The Kennel Club has announced that Alaskan malamutes are now among Britain’s most popular dog breeds and that their number has risen almost tenfold in the last decade.
Now and again we see a malemute while we walk our own dogs, and I got used to seeing these lovely animals when I once worked in Alaska where they were originally used by the Inuit as sled dogs. Indeed, in this country they are often harnessed to wheeled sleds and raced. One has only to see the impatience of these energetic animals to get going to appreciate how much they enjoy working.
Dogs are very personal things. What is loveable to one man is something to be detested by another. Some folk prefer their rescued mutts to pedigree animals, while others look to particular sizes and shapes of dog for their pets.
In Chateau MacDonald, we have two dogs with oodles of character; an elderly Yorkshire Terrier, Mickey, and a youngish Jack Russell, Ollie.
Mickey is most definitely my wife’s dog and, if she has to go out, will sit atop the armchair by the living room window waiting for her to return home. He cannot be deflected from this.
Mickey’s main ability is to understand the time, and we often wonder if he can read the clock in the living room. He is a terrible whiner and knows within a tolerance of ten to fifteen minutes when he is due for a treat or a saucer of chicken. How he does this is a complete mystery to us, but does it he does and, if we are late in delivering what he wants, he can be extremely vocal for such a titchy little animal.
In contrast to Mickey, Ollie is an extremely patient dog and seems to understand that treats and chicken come along at some time during the day and that there is no need to expend energy on chasing us up for them.
Ollie is my dog. Or, at least for some of the time.
If one of our granddaughters is in the house, for example, then Ollie cannot be separated from her. She will carry him around the house like a rag-doll with him having a silly look on his chops (yes, dogs do have expressions!). If either of our two sons happens to be at home, then he will gravitate to one of them. If we are watching the television in the evening, Ollie will either sit by the side of my mother or, alternatively, stretch out beside my wife on the sofa.
How then do I know that little Ollie is ‘my’ dog? It is because he will sometimes ignore everyone else and come to me for a cuddle. And, on the few occasions that I am unwell and have to return to bed, then Ollie is always there by my side ignoring whatever else is going on in the house.
Ollie is our third Jack Russell. They are dogs with immense character and can be very funny in some of their antics. They can also, like any other breed of dog, be very territorial.
As witness the Jack Russell, appropriately named Jack, who lives with his family in a farm in South Dakota. He recently discovered a 150lb cougar wandering around the property and was so aggressive in defending his territory, that he managed to chase it up a tree where it was later chased and shot by the farm’s owner.
Mickey and Ollie are cowards, but we used to have a cat that could have done that!
.
Now and again we see a malemute while we walk our own dogs, and I got used to seeing these lovely animals when I once worked in Alaska where they were originally used by the Inuit as sled dogs. Indeed, in this country they are often harnessed to wheeled sleds and raced. One has only to see the impatience of these energetic animals to get going to appreciate how much they enjoy working.
Dogs are very personal things. What is loveable to one man is something to be detested by another. Some folk prefer their rescued mutts to pedigree animals, while others look to particular sizes and shapes of dog for their pets.
In Chateau MacDonald, we have two dogs with oodles of character; an elderly Yorkshire Terrier, Mickey, and a youngish Jack Russell, Ollie.
Mickey is most definitely my wife’s dog and, if she has to go out, will sit atop the armchair by the living room window waiting for her to return home. He cannot be deflected from this.
Mickey’s main ability is to understand the time, and we often wonder if he can read the clock in the living room. He is a terrible whiner and knows within a tolerance of ten to fifteen minutes when he is due for a treat or a saucer of chicken. How he does this is a complete mystery to us, but does it he does and, if we are late in delivering what he wants, he can be extremely vocal for such a titchy little animal.
In contrast to Mickey, Ollie is an extremely patient dog and seems to understand that treats and chicken come along at some time during the day and that there is no need to expend energy on chasing us up for them.
Ollie is my dog. Or, at least for some of the time.
If one of our granddaughters is in the house, for example, then Ollie cannot be separated from her. She will carry him around the house like a rag-doll with him having a silly look on his chops (yes, dogs do have expressions!). If either of our two sons happens to be at home, then he will gravitate to one of them. If we are watching the television in the evening, Ollie will either sit by the side of my mother or, alternatively, stretch out beside my wife on the sofa.
How then do I know that little Ollie is ‘my’ dog? It is because he will sometimes ignore everyone else and come to me for a cuddle. And, on the few occasions that I am unwell and have to return to bed, then Ollie is always there by my side ignoring whatever else is going on in the house.
Ollie is our third Jack Russell. They are dogs with immense character and can be very funny in some of their antics. They can also, like any other breed of dog, be very territorial.
As witness the Jack Russell, appropriately named Jack, who lives with his family in a farm in South Dakota. He recently discovered a 150lb cougar wandering around the property and was so aggressive in defending his territory, that he managed to chase it up a tree where it was later chased and shot by the farm’s owner.
Mickey and Ollie are cowards, but we used to have a cat that could have done that!
.
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