WASHINGTON ALASKAN MALAMUTE ADOPTION LEAGUE - SAVING THE ALASKAN MALAMUTE

Meet some of the Colville Dogs:

Wookie	Samson and Delilah
Tango	Smiley

In late September WAMAL got an urgent call from one of our sister rescue organizations in Spokane. They had discovered a backyard breeding operation in a remote area outside Colville WA where an elderly man was breeding Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies, and sometimes mixing them, to sell puppies that he could call wolf-dogs. He sold, we are told, out of the back of his pickup truck in parking lots around the area.

The man had died recently and left 35 dogs with no one to care for them and nowhere to go. The neighbors, who work in a local meat packing business, had been going in a couple times a week and tossing remnants from their business into the pens as food for the dogs. By the time rescue representatives got on site the living conditions for the dogs were horrific and had been for some time. There were ramshackle pens where the ground was covered in feces, each pen housing multiple dogs with little food and no water readily available. The larger dogs did ok; many smaller dogs were malnourished and scarred. Chunks of rancid animal flesh, caught on fence posts, were riddled with worms and parasites, as were the dogs. In one pen a mother doghad dug a den under a plywood shed for her puppies where she stood at the entrance on guard.

Thankfully, WAMAL was able to work with Spokane authorities, the local Siberian rescue organization and a Wolfdog rescue group to rescue these dogs. WAMAL took in dogs we identified as Malamute or mostly Malamute, including a litter of tiny puppies. The Siberian group took 16 dogs and a few of indeterminate husky breed went to an out of state rescue.

All of the females were recent mothers. ALL of them. There were relatively few pups. All of the extremely young dogs were close to feral and are not ready for adoption.

But the dogs that are maybe 2-3 years old, while afraid of all newcomers, are incredibly sweet once they learn to trust. And they learn quickly! These dogs have been in our care for about four months and have come an amazing distance from their horrendous beginning. We need to ask your help to take them further.

All of the dogs have needed extra time and care to come out of their shells, and some have not yet made that journey. The things we need your help to accomplish are:

Smiley, Wookie and Tango all have truly sweet personalities but are overly cautious with strangers. These dogs need the help of a trainer who can address their anxiety and behavioral issues, giving them the confidence to come out of their shells. We have found a local resource who is willing to provide the training at a reduced rate, but we still need to pay for it.

We have Samson and Delilah, a bonded pair that cannot be separated as Samson is blind and Delilah acts as his eyes. We think he might see light and shadow but need to have him checked by a specialist to discover if there is anything we can do to improve his vision or at least maintain what he has. Like human-care specialists, veterinary ophthalmology will cost more than the usual vet visit and we dont yet know what follow-up will be needed. This pair also need the attention of the trainer to build confidence.

Most of the Colville dogs are housed at one of our foster homes in Cle Elum. Foster Mom Sandy is a single woman in her late 50s who needs help to manage the caretaking of these dogs, particularly during the winter and since she also has a full time job in addition to the work needed to care for the Mals. She has some kennel help but it takes an incredible amount of work and time to first remove the snow and ice from the paths so they can get to the dogs, then to actually feed, water and clean the kennels. Funds are also needed to help with the expenses related to the kennel work.

There are also volunteer opportunities (walking and socializing) for qualified WAMAL volunteers. Email WAMAL if you are interested in becoming a dog-walking-qualified volunteer. It takes some special, but acquirable, skills.

If you would like to contribute to our efforts to rehabilitate and rehome these dogs please use one of the links below. Any amount, no matter how small will help!

Thank-you for your understanding!

PLEASE: Include some sort of note on if this donation is to be used only for the rescue of the Colville dogs, and if WAMAL collects an excess (not expected, but just in case) if those funds can be used to rescue other WAMAL dogs, or if the donation should be refunded to the donor. Please include a current mailing address on your note if you require a refund.