SANAK

Sanak is the "grand old man" at the kennel – he was our first malamute. He was a very promising puppy – he became best puppy a couple of times and he became Best of Breed at a big German show at only 14 months of age. At one year he was exactly standard size and suddenly he started to grow again and unfortunately he did not stop until he reached 71 cm (28 inches)! At the same time his temperament changed to the worse. He could no longer accept any other males around, he did not welcome people he did not know, he would growl at judges etc. We spent hours of training and lots of money on socialising him over a year, but we never really succeed. It was obvious that Sanak was doing much better as long as he could stay at home and just live by his daily routines. Therefore his show career ended when he was 18 months old – he did no longer like to go around to shows.
When Sanak was 9 months old he started to limp at little from time to time and one day someone accidentally stepped on his leg – he was taken to the vet because he was now limping all the time and he was in pain walking. The vet discovered he had a dysplasia – not in his hips or elbows – but in his shoulder. The good thing with this kind of dysplasia is, if the dog is kept in a good condition it will be able to live without pain. Sanak was rested until he was free of pain (about 3 weeks) then we started a hard working program for he. He was worked every day for a month and he was still pain free. Since he has been worked 3-4 times a week and he has been working fine – he turned 7 years in April 2005 and he still loves to work. Sanak is a real working dog – not fast – but very on going. At the end of the working season 2005/2006 we discovered that Sanak now and then stared to limp if he has been going 25-30 kilometers, so for the rest of the season he was only run on shorter training session. We have decided to retire Sanak from the winter 2006. Sanak has now moved to live more or less with Karina’s parents, who live in Tulleråsen, Jämtland. Sanak is really enjoying his retirement – at least he is walked 2 times a day and he is going where ever Karina’s parents are going and he is run a little in front of the bike during spring and autumn and follow along when they are cross country skiing during the winter.


Over the last couple years Sanak’s temperament has changed to the better – he finally kind of grow up. He can accept more and more males around him, we believe we can even take him to a show and he will accept a judge getting close to him. He can go on almost any team we run – he usually never starts any trouble any more. At this point age has changed him to the better, but in other situations he acts as if his is 7 months in stead of 7 years – for example if he gets a new toy, if people he knows drops by or when playing with our puppies/youngsters.