She came to live with me 9 weeks ago. In that short time she quickly got use to her new name, has learned new commands and tricks, walks well on a leash (now) and seems to be happy. She still counter surfs (but not as much), is still reactive to squirrels, bunnies, chipmunks and small dogs (but is improving), and has figured out that birds are just too fast for her. Her ‘job’ is keeping critters out of her backyard. She walks the fence line everyday, chases squirrels and even alerted me to 2 raccoons in a tree. Socializing with other dogs took some time, but within the last week or two, we’ve turned a corner. She’s actually made some (medium or large) doggo friends! She is definitely silly and because of that there’s a lot more laughter in my world!! I know I’m happier with her in my life!

Thank you WAMAL for all your support through this long foster! I am SO grateful to be a part of such a wonderful and caring rescue organization.
Troy: “Foot Soldier”
He’s our foot soldier now! A great protector and loyal friend and a wonderful buddy to Kuma and Meeko.
Details of his story:
Date of birth 01/15/2015
Abandoned at shelter 01/12/17. Tied to a sign-post, NO WATER and MUZZLED!
WAMAL contacted me (Thank you Jaime Lemke Perez) and asked if I would be able to foster a dog that was scheduled to be euthanized due to aggressiveness and a bite history (due to his intense fear and inexperienced handlers).
So, the day I met Troy: The Shelter Coordinator transported Troy to me and I sat down in the quiet parking lot as Troy lunged at me. No barking. As I sat there quiet and hands on lap, Troy came up to me, licked my ears, crawled into my lap, and the rest is history.
After 19 months of fostering this scared and fearful LOYAL “Foot Soldier” called Troy–many adoption applications turned down because people like how cute he is but learn of his troubled past and don’t want to give him a chance–is now forever part of our pack.
Troy: 70lbs of love and loyalty, Meeko: 50lbs and 3 legs, and Kuma: 140lbs of pure 4 paw power who loves to sleep.

Crimson came to WAMAL as an Owner Surrender and quickly went into a wonderful Foster home. Her Foster family was concerned because Crimson was panting a lot and had abdominal swelling so they took her to the vet. They—and we—got quite the surprise…she was pregnant! Just a few days later Crimson gave birth to 8 beautiful and healthy puppies.
But wait…these didn’t look like Malamute puppies so what’s a Rescue to do? Wisdom Health DNA to the Rescue (pardon the pun)!! We’re all so grateful to this Wooonderful company for donating two DNA kits. Drumroll… results were 50% Malamute & 50% Akita. Wisdom Health’s multi page detailed report provided breed histories, traits, family tree, and several health screenings.
This story ends quite happily. Crimson got her forever home with her Foster Family and all her puppies are living large in their new forever homes. Please support @wisdomhealth for your DNA testing needs. Support those companies who support WAMAL!!

Ludo (formerly Vikas) is an amazing, goofy and incredibly loving soul. He is everywhere you go, just to be in the presence of his humans is pure joy for him (and us). After bringing him home, there were a few kinks (house training, jumping, and counter surfing) but we’ve got those things all worked out, with the occasional jump/hug every now and then to show love or excitement, but they are far more gentle. He loves exercise, and we were finding that even walking 5 miles a day sometimes wasn’t doing the trick, so we found a dog camp he runs 2 days a week with his “pack” there, and it seems to do the trick.
As for the news, after watching the movie Togo (Ludo was paying rapt attention) we were shocked at his resemblance to both the dog in the film and the historical photos of the Seppula Huskies, we decided to do a DNA test. The results came in this morning, and are really interesting.
LUDO IS:
50% Alaskan Husky
25% Alaskan Malamute
12.5% German Shepherd
12.5% Rottweiler!!!
His 25% Mal definitely comes out in his personality, and we thank you for posting the story about the dog DNA test, who would have known you could do such a thing??
We appreciate every thing you have done to bring Ludo into our lives, and to help so many others like him.

I received your holiday newsletter, and after recovering from the guilt of not having written my own, I thought I’d at least take a few minutes to send you a thank you note.
Yogi came to live with us almost 2 years ago, through your amazing efforts. I contacted you in an attempt to locate my next Mal, as my best buddy Kenai was approaching his last days.
WAMAL first impressed me with your thorough screening process which demonstrated a level of diligence and love for these dogs. I was also impressed with your patience and willingness to work with me to find the right dog for our home. It took several months to find Yogi, but he’s turned out to be the perfect addition to our family.
Thank you so much for all you do. I wish could offer more than thanks, including contributions, time, and taking in additional dogs either as a foster or an adoptive home. Unfortunately, my budget and schedule doesn’t allow for that, so I can only offer my gratitude and appreciation, and these two pics of the footwarmer that resides under my desk as I type this.
Merry Christmas from our house!

Everything is going well with Yeti. We had the family of 10 people over on Thanksgiving and it was their first time meeting Yeti. When he was in the house we took turns standing guard at the entrance of the kitchen. During my guard duty he quietly snuck up beside me and took a big bite out of the cheesecake! The counter surfing is something I am not use to because our last 2 mals never did it. I am not sure how to break Yeti of it other than saying No every time he tries.
Yeti is also not very good at coming when he’s called. He doesn’t seem to know his name. Or he is very good at tuning you out. Today I had him walking around with me while I took out the trash and scooped up his poop. There is a lot of snow here right now so we have the gate to our driveway open (it cannot operate in the snow). Yeti walked into the driveway, I called him, he ignored me. I called again as he edged further away. He looked over at me then put his head down and ran fast down the driveway out the gate and down the road! When I finally go to the road I saw him about 300 yards up the road sniffing bushes. I was calling him the whole time. Finally he turned and looked at me and he ran fast back to me and right on by me attempting to make a break the opposite direction. I caught him and he then walked all casual back through the gate and to the house. He is definitely a typical mal with what I call cat like attitude.
He is sleeping in the house more at night which we are trying to encourage with the very cold nights. He is getting better about relaxing in the house during the day too. Before he would never lay down and just pace. Now he will lay down for about 30 minutes before wanting back out.

Our sweet new family member is settling in to our home wonderfully. This is my new fur baby Arrow. Thank you WAMAL for rescuing her and entrusting us with providing her a love filled happy home. Arrow had been injured when WAMAL rescued her. Unfortunately she had to have surgery and WAMAL stepped in and brought her back to health! She is a happy healthy tripawd now … but don’t tell her she hasn’t noticed. Thank you WAMAL for the wonderful work you do. This Thanksgiving when I make my gratitude list your organization and volunteers are at the top!

Here’s Tana! Isn’t she beautiful?
She has been with her new family for a few weeks, and is reported to be a smart, loving, appreciative, and confident young gal. She shows her excitement by being squirmy, trying to be everywhere at once, to get pets, to sniff… just a girl in motion! Tana is fascinated (and excited!) by the deer and the elk she gazes at through the glass door of her new house. She has not yet discovered the wild bunnies that live there too—watch out!
Tana gets to be an only girl to soak up the love of a couple that lost their other malamute on New Years Eve day to cancer, and couldn’t bear the house without a malamute, which has been their favorite breed for a good many years.

Tana’s people say they’ve known about WAMAL since they lost their second malamute about 8 years ago and are pleased to adopt a rescue. They also want to express their deepest appreciation for the speed in getting their home check completed to make meeting Tana possible. It was a big effort with several moving parts, but Tana is HOME.
Tana’s take:
“I love to stretch out between my people in their bed in the morning and at night, my face next to theirs, for chin and belly rubs. They feel so good–please don’t stop! This is delicious!
My new people are patient and kind and when I have an accident in the house, they understand it’s the stress of so much that’s ‘new.’ Whew! I’m trying, and I will start to eat better too, as I get more familiar with my new home.
Also, squeaky.toys.are.the.BEST!!!”

I first heard about Yukon (previously Tucker) from the WAMAL home visitor, who helped me find the right dog. Yukon was of course a bit wild at the kennel, but his description sounded like he had a good side hidden in there somewhere so I was excited to meet him. This turned out to be the case as soon as he got out of the kennel and went for a walk. He turned into a whole new dog, and with his ‘you can’t say no to me’ face, I had to give him a home.
He has quickly taken to hiking and trail running, and these have become his favorite things to do. He just gets so excited when we pull into the trailhead parking lots. His daily routine is a morning walk, play in the yard while dad is at work, then an afternoon run or hike.
He sits and waits for permission to eat his food, has learned paw, other paw, roll over, and many other tricks. He is currently working on beg and fetch. Fetch is going to be the hardest because he just refuses to chase anything that doesn’t move by itself. He loves to cuddle on the couch in the evening and often decides to take a nap on dad’s lap.
He loves the dog park and makes lots of new friends. Everyone always comments about how cute he is and tries to pet him, but he is always more interested in playing with the other dogs and often gives a cold shoulder (except to dad). He just started training with his new backpack and will be going on some fun multi-day snowshoeing trips this winter. He really looks forward to becoming a true mountain dog, as long as he isn’t too busy begging for belly scratches.
WAMAL is a great organization with great volunteers. I definitely recommend WAMAL if anyone is interested in adopting a malamute. Maybe someday Yukon will need to train a new mountain dog and WAMAL will be called again.

Hi WALMAL,
Update on Molly adopted last May. This summer we took a 45 day road trip to our new home in Florida. We were very worried how Molly would travel by car and in numerous hotels, but we came to find out she’s one great traveler. She loved standing up in the back of the car looking out at everything wagging her tail like crazy. Her personality has blossomed. She now climbs stairs and tries to sneak on furniture. She absolutely loves walks to the river or a drive to the beach.
Thanks for sharing Molly with us!

I honestly can’t believe that this is the SAME dog…. he went from sad old man, to happy young buck in just a couple of weeks! Dean has helped me smile every day since I’ve had him. I feel very thankful.

Rescuing these noble and hysterically funny dogs is one of the great joys of my life. Mahina is so different in looks (Cindy told me not to try to ‘find’ Lishka again!) and her wooly coat is a daily challenge. She is so dear…recent hip x-rays show arthritis, but buffered aspirin keeps her going. She was running with me tonight for short distances.
She is gloriously beautiful…stops traffic where ever we go. Our walks are not as long as they once were, but she finds such joy in going outside. She does love the river and is so happy now that the days are getting much cooler. The lower the temperature the more ‘happy feet’ she gets.
Here’s a great part of our story. Her kitties, Bruddah and Sistah, go on all the neighborhood walks with us. Sistah came first as a young kitten and scolded her scairdy cat brother for whining when we left his area. She soon talked him into joining us and now we are the neighborhood story. We look like a bad Walt Disney movie…Mahina walking her cats each day and night! They also ride in the car with her for trips to the vet! In the beginning it was a real challenge to teach her these little fur balls were NOT yummy treats. However, now they belong to her. One late night walk not long ago a big dog on the loose chased the cats up a tree and Mahina went after him…bad hips and all!
We love you all who work so unceasingly for these wonderful snow dogs.

I would like to submit some pictures for the calendar fundraiser. These are all recent pictures of Darwin (formerly Saturn), we adopted him on January 31st. He is now 10 mos old and close to 90lbs, he has really taken to swimming, sleeping, eating and keep away.

I just wanted to Thank everyone, we just love Crooner. He is such a good dog, he loves our grandchildren. They have so much fun together. He is so well behaved when he comes in the house. He likes to go for long walks and rides as well.

Again thanks for everything. Please tell Cindy Thank You

Cooper has been sleeping in his dug hole for the last two day’s, with out being on the cable run. When I want to drive some where I tell him to get in the car and he goes to the van and wait’s for me to get there and open the door so he can get in the van. Pretty cool huh. When I want him in the house I just call him and he run’s up the stair’s and then wait’s for me to brush him and then he goes into the house, and run’s to my room so I can give him some treat’s. Kieku and I both want to thank you for getting him for me. Many thanks.