My big boy loves his couch naps with mom. This was a good one he wiggled alllll the way in for an extra good sleep.

I suppose the real point of this thread is: other dog breeds are not.

I live at the beach in Los Angeles—when I’m not ill. It is illegal to take your dog on most beaches. Pretty hefty fine.

(Cats shit all over the beach and there’s no real way to stop them. My dog loves cats and he saw one on the beach, an enormous litter box, and was staring at it. I told the nearby players who were looking that I wouldn’t let him go and we liked cats. And they were like oh, we were hoping he could kill that cat. He shits all over our volleyball court.)

Anyway, no dogs were bred for the sand, sand that I know of. Like a camel but dog. And so where I live, I’ve seen a LOT of dogs with torn hamstrings.

Because they kick their feet and push right through that sand with their tiny feet. Pit bulls and other heavy dogs that have very small, almost unproportionate feet, are susceptible.

The ground is too loose to support them. And they overextend in their enthusiasm.

But mals have huge feet and are not so quick/fast they can clomp through sand pretty well.

At night I’d take my dog to the edge of the beach and we’d run around a bit. He’d dig some, get a mini zoomie, then typically be over sand.

But the big thing is feet. You can see other dogs kicking straight through. I’d be cautious taking mine to deep sand areas.

Like we have dog beaches here. But you’re near the shore so it’s pretty compacted.

But a lot of ppl get their dogs injured simply running on sand. There’s got to be some formula of mass, to foot surface area, to acceleration.

And dogs have wildly different positions in that equation. I’m amazed at how tiny the feet of some large breeds are. Like how do you get around on those little things? On sand, they’re prime candidates for injury.

Going by anecdote only, I’d say all the dogs I’ve seen injured were 80+ pounds. Doesn’t mean smaller dogs can’t be hurt, just that I haven’t seen or heard of it.

But the snow-capable dogs all have big flippers. So that helps a lot.

Of course, they roll around or dig long enough and you’re gonna be cleaning sand out of your house for the next three months.

But this is more a caution for other breeds. You wouldn’t think it, but malamutes are excellent sand dwellers.

And please, before you blow some uninformed gasket saying Los Angeles is equivalent to an active volcano and sand are miniature nuclear bombs just…don’t.

I have my go to reply when someone says, whoa he must be hot. I say not really. Dogs are not humans with fur coats. They don’t have sweat glands other than pads of their feet which isn’t enough to cool them. They cool by panting, using the surface area of their lungs and respiratory system. Their fur prevents temperature exchange. Like insulation in your attic or a thermos bottle. Put cold liquids in a thermos, they stay cold, put hot liquids in, they stay hot. A short haired dog overheats much faster because the sun is directly heating their core instead heating a pile of fur. He isn’t his fur, he’s hidden underneath. As long as the outside temperature is below his body temperature about 102, he can cool himself.

And I live where it gets about 80 in the summer.

But to re-rail, sand can be hazardous to some dogs.

We adopted this beautiful girl from China’s dog meat trade 3 months ago! Literally flown in from China. I was told their temperaments are amazing and they’re not kidding! She has no prey drive and walks so well on a leash. She is approximately 2.5 years old.

However, as she has been warming up to us and becoming very comfortable in the house it seems like she’s tolerating our resident dogs at best which are our 2 other malamutes - 3 year old male and 2 year old female. I was not sure if anyone had any experiences introducing another malamute to their pack? Even with a ton of mental enrichment, walks and play time and they’re all tired, she will still growl here and there when they walk by her. This has caused some tiffs with our other dogs, mostly the male but no biting since we intervene and usually helicopter parent.

We have been constantly rotating them separately with time between the outdoors or separate parts of the house and when they are all together in our living room they’re usually tired and sleeping so it’s peaceful. It’s our first time rescuing a dog so any tips or advices??

Just needed to share somewhere!! So proud of her ❤️ Today she got her CGC title : ) onto bigger things now!

Hey community,

Its time I got better with working with our 2.5 year old boy on his training, he is a stubborn boy and there is a pile of excuses why I haven't worked on training with him but it's beyond time.

So I've ordered a boatload of books from the library and they should be here soon, but any pointers from experienced Alaskan Mal parents?

Hi all, you may remember my earlier posts about my 6mo old (now 1yr old) Alaskan Malamute being diagnosed with severe bilateral (both) hip dysplasia requiring staged replacement. She was scheduled to undergo her first replacement this week but upon repeat physical exam at the Vet, they are now suspicious that she has bilateral ELBOW dysplasia as well?? Does anyone have any experience with this? We were going to replace her hips (putting us about $15k in debt) but now with the elbows, we are pausing. I am conflicted because I don't want her to be in pain but this is now turning into a 2 year recovery plan between 4 surgeries and 4-6mos of rehab following EACH surgery.

I don't know what to do and my heart is breaking all over again.

Greatly timed photo. 3 yo 100lbs.

The look of oncoming zoomies from our girl Astrid

They grow up so fast!

I spent about 11 months with a deposit on a waitlist for Snacks, and arrived to get the first minute he was ready on pick up day (first two pictures were from an in-home visit after he was born, saw the vet, got some shots, etc). I waited one year after my Husky Grey Wind passed away before I was ready for another dog, but I didn't want to feel like I was replacing him, and this time I knew I wanted to go bigger. Bigger is definitely what I got! It is so funny seeing him grow so fast.. when you see him everyday you don't notice it as much, but when my friends stop by, even 1-2 weeks later, they freak out at the size difference. Here are some milestones in Snacks' growth from 1 month old to what will be his 11 month birthday tomorrow! My girlfriend is tiny, so she makes for a good reference.

Snacks Madman is an incredibly sweet dog and sidenote... having a dog with recall is amazing,

Photos are from:

• 1 month
• 1 month
• 2 months
• 3 months
• 3.5 months
• 11 months!

https://preview.redd.it/030m1jxnvayd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=697b7ede80a80397f2cad5ed8712718e01323fdc

https://preview.redd.it/1fpdzjxnvayd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=a6fdac84a6e98175065834997a9b17ce8e7e574f

https://preview.redd.it/udx02kxnvayd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4fee6c311f15d4155fae04d0defa894bc934bfa

https://preview.redd.it/jifnzjxnvayd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=c504e0aed1cac5d057e4f69a5c9b84cb9a9cab41

https://preview.redd.it/m0iufoxnvayd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b660bf50ade9cd0984158229d7039f3270e2569

https://preview.redd.it/kusgvjxnvayd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=d34147fcd37564bd6529bccefbe76c8faf4e415e

Chico will turn 2 years old in two weeks. It’s the first time I notice his winter nose. Maybe he was too young last year? It’s getting pinkish a little more everyday as the day are getting very short up here in Alberta, Canada. Fascinating!

Yesterday he tried chicken breast as treats and loved them, also 3 days ago his weight was 7.3lb and today he is 10.5lb is that a normal weight or am I feeding too much? I’m feeding slightly below kibble package instructions 2 cups a day divided into 3 meals.

pd: i though this is a funny pic, I took it yesterday playing at bed.