The breed evolution

The Gold Rush of 1896 increased the demand of Alaskan Malamutes. Today we basically see two different lines in Malamutes (a third one, the Hinman strain is less important than the other two) One line is the M’Loot and the other one is the Kotzebue. The Kotzebue line goes back to Arthur Walden and Milton and Eva Seeley’s dogs. As a Matter of fact it was Milton and Eva that acquired the AKC recognition in 1935. Paul Volker developed the M’Loot line. Paul did not register his dogs, but sold them to people that registered them later on.

The Malamute breed was forged throughout centuries of extreme survival conditions, and genetically he was so powerful that even if cross bred with other breeds, after the third generation it tended to look more like a Spitz. This is mostly the reason why we see differences in the modern Malamute, only an expert eye is able to recognize a true Malamute from the others.

The M’Loot Malamutes used to have narrower chest, narrower heads, more pointed muzzles and larger ears. They also used to have a less angulated rear and therefore were not very efficient in covering  ground ; however, they displayed a very important feature: they were taller than the others. For this reasons many breeders bred them without thinking twice. For several years the two lines did not cross-breed: later on breeders started to think about it. This seemed to be the right path: through careful breeding choices they came up with dogs that displayed the best features of each line, eliminating little by little the respective faults. Therefore the nowadays Malamute have mixed Kotzebue and M’Loot ancestors.

References: “The Alaskan Malamute” by Maria Scotti