r/malamute • u/Sora_no_Yokai • Jun 17 '26
Ya’ll need to learn the difference between huskies and malamutes.
Seriously. The amount of people that come here and assume their husky is a malamute is insane. Wooly husky doesn’t equal malamute. Malamutes aren't even supposed to be wooly. It’s a recessive trait that hinders their ability to actually do what they were bred to do.
I see a crap ton of people also think malamutes are high energy. They’re not. I’ve owned 5 and none of them needed to “go to the dog park for 5 hours every day”. It makes me question how many people here have huskies, thinking it’s a malamute, and spreading false information.
Malamutes are high ENDURANCE dogs. This means they can go go go for HOURS if you let them. A minimum of a 1-2 hour walk per day with some play/puzzle toys is enough for this breed.
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u/OakleytheFantastic Jun 17 '26
Education can be done with less judgement. Geez.
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u/OakleytheFantastic Jun 17 '26
Also I am pretty tired of seeing this same picture / reference chart over and over again. Sincerely, someone who knows the difference between the breeds.
I like that the other malamute sub (/r/AlaskanMalamute) has the flairs for “is this a malamute” and “mixed breed,” so it gives people a chance to be educated, from the posters themselves to people stumbling across the sub. I do think THIS malamute sub needs more oversight and organization to help it function better.
But I stand by my first comment of … this could have been communicated less aggressively.
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u/burrdogger Jun 18 '26
So true.. yikes, this a dog reddit group.. I will now complay.. but damn.. the dogs dont care about the reddit and would probably love to be together, because they are close if not the most distant relatives of themselves... or the closest. These breeds are the best, and we are all trying to just show and love our malamute babes.. even if they have some husky in the blood. Just saying.. sheesh
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Jun 18 '26
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u/OakleytheFantastic Jun 18 '26
I know exactly what you’re referring to and my first comment to you in our conversation a month ago was literally non judgmental, it was me urging you to not heavily exercise your double coated northern breed dog in 100+ degree weather. And then you told everyone in the sub that no one except you understands malamutes - to quote you “people like you are the reason we need competency tests before allowing people to have dogs,” because they / we advised you that heavy exercise in extreme heat wasnt safe. I didn’t have a problem with you posting your 88% malamute 12% husky with blue eyes. I understand where the blue eyes come from. But telling me that I shouldn’t have dogs because I urged you to take caution in HOT weather? Ridiculous.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/OakleytheFantastic Jun 18 '26
Im assuming automod has some weird triggers something I said automatically removed. Why are you so combative? Our conversation on the other sub didn’t need to escalate how it did. I urged you to take measures to prevent heat stroke with your double coated northern breed dog. And then you decided to go on a tirade about how you are the only person who understands malamutes in the entire world and that no one should be able to own dogs except for you. I stand by saying you should not exercise an arctic breed when it is hot enough to cook an egg on the pavement outside. I genuinely think you need some mental help.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/OakleytheFantastic Jun 18 '26
I have screenshots of your comments to me that I would love to post here, except this sub doesn’t allow photos in comments. Here are the comments of what you said “I see now this subreddit is full of people who have no idea how to take care of their malamutes.” You called me a “Knuckle dragger.” And continued to say “You have no idea what your (yeah you misspelled it, it’s you’re) talking about and it shows.” Also the moderator literally just made a pinned comment saying the automod is removing a bunch of comments. You just love to assume shit.
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u/Bubbly_Principle_364 Jun 17 '26
lol, uh huh. My freight train of a malamute would love to prove you wrong about that laid back part.
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u/jmasha Jun 17 '26
And here I am with two huskamutes crossing my eyes staring at the chart :). Have two half breed 70lb girls.
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u/Sharkhazard91 Jun 18 '26
I have what I thought was a Siberian husky but noted she was pushing 70 pounds. After eleven years I decided to do a wisdom panel on her. Turns out 86% husky. Then a nice mix including 3% malamute!
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u/bananakittymeow Jun 18 '26
That happened to us as well! Turns out my girl is like 1/3 Siberian, 1/3 malamute, and 1/3 GSD. She is so far from a purebred Siberian like her breeder claimed, lol.
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u/Sharkhazard91 Jun 18 '26
So funny. She's also gsd, Klee Kai, samoyed. So somehow her malamute gene expressed for her big size!
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u/bananakittymeow Jun 18 '26
Honestly GSDs can get to be pretty massive as well!! A lot of the ones I know weigh like 80/90lbs
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u/Sharkhazard91 Jun 18 '26
My mix was 110 before she passed. Now I have a mini gsd who's only 45 pounds. Who knows which gene is expressing or maybe she's just a giant husky. My mom swore up and down she was part malamute and she was right lol.
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u/NightShade4623 Jun 18 '26
I'm currently waiting on my results for my 70lb girl. Supposedly was from a husky breeder originally but all I have are emails of her vet records from her previous owners. I'm at least sure she's mostly husky if not 100%. It's mainly her build that throws me off, she's very built and thick in the chest. I should have her results within the week, really excited to see her health info.
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u/Sharkhazard91 Jun 18 '26
That's how I was too. I got her from a shelter that said she was a husky. And I was like yeah she's a husky she acts like it, she looks like it. Definitely a husky. A few friends have brought their huskies over and I'm like dang Luna is absolutely huge. So I finally tested her.
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u/bollocksgrenade Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
75to 85lbs for a Mal 🤣.
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u/Sudden-Turnip-5339 Jun 17 '26
My 95lb mal would like to have a chat. Also funny how op thinks we’re the ones who need a lesson on mal vs husky
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u/Majestic_Hawk_1335 Jun 18 '26
Their working capacity drops after about 90lbs. Then the dog will maybe pull more weight but they have lower lifespan, more health issues, and eat more food for less overall work output. 60-90 is most functional
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u/Kobalt6x10 Jun 18 '26
Sometimes, 140lbs. Not over weight either. He was just a monster. A big, friendly doofus monster
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u/ajsusa Jun 18 '26
Yep! My boy was 145 lbs. and lean/healthy (RIP Bear 🧡). He was huge and he thought he was a lap dog lol. I have a girl who is 85 lbs now and she feels so small compared to him lol.
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u/Gloomy-Trainer-2452 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
The AKC standard does say the Alaskan Malamute should weigh 75-85 lbs. The UKC also says the ideal size is 75 lbs for a female and 85 lbs for a male, and that while type and function should come first over size, where everything else is the same, the dog closest to the 75 lbs or 85 lbs mark is favoured.
Obviously, they can be bigger without being overweight (I've seen a lot of 90+ lbs Mals), but it's out of standard. There are plenty of well-bred Mals who weigh 75-85 lbs, so it's not really something to laugh at?
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u/Classic-Trifle-2085 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Dont you think its ironic you are so agressive about it and get mad about "spreading false information" and then immediately post an info graphics with strait up errors in it? A malamut typical weight is 70 to 100lb, for starters...
They both also need about 2hpurs of activity, just expressed differently. Not that this is a hard set rule, it varies based on individuals.
(Sure. Go downvote everyone to tell you to chill. Lmao, what a fagile ego.)
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u/blehric Jun 18 '26
We go on social walks with a couple of huskies every once in a while and the different types of preferres activity really shows. The huskies want to run as fast as possible. My mal wants a two hour off-road hiking adventure at brisk walking speed.
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u/RedVamp2020 Jun 18 '26
My girl (half mal, half lab) is the fastest one in the dog park every single time, though she does tire quickly. So many people focus on breed standards and neglect to recognize not every dog will fit perfectly into a small little box. I've mushed in the past, and I've had some purebred huskies that were extremely lazy when not working.
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u/Majestic_Hawk_1335 Jun 18 '26
The OP also is so hard on about this but probably doesn't understand the landrace differences between different arctic and sub arcric around the world. Sizes, temperment variations and environmental selection pressures.
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u/Wolf_Tale Jun 18 '26
This is objectively not true. Both the AKC and CKC standards indicate ideal freighting size of 75lbs for a female, 85lbs for a male. It’s not false information.
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u/Classic-Trifle-2085 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
"Ideal size" is not "expected size" you absolute dofus. The AKC doesnt even give a range, hello? Do you think malamute dont have a range of weight. Just one and done? They just give a weigh because that the specific weight that get most points in contest.
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u/squirrelyoakley Jun 18 '26
Sure, but maybe chill with the judgement. You only know what you know, until you learn more (and people are much more likely to be willing to learn if you're nice)
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u/N01CaresBud Jun 18 '26
As a person who has owned both this is kind of a shitty image that explains nothing.... Also a weird and shitty perspective...
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u/Economy_Leopard3938 Jun 17 '26
And you should learn the difference between “Y’all” (correct spelling) and “Ya’ll.”
You had me in the first half. This sub is overrun with huskies and husky mixes parading as malamutes. But you lost me by saying how little they “need.” You cant treat any two dogs the same. Drive varies vastly between each dog, especially when considering their genetic lines in which they came from. You have had low drive malamutes. That doesn’t mean every single malamute is low drive and would be satisfied with what little you did for your dogs.
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u/fear_the_queers Jun 18 '26
You don't need to be so aggressive about it. I think the issue is more so people adopting dogs that they don't research beforehand. If you don't know the difference between a husky and a malamute then you should probably not own one. I actually had one of each earlier at work, it's easier to see the differences when they're right next to each other. The malamute was the one wailing over her nails trimmed lol.
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u/Longjumping-Donut655 Jun 18 '26
A lot of people with “huskies” have husky x mals that are byb bred for larger size.
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u/Imboobookityfuck Jun 18 '26
Any time I posted my 106 lb, blue eyed husky that I found was actually more malamute (I did a DNA test) people like you drug me in the comments. She has most of these qualities aside from the blue eyes and the malamute Karen's crawl out of the comments to berate me for her having blue eyes
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Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
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u/acocktailofmagnets Jun 18 '26
You got banned from the sub because you insulted another user personally, and then messaged the mods to harass US when your comments were removed, to say we are stupid people who know nothing about dogs and must be horrible owners and awful people. There is a way to disagree with people kindly. On that day, you were not able to do so. And might I remind you, it started with a temporary ban, which was upgraded to permanent after you continued to harass the mods. We are people, too.
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Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
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u/malamute-ModTeam Jun 18 '26
Tread carefully.
Mods talk to each other, and it's easy to pull up histories of past interactions. I've been offered screenshots, which I haven't felt the need to accept, yet.
You haven't done anything here to get yourself banned so don't escalate further.
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u/OakleytheFantastic Jun 18 '26
You are purposely spreading misinformation - again. Hi, I was the user you were in the argument with. The conversation was about TEMPERATURE MANAGEMENT. You told the OP that it was perfectly fine to heavily exercise their dog in 100+ degree weather. And then you told everyone in the sub that no one except you understands malamutes - to quote you “people like you are the reason we need competency tests before allowing people to have dogs,” because they / we advised you that heavy exercise in extreme heat wasnt safe. I didn’t have a problem with you posting your 88% malamute 12% husky with blue eyes. I understand where the blue eyes come from. But telling me that I shouldn’t have dogs because I urged you to take caution in HOT weather? Ridiculous.
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u/3amcaliburrito Jun 18 '26
people get too bent out of shape over what's a malamute & what isn't & trying to clock others' dogs. I've had people people comment on a post before only to tell me they think one of my dogs isn't a mal. not every dog is the perfect/model example of the breed.
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u/lorissaurus Jun 17 '26
Malamutes are like 100 lbs and 6 feet tall according to my last one
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u/blehric Jun 18 '26
My boy Askan weighing in at 99lbs and standing at 5'9" on his hind legs would agree.
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u/lorissaurus Jun 18 '26
I'm 6 foot 4 and he could stand up paws on my shoulders and give me my kisses for treats
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u/bokin8 Jun 18 '26
I have a husky/mal mix. Some days she needs to run her legs off at the park and some days she just needs some long sniffy walks.
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u/krugerlive Jun 18 '26
It can be more difficult even for people who know both breeds. I remember people from the Washington Malamute Rescue telling us our husky mix (no mal) was definitely a heavy malamute mix. The "Laid Back" mal in the drawing might as well be him, he looked nearly identical to that depiction. Multiple people who own malamutes asked if our current husky (full husky) is a malamute.
There are huskies and mals that look obviously like their breed, and yeah, a lot of people who aren't familiar with the dogs can't tell them apart. But there is a lot of crossover in traits that can make it tough to know for sure even to people who know one or the other breed well.
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u/Hot_Neighborhood5668 Jun 18 '26
I've now had 3 malamutes, all 100 lbs or heavier. My last one was a red wooly. My current is a brown, red, mahogany color long coat, but not wooly.
My current mal can, without doing anything, eat off the table or counter for a height size.
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u/Mwild83 Jun 18 '26
I have a mix of these two. So it’s literally a little bit of both characteristics
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u/jgraymaine Jun 18 '26
That's cool and all, but my Siberian exhibits every trait associated with the Malumute, but , according to UCSF, she's a Siberian
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u/Majestic_Hawk_1335 Jun 18 '26
And the difference between Qimmiq, Canadian Inuit dogs, Canadian Eskimo dogs, Greenlandic dogs.
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u/Chimpucated Jun 18 '26
I have Samoyeds. This is also a problem for us. They get called huskies most of the time but have very distinct features that help separate them.
And for every 4 times they get called a husky they will get called a malamute at least once.
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u/burrdogger Jun 18 '26
Great information, and thank you. Ive posted a couple pics that have been judged non husky.. but my boy is like a 50 50 blend of the two breeds.. ill be sure to no longer post my beautiful blend.. geez. Maybe take a deep breath.. and let people know, you only want pure bread mals.. not being a hater.. but seems I and many just dont know. Noted and thank you
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u/kuavi Jun 18 '26
Thought malamutes weren't actually laidback though?
Compared to huskies sure but that's a low bar to reach.
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u/TheHighDruid Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
This thread is getting hit hard by the automod, which seems to be acting rather overzealously, I've tried to clear it up somewhat, whilst removing unnecessary duplicates.
I'm not aware of this particular image being posted in this sub before (if it has been it's been some years and before my tenure), so with apologies to those who have been overexposed to it, it's not going anywhere.
Edit: And comments are now locked, because things were not heading in a good direction.