Today Joe Henderson, arguably one of the few people today working Alaskan Malamutes properly in their native range, came out against wooly/long coated dogs and praised the aspects of our standard that mention its function as a sled dog above ALL ELSE.
This is great and also a change of heart from him (he has previously been very against the AKC size range...but that’s a whole different issue and his dogs are not as big as he often claims them to be...)
Anyways he describes that he’s made a mistake in the past where a dog (short long coat or long coat carrier) had its feet trimmed for a show and he could not accurately judge how much hair the dog actually had (long hair being non-functional for an arctic sled dog) and used that dog for breeding. Dogs with long hair especially on the feet, do poorly in the Arctic.
It really makes me examine the allowances in our standard that allow the trimming of feet and how this makes one unable to judge the dogs function as a sled dog in the ring. Because of course form follows function, but when you never work your dogs in snowy conditions, when you never work your dog at all...these small aspects of the dog (such as the importance of a short double coat without excess furnishings) is lost.
Nancy Russel who ran her show malamutes in the Iditarod in the ‘90’s also recounts that feet were a HUGE aspect of her dog’s failure in the race. It also makes me question the lienancy of long coated carriers in the show ring (they are short coated, but carry for long hair and have flashier costs than a true short coat) when we know this long coated trait was the result of likely european admixture (long haired mastiff like dogs were popular in the Arctic during the gold rush). When we have genetic tests for coat lengths already, but the show breeders are wildly against using them or wildly against breeding two true short coats together because they are afraid they will loose their flashy show coats there is a problem.
1.) you do not loose coat length breeding two short coated dogs together. Coat length genetics are much more complex than that. A huge majority of prolific show breeders here in the US are in warmer climates which means their preferences for carrier dogs mimics what a winter coat on a true short coat would look like, but true short coats are going to be even less desirable in these climates bc they will be “naked” for much of the show season and not stand out or “look ugly”. This is a problem.
2.) the function of the breed as a sled dog is to be considered above all else, but on a consistent basis dogs are NOT worked at the same time breeders prattle off about “purpose bred”. This is a problem.
3.) the malamute is to be shown 100% natural, no trimming...except for the feet. Arguably one of the most important parts of a sled dog’s structure. Above all you want good feet. Feet have been bred too “pretty” (as stated by Nancy Russel in a recent interview) and they are trimmed to be pretty, not giving an accurate judge of the dog’s function as a sled dog. This is a problem.
