Alaskan Malamute Association of Eastern Pennsylvania
Affiliate Club of the Alaskan Malamute Club of America
Breed History
Alaskan Malamutes are believed to be descendants of the domesticated wolf-dogs who accompanied the Paleolithic hunters that crossed the land bridges of the Bering Strait and migrated into North America roughly 4,000 years ago. They are among one of the oldest sled dog breeds. Their name comes from Mahlemiut, the people who raised them. Malamutes were bred to haul large weights across long distances and hunting("Alaskan Malamute").
In the late 19th century reindeers disappeared from Alaskan for an unknown reason. This made the Mahlemut tribe and their dogs start to starve to death. Luckily in 1896 gold was found in places like the Klondike, increasing the population of Alaska. These new people wanted to buy Malamutes from the Mahlemut tribe for their ability to tow large amounts of weight and crossbreed them with other dogs for other traits. Because of this the breed almost disappeared. Luckily the breed did survive and the crossbreeds ended up dying out because they were less resistant to the cold weather of Alaska and needed more food to survive. Lucky the bred did survive, the crossbreds ended up dying out because they were less resistant to cold weather and needed to eat more to survive("History of Alaskan").
Genetics
The Inuit people who originally bred Alaskan Malamutes come from all across Greenland. Because of this distance, different strains of Malamutes were bred. The original strain, the Kotzebue strain was the strain recognized in 1935. After WW2 numbers of AKC registered dogs plummeted, so in the 1940s and 1950s, the M’Loot and Hinman strains were added to the AKC studbook("Alaskan Malamute")
Today the malamute gene pool consists of all three strains of malamute; Kotzebue, M’Loot, and Hinman. Ch. Toro of Bras Coupe was the first dog to unite them("Alaskan Malamute")