Questions about Mals for experienced owners! (Potential owner here) Questions

Hey guys,
I am a 21 yo college student (steady income) who lives in a ground floor one-bedroom apartment. I have always loved alaskan malamutes and have shared the unique experience of raising 2 mals with my family before i moved away for college (Got our first Mal when I was 13). We raised our mals as our own family members. I have missed my mals so much ever since I moved away from home and would love to adopt a mal. Living alone is also quite lonely, and having a loyal, loving, malamute companion would be perfect for me. I rarely go out to parties and stay home on most nights and weekends. I've done extensive research on the breed and know many of the potential problems that could happen if things are not done the right way. I was hoping to get some outside opinions from all the experienced owners on the forum on whether or not I am ready for a mal.

Living situation+Schedule:
I understand that a one-bedroom apartment with no real garden (just grass outside the door) is far from ideal, however, there are many large parks and beaches near my house that I can easily take the dog to. I won't be in school in the coming fall semester and will be home for most of each day. In the spring semester, I am only taking 3 courses and will only be away from home for 2-3 hours max. I am a very active and athletic person (6 hour of soccer a week+other activities), love the outdoors and being in nature. I would love to take my mal for walks/runs in the forests, on the beach and hikes in the mountains around the city.

Training:
I have experience with training my own mals (I know how stubborn they can be at times) when I grew up and will be going through proper training with the new mal as well.Since I have very similar traits with mals (always want to be the alpha and a little stubborn hahaha) I think I would do well in interacting and training mals.



I know that I am still young and a lot of things in my life may still change drastically in the coming years. However, I'm planning on building my life with my potential mal as an unexpendable part of my life. Even though I love mals to death, I would not want to adopt a mal if my situation is not suitable for them.

So do you guys think I'm in a good position to adopt and raise an alaskan malamute? Is there anything I missed and need to address before continuing further?

thanks guys!

Hi Jeff

I work at a Rescue home in the UK & if you are still at college/ university we would allow you to adopt.
We are not to bothered where you live as long as there is space in your flat/house/bungalow for a large dog to have his/her own personal space, we would also look if there is a safe place for your dog to go to toilet, ie last thing at night & first thing in the morning like a secure garden, if there is no secure garden then we would look to see if there is anywhere within 5 mins walk for your dog to go toilet, unfortunately a lot of dogs won't go toilet if on a lead. [not sure why but we do have at the moment 27 dogs at the rescue home that will only go toilet when they are off their leads all are large breed dogs]

What are your plans for after college? It could well have a bearing on your tentative plans to get a dog

As long as the dog gets adequate exercise, training and socialization, I don't see any reason why you couldn't get an Alaskan Malamute.

Yeah theres enough space for both of us and there is a small fenced dog park a block away from my house that I could take the dog to for the toilet. I was hoping that after a while the dog would just go to the toilet in the small patch of grass in the front yard but the fenced park is probably better so the dog could sniff around more.
thanks for the response !

I still have at least 2 years left in school, and after graduation I'm planning on staying in the city I live in to build my career for a few years before considering moving elsewhere. I would take the mal anywhere i'd go after though

It sounds like you would give a dog a good home. Is there a rescue organization or breeder near you? There is the Washington Alaskan Malamute Adoption League and they usually always have some dogs available.

Thanks, its nice to hear from everyone that they think I would be a good owner!
and yeah there are a few around that I've been looking at and hopefully contacting soon