normal, sit, down and stays, we also practice heel-work, weaving around other dogs in the class and keeping their attention, we have also done scent work, long distance recall, and heel-work to music. Our dogs complete the Kennel Club Good Citizens Scheme and all of our dogs have passed the bronze level obedience, Lucien having passed the silver award at just 6 months old.

Backpacking

Once our dogs reach 1 year, we buy them a backpack from www.snowpawstore.co.uk, We haven’t completed any working titles yet, but are hoping to either this year or the next. This will either consist of a 30 mile walk over 2 days with an overnight camp, or 4 x 10 mile walks at different times. We are still in training for this and we have started by getting our dogs to wear the backpack around the house and out on smaller walks and gradually loading up the bag. We will not rush them as this is fun for all of us, but they like theri backpack and although it can be a struggle getting them in the backpack, once it is on, they is ready to go!!

Scootering and Mushing

We started training Lupo on the scooter at a young age, maybe even a little too young, but it ended up with Sammy doing most of the work and Lupo only pulling on downhill sections. The scooter was a great introduction to mushing and Lupo learned fast. Chasing his best friend Ranger around some local woodland, he learnt to pull, and on walks we would teach him his directional commands. We then gradually moved him to pull the rig, and in training i started to do less and less work so that he would pull a bit more weight, but i will always get off and push on the uphill and scoot on the straights. We start our pups training at about 8-9 months with the older dog pulling the weight and the younger dog building up fitness, gradually allowing them to pull short distances and building up once they are a year. We don’t expect our dogs to work hard before they are 18 months due to soft joints and growing bones.

Cani-Cross

Cani-cross is a sport we haven’t done here at Luponooshka. It involves running with your dog attached to a waste belt using a bungee and tug attached to the dog. The dog runs out front and courses can be up to 4 miles long. For more information about cani-cross please visit the cani-cross website . Equipment can be bought from www.snowpawstore.co.uk

Skijoring

Due to lack of snow and not knowing how to ski, we haven’t tried this activity either. Skijoring is very much like cani-cross, only instead of running, it involves Skis. Although skijoring has been very popular in Scandinavia and Alaska for years, its popularity is rapidly spreading to other regions of the world. For more information on Skijoring please visit here. Equipment can also be bought from www.snowpawstore.co.uk.

Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy is a therapy directed at the treatment of chronic conditions, post-operative recovery, and pre-operative or general fitness in dogs. Its a great way of resistance training, but has no impact on the joints like running or walking does. Its cooling during the summer and can be done when it is too hot to take the dog for a run.

Showing

The most obvious activity apart from Mushing, is showing. We show all our dogs and believe that a well constructed malamute should be able to work and show. All our dogs have been successful so far in the show ring and we hope that one day they will be champions, but we will work them hard whilst enjoying the show world. The moment they refuse to show for us we will retire them from the ring. Both Mina and Lucien love showing and are gaining in confidence at each show. For 40 years, Alaskan Malamutes held rare breed status in the UK. In January 2006, the Kennel Club changed the status of the breed and for the first time we were able to gain Challenge Certificates (CCs). In the Summer of 2006 the first UK Champion Alaskan Malamute was confirmed by the Kennel Club. It is recommended that you attend ringcraft to get the knowledge of how to show your dog, and its also good to have the dog get used to people feeling over the dog and checking its teeth, we believe that good temperament is key to a good s how dog. It also gets them accustomed to lots of dogs around them and how to stand nicely.

Weight Pull

Weight pull was probably one of Lupo’s favourite activities and he was a natural for it. Weight pulling is a dog sport involving a dog pulling a cart or sled loaded with weight a short distance across grass, carpet, or snow. Many breeds participate in this sport, with dogs being separated into classes by weight. Sled dog and pit bull breeds excel within their respective weight classes, having been historically bred to pull sleds and plows, respectively. The dog is hitched to the sled with a specially constructed harness designed to spread the weight and minimize the chance of injury. This harness can be bought from the snowpaw store. Mina competes in weight pull and we are hoping that our tank boy Lucien will excel in the sport when he is old enough.