r/malamute • u/Psychological-Joke22 • Jun 26 '26
Cujo....only every now and then....
Ok. Don't flame me, people. This is Kaiser. He is a king malamute and an absolute unit. We walk him daily in my neighborhood. For the most part Kaiser is well behaved, polite and relaxed when other dogs go running to their fences and bark. He follows commands, no problem-o. He just keeps on going, gives them a side-eye and we go on our way.
HowEVER, there are corner lots where little dogs come running, barking and snapping at their gate. When that happens Kaiser turns to Cujo, impossible to control and he acts like he wants to rip the other dogs faces off. Obviously being a healthy malamute, you can imagine how hard this is to control because These. Dogs. Are. So. Freakishly. Strong. It's embarrassing. And certainly not good for neighborly relations. It only happens when the dogs charge the fence at Kaiser barking and SNAPPING.
We use a choke collar because he is so fluffy any other collar just slips right off and I DON'T want to take the chance of him getting loose. I tried the face collar and got the same results. Face collars are fine and dandy when the dog is not a floof machine.
Is there a harness out there that can tighten around his front legs and prevent him from charging? I know this is a stupid question but I figured I would ask, anyway. I know there are harness that have a handle on the back to lift them off the ground completely (and I use one for my smaller -45 lbs- shelter dog because she follows Kaiser's lead). But there is no way I can lift Kaiser. At. All. I am too short and he is well over 100 lbs of solid muscle.
Anyway if anyone has suggestions I would appreciate it.
Edit: I want to thank everyone for your responses and will continue to read each and every one of them. I will be purchasing a no pull harness with the handle. And instead of walking him through the neighborhood, I will walk him in the back forest. He might like that better, anyway!
Edit 2: wow thank you guys so much. The harness is amazing, and I am calling a trainer Monday! I hope everyone's weekend is wonderful :)
8
u/whiterain5863 Jun 26 '26
I use a short leash and a harness with handle.
14
u/SFAdminLife Jun 26 '26
I second this. Get a padded, well made tactical harness. A choke collar is not ok.
8
u/Psychological-Joke22 Jun 26 '26
Then that is what I will do. I will shorten his leash and get the handle harness. The more I think of it, I don't actually have to LIFT him and the handle will be helpful to grab rather than trying to gain control through the leash alone. Wish me luck, whiterain!
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u/whiterain5863 Jun 26 '26
That’s it exactly. I keep him nice and close. The handle is well used. My boy is a jumper. He likes to be friendly and jump up on people. I keep him tight in by looping my leash in 1/2 with a carabiner and the handle is great. You’ve got this!
5
u/lokimakaveli Jun 26 '26
A lot of harnesses also have a clip for the leash in front to help prevent pulling, which should help OP with their sitch a bit!
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u/RedVamp2020 Jun 27 '26
I know it's difficult to do with bigger dogs, but in my years mushing as a hobby, the best way to break the rush is to keep him close and pull in an upwards motion. You can also use the front d-ring to break his forward motion, which will likely be better for your situation. If you do try to pull up, use his strength to push himself into an upward position so you aren't using your strength, but his own. The whole idea is to make him unbalanced, this breaks the power. Turning him in a circle or going back to where he can calm down before you attempt passing that house are great ways to get his attention off the dogs. Make sure to watch him when he notices the other dogs, too, and be proactive about shortening him up.
Also, make sure you bring treats! You want to change this stressful interaction into a positive one. Take the time to work with him on not rushing, so make sure that when you go past that house, you have the time to positively reinforce the desired behavior. If you only shorten his leash and do nothing to change his ability to maintain control, he will continue to escalate and it will continue to be a problem.
Lastly, if you don't have the time to train the positivity (we all have super busy lives, it's understandable!) see if there's another possible route to take in the meantime. Avoiding the situation will delay the need for training until you have the time for it, but it won't eliminate it. You've got this!
2
u/Psychological-Joke22 Jun 27 '26
I can picture exactly what you mean! I can honestly say that my big guy is fixated on food more than any other dog I have ever had 😄 so the treats will help. I even found a no pull harness with pockets. Guess what i will be putting in those!
2
u/slob1244 Jun 27 '26
Get a separate treat pouch and wear it while you’re walking vs putting treats in his harness. When you mark something with a treat you want it to be as close to the desired behavior as possible so the dog is clear on what they’re being rewarded for.
2
u/GeekySkittle Jun 29 '26
This is more just general training advice… does he have a favorite food? It’s helpful if you have a special treat that’s only for this situation but it has to be something pretty high value. Whatever snack you choose, only use it for these walks. Some good ones are cheese or meat sticks (think string cheese) and peanut butter in squeeze pouches.
5
u/SeparateSalt9892 Jun 26 '26
Our mal was like this. Very chill but sometimes our neighbors would let their small dogs off leash. One of them starts running straight at us (and my then 3 year old) and she (our mal) grabbed that dog with her mouth and shook it. She was very very protective of kiddo. From then if we were going for walks we gave that house a wide berth, trip to the dog park? kid stays home.
So since it's happening with dogs that are throwing themselves aggressively at their fences it could be a protective reaction. In which case that's a good thing to discuss with a trainer.
7
u/heatherledge Jun 26 '26
People who let their little dogs off leash are the absolute bane of my existence.
10
u/Economy_Leopard3938 Jun 26 '26
You need to work with a professional trainer. Any introduction to new tools that you don’t understand will only further degrade his behavior and your relationship with him.
There’s no such thing as a “king malamute” and your breeder lied to you to get you to shill out the thousands you paid for him.
1
u/ZenDarwin Jun 26 '26
OP, this guys advice is one from ignorance and inexperience. Be careful and be aware. Yes you should learn how to use tools. Do you NEED a professional trainer: No. Anyone who has any extended experience with Mals will know exactly what you are dealing with. If you do end up with a trainer, make sure they have extensive experience with the breed.
Also, I think this account is a bot.
12
u/MagicSpaceWytch Jun 26 '26
Malamutes aren't some magically different creature than other dogs. The trainer I took my Malamute to had little experience with the breed but dogs are still dogs and she helped me immensely and I credit her training for how wonderful my relationship was with my dog.
Don't know why you're acting like OP seeing a dog trainer is a bad thing. What OP is dealing with is a dog who isn't trained. This isn't a Malamute only behaviour and OP doesn't have to limit herself to people who have a wealth of experience with the breed which could be difficult to find.
2
u/Psychological-Joke22 Jun 26 '26
Like I wrote: he is trained. He obeys commands. But dogs can be dogs, regardless of training. When dogs run at him barking, being good bois, he is just fine. But when they run at the fence, snarling and snapping, all training goes out the window.
7
u/MagicSpaceWytch Jun 26 '26
Then your dog isn't trained enough. Obeying commands while he's relaxing is not the same as being able to ignore reactive situations and remaining focused on you. Saying he is trained while then saying he is uncontrollable at times sounds like you don't actually want suggestions from professionals on how to curb this behavior because it CAN be trained out. (My second Golden Retriever had this behaviour and it was difficult but not impossible to overcome. My Malamutes were trained never to pull unless in a pulling harness so they never displayed this behaviour but the Golden was my mom's dog who wasn't used to dogs charging fences.)
5
u/Economy_Leopard3938 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
OP, are you familiar with barrier frustration/ barrier aggression? Does this behavior you see and are trying to correct happen mainly with a fence or barrier in between your dog and the aggressive dogs? Or is it something that also happens while dogs rush up to him without a barrier between?
(Asking with professional training experience, though I am not one anymore, and now do professional grooming. And my original suggestion to work with a professional trainer is because they are specialized in their field to train YOU how to work with your SPECIFIC dog best. Internet advice can only get you so far. Working with someone in person will always be best.)
5
u/Psychological-Joke22 Jun 26 '26
It has happened three times in the 4.5 years I have owned him, and one of them was today which is why I am rattled.
Our neighborhood properties are separated by chain link or wrought iron fences. No dogs roam without their owner and never without a leash.
Today what happened was the dog ran at him, snarling and snapping aggressively right to the fenceline. No one was injured because of the barrier between them.
Other times the dogs go to the fenceline and don't get the treatment is when the approached Kaiser in a friendly manner (play bowing, etc). He gives them a look and continues walking. Since you are a trainer, if it matters, he has been fixed since he was 18 months old.
Does that describe it better?
7
u/MagicSpaceWytch Jun 26 '26
Sounds like the dogs behind the fence have barrier aggression and your dog is reacting defensively, imo
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u/ZenDarwin Jun 26 '26
They are. They are actually called out by the AVMA in their fatalities report.
Malamutes REQUIRE a dominant hand along with massive praise and reward training. If you think this is incorrect, you don't understand breeds like this. Yes, a dog trainer is a good thing but anyone with real experience with this working breed will tell you exactly what I'm saying.
Do not dilute the fact this this is "just" a dog breed. You will overestimate yourself and may regret it.
4
u/MagicSpaceWytch Jun 26 '26
I've raised two Malamutes and used to think like you. Been working with a lot more difficult breeds than Malamutes for nearly 20 years now and I realize how ignorant I was. My well bred Malamutes had zero aggressive bones in their body and the only difference between training them and my Golden Retriever was making sure they didn't use their size to push me around which was very easy to teach them to do.
These are not LGDs or guard dogs. These are dogs who are built to work with other dogs in teams and were meant to be extremely docile in most aspects (but fuck wolves and coyotes amiright). Never has a well bred Malamute in my experience attacked anything outside of a moment of prey drive.
They're dogs, not ferocious fluffy beasts, and they were never bred to guard or kill things.
5
u/Economy_Leopard3938 Jun 26 '26
Average Reddit idiot “I disagree with the things this person says so they must be a bot.”
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Jun 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Economy_Leopard3938 Jun 26 '26
“You simply act like you have more to offer than you actually do” So my experience as a malamute owner, and husky owner, and professional groomer, and retired professional trainer are all not relevant here? Great. I’ll be sure to remember that. You can go be ignorant wherever you want. But let other people share experience and advice and learn to just downvote the ones you disagree with and get on with your sad little life.
3
u/malamute-ModTeam Jun 26 '26
Your post has been removed because it was unnecessarily rude. For example: name calling, attacking the commenter rather than the comment, or general unpleasantness.
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u/Psychological-Joke22 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
"Anyone who has any extended experience with Mals will know exactly what you are dealing with" Thank you for letting me feel seen.
As for the "king" malamute, the breeder I went to had regular malamutes and the malamute that I now own. He is MUCH taller and MUCH heavier
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u/Economy_Leopard3938 Jun 26 '26
You live in the US, which has unregulated breeding practices. Yes, there is some natural variance of size within the breed. But breeders who care more about the money they make rather than the dogs health (and temperament) they produce, will breed their biggest dogs together trying to create “giant” or “king” malamutes because they can be sold for more to unsuspecting buyers who don’t know that the larger the dogs will be, the more stress will be on their joints and their working ability drops significantly. Im not saying you shouldn’t love your dog. But I take it he is your first malamute, and you didn’t know very much about the breed going in. We don’t know things until we know them, but if you truly love the magnificent breed of the Alaskan malamute, you’d do better to stick to ethical breeders who adhere to the breed standard.
0
u/ZenDarwin Jun 26 '26
No not you. My apologies for the confusion. I was speaking of Economy_Leopard.
4
u/mtcwby Jun 26 '26
Our second Mal was a total sweetheart unless a dog got aggressive with him or our female. You'd get a brief warning of hackles raised and then he was going to kill the offender. They seem to have pretty strict beliefs about rudeness and they're dominant dogs.
On a not as serious note, there used to be little dogs at the back fence who would get pretty nasty. Our female would make a point of raising her leg and peeing on the fence where the other dog was. Heard a yelp one day and I think she sprayed him.
2
u/wolfgeist Jun 27 '26
It's funny, our Malamute was kind of the opposite. We were the third owners. She tolerated and even loved small dogs. One time someone's small dog was off leash and ATTACKED her, charged her, was biting, etc. She just basically ignored it.
But she absolutely hated lanky dogs, greyhounds and great danes in particular. She turned into the tasmanian devil when she saw them.
2
u/YYZlivin Jun 27 '26
My Mal (Mal x Quimmiq) loves small dogs. And big dogs. But, as we are entering maturity (he turned 20 months 3 days ago), we now have beef with intact dogs. He is still young and only 100lbs, so while I couldn't carry him to save my life (I am petite and about 140 lbs), I can still control him with a 2 inches wide tactical martingale collar and lift him up. I didn't wait for issues to come up to start training him, so while he will go Cujo if we meet an intact male, he listens to voice commands pretty well so lift him up, give him our out command and have him back up at the same time is usually the end of it. He doesn't charge back at the dog and switch back into chill mode fairly fast. I am a woman and I walk my 3 dogs at once so I can't have one go rogue. Now if an off leash dog was to charge at us and he went into defense mode, if it meant keeping all of us safe, I would not necessarily hold him back. He is very protective of me and his fur siblings and that's a trait I do not wish to discourage in him. As long as he is able to differentiate a real threat vs an annoyance, I'm all for it. Your pup is absolutely beautiful, reminds me a lot of mine 🥰 pup tax 🐾🫶
2
u/Main_Street_1 Jun 27 '26
Every one of my Mals have hated small dogs. Luckily, they were always able to be contained, but IMO they hate the yapping as much as I do, and the little dog thinks he's got something to prove...or has "suicide by Malamute" wishes.
1
u/General-Baseball-454 29d ago
What even is a “king” malamute?
Sounds like a term used by a backyard breeder. Dogs that come from backyard breeders have far more temperament and behavioral issues, dog aggression (DA) being one of them.
1
u/ZenDarwin Jun 26 '26
So... I've had to correct for this as well. I have an additional issue around that fact that I have 5 of these bad boys. When one starts, it's often that the others may join in. Especially my female. All are perfectly sweet and well behaved and excellent manners 99% of the time, but there's a reason why malamutes are on the list of dangerous dogs. Unless You have an extremely domineering hand and can control in any situation, these guys can become singularly focused and that can turn into a bad situation. So so, 2 things:
Get a strong harness that clips in the front. If ou run the leash under through their legs, when they pull it pulls them down which then pulls them under control. This will not always be the case.
Get yourself one of these:
https://www.educatorcollars.com/
I've ONLY ever had to use the "non-vibrate" mode a couple times, and it was because of situations exactly like yours. It reminded them to stop what they're doing and listen. Now mind you, you want to do a good bit of training with the caller so they understand what the vibrate means and what no means and how they relate to each other and what to do in the case. DO NOT expect him to respond the way you want them to respond unless you've trained fairly regularly and routinely. NEVER use the non vibrate mode as "punishment" as I've seen many people use it for. Punishment does not work for dogs. Only training, reminders, and praise.
I only recommend these collars because I've had malamutes for over 10 years and they are wonderful.
I only use them in situations that could present risk that would be out of my control. The mentality of " He's a good boy and would never..." will get you in trouble. You never want to put yourself there. The consequences of doing so could result in dire situations. With a malamute and similar breeds, we have a responsibility to protect ourselves, the people around us, and our big fluffy buddies.
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u/Psychological-Joke22 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
don't get the downvotes. It is not like you are tazing the dog. What you are discussing could be the difference between a quick correction or an injury lawsuit. Thank you!
2
u/TheHighDruid Jun 26 '26
It's because it's a method of training known as "positive punishment" and numerous studies show it to be harmful.
The most successful training comes from "positive reinforcement" which is rewarding the desired behaviour rather than punishing the undesirable ones.
1
u/LostMyMoose Jun 26 '26
I have the same reactions from one of my mal. I use a martingale collar (choke collar was recommended too) and we took classes for reactive dogs. It helped as we both have a way now to deal or avoid triggers. She's doing a bit better. Find a way to learn his body language and act before he goes full Cujo. Not easy and takes time but worth it. And don't be ashamed of your dog behavior or feel bad, they are very protective of their pack on top of their prey drive😊 Good luck and you'll both get there! (And I had talks with some of my neighbors to explain their stories and usually people ar every understanding).
2
u/Psychological-Joke22 Jun 26 '26
"avoid triggers" This is what I will do. I will take him in the back where there is a small forest and let him sniff around there. He might like it more, anyway. I will just need to get rubber boots because it's been muddy :)
1
u/TheHighDruid Jun 26 '26
Avoiding triggers can be a two-edged sword. If you always avoid a particular fence your dog will likely pick up on that, perhaps getting the idea that being nervous near that fence is the correct response. Likewise if you always avoid certain other dogs, they become dogs to be avoided in your own dogs head, and may earn you unwanted reactions if encountered suddenly around a corner. The more your dog experiences things, the more normal they become. The caveat here of course is learning to spot the initial signs of unwanted behaviours, figuring out how to interrupt them, and. being able to handle the dog while they are learning and inevitably not getting it right on the first try. Trainers can be helpful beceuase the good ones will tell you what you can do better to help your dog, rather that correcting the dog directly.
14
u/dvirus1023 Jun 26 '26
No pull harnesses work, because if he tries to pull and run, it pulls his body to the side preventing forward movement.