We collected our 8 weeks old Alaskan Malamute, Kaya with full knowledge of the breed. We knew they were renowned for their stubbornness and strong temperament both mentally and physically and we desperately wanted to do the best we could for Kaya and avoid her joining the high statistics of Malamutes that are returned to rescue centres as strong powerful uncontrollable adults.
We called upon Mike who visited us when Kaya was about 17 weeks old and he spent the afternoon with us carefully assessing Kaya and our interactions with her and provided us with an easy to follow training booklet specifically for Kaya, regarding breed, size and temperament. In following the guidelines we were to achieve our goal of a happy and cooperative puppy with regards to behavior, attitude and obedience.
Mike also highlighted some potential difficulties with Kaya regarding food guarding and attention-seeking and offered us strategies to tackle these particular traits. At around 6 months Kaya began a period of unsettlement which led to her first season and her behavior became testing at times with changing hormone levels and cranky behavior, however, Mike was at hand to guide us through.
Kaya has just turned 12 months and still very young and thanks to Mike’s advice and support we gained the knowledge to be patient, consistent, enjoy and continually develop Kaya into the dog we always wanted. We now enjoy long walks, mainly off the lead ( Malamutes are notoriously rebellious at recall ) she loves chasing balls ( however rarely returns them and we are averaging a
loss of a ball a day ) she loves swimming and is a keen gardener specializing in large excavations! Kaya is also very sociable with other dogs and people. Kaya is mostly cooperative, although she still has a stubborn streak and processes a great ability to be selective with her hearing on occasion and
there is always a need to reinforce and continue the process. Saying that she is even responsive to our younger member of the family our 4-year-old son, staying, sitting, and dropping toys!
With commitment and consistency, we have a very positive and loving relationship with Kaya, we share a mutual trust and we feel, she has found her place in our family. Mike taught us that every interaction is important with Kaya and we continue with the knowledge and confidence to be capable and caring leaders.
Thank you Mike xx
Kaya the Alaskan Malamute
