General Questions

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I have created this page for the purpose of asking, finding and sharing general questions about Alaskan Malamutes , Nordic breeds or large breeds in general.

I continue to learn more and more as time goes on. I know just how frustrating it can be to have a question and no one knows the answer or no one answers it at all.

The informations written here is just that - information. You can take it or leave it. I believe the more educated we are the better choices we can make.

If you have information that you think others might find helpful, please let me know. I will add it to this page.

TAPING EARS

The younger the better. Definitely! It gets harder to get them to stand the older they get.
Supplies:
Jumbo rollers
Heavy Duty first aid cloth tape (2 inches wide)
Duct tape
Electric Clippers (like to shave a head)
Skin Bond skin glue (optional but really helps, and Walgreens doesn't carry it, CVC does)

This will spare you a couple thousand dollar breeding dog that may have to be altered if the ears don't go up. Fur grows back in no time. The dog will only look silly for a month or two and will live for 10 year or more.

Shave the puppy's ears with electric shaver making sure to shave the base really well. Shave bald or cut with scissors as close as you can. Some breeders argue that the weight of fur doesn't determine whether they go up or not, or how fast-they are full of it. Sometimes just shaving the ears makes them begin to stand all on their own. But also, the tape sticks better to skin.

You always want a good strong base. Get the base shaved and even onto the neck/ head a little to ensure the entire base is rid of excess weight. Make sure tape is really down low and layered a few times at the very base and even onto the head & neck a little.

Place the jumbo roller in the ear. If you can find "Skin Bond" at your pharmacy, use that to glue them in.

Wrap tape around the base of the ears and make a figure 8 to hold the ears up high on the head. Wrap tape a few layers thick, squeezing it tight to make it stick, about 3/4 of the way up the ear. The ear has to breath so be careful not to tape to high up it.

Rip a foot of duct tape off the roll and wrap it around the fur at the base of the ear and make a figure 8 again with the duct tape over the cloth tape, making sure that the duct tape sticks to the fur at the base of the ear. This is so the puppy can't get it off.

The puppy will get it off anyways, you'll have to re-do everything every day or every other day. But don't worry, you'll get really good at it and the puppy's ears should be up after a week or two. It's quite amazing actually- it DOES work!

When you take the tape off, you'll have to cut the fur at the base of the ears that the duct tape is stuck to. Don't even attmept to save fur by riping the duct tape off. Just cut it off. Don't worry though- the dog already looks silly because the rest of the ear is shaved bald so it doens't matter at this point.

Be careful with the duct tape, only use it sparingly at the very base, just below where you shaved the fur completely off, to make it difficult for the pup to get his ears un-taped.

People who tell you not to use duct tape never get their puppy's ears to stand up so don't listen to them. It's not going to cut the circulation off if it's just stuck to the fur at the base. And appearance on a puppy really doesn't matter in contrast to losing a great breeding dog for the duration of it's entire life. If people get mad at you (and they will), tell them where to shove it. Any one who's that prissy and protective of a dog's fur and safety and appearance, probably doesn't know a thing about Malamutes or shouldn't have them to begin with :-)

You may have to push the roller back down in the ear a few times day because the puppy will keep shaking his head (that is if you do not use Skin Bond to glue it to the ear).

puppy shots

Please remember, puppies are NOT protected against viruses until at least a couple weeks AFTER their LAST set of puppy shots.

If you take them into public areas, please carry them.

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Dog Food

Some PET stores do this -

For every 10 weight circles off the bags of the same size and brand and the receipt you save, you can get a free bag of that size.

Check with your favorite pet store to see if they do it.

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" Royal Canin " brand dog food

This company is doing a lot of research to make better dog food that is not only size specific but breed too. They have determined that large breed puppies up to 6 months really do need the extra calcium that is taken out of the regular "large breed" puppy food. They recommend regular puppy food until 6 months then switch to "large breed" puppy food after 6 months.

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