Has anyone here owned an Alaskan Malamute?

They are NOT hard to train....they're VERY smart and need to be kept entertained or they get bored and start finding other things to do.  LOL, You have to keep up with them!  Train with food and you'll do just fine--you can wean them off the food but that's how you get their undivided attention from the outset.  I have 5 of my own and have produced a couple litters:  among my own dogs  I have 20 working titles and one of the litter pups has 2 working titles plus is doing great with agility.  Of the current litter 1 has been bumped up to a more advanced agility class because she was catching on so fast. 

 That said, they are not an easy dog to live with.  You have to stay on them constantly. You can't let them get away with anything.  You need to be familiar with the NILIF (nothing in life is free) program as well as Dr Patricia McConnell's "How to be the leader of the pack and have your dog love you for it" which is a bible for any malamute owner.  I send that with all of my puppy people.  They have a tendancy to be destructive if not exercised and dog aggressive even despite your best attempts at socialization.  I find them incredibly rewarding because they're like no other breed but they are definitely not for most people.  And you have to be careful what you teach them because unlike many other dogs, they learn what you teach and then they, all on their own, apply it to suit their needs.  My friends taught theirs to turn off the light on command....now when he's disgusted that he's not getting enough attention, guess what he does?  Same dog has learned to unzip things...well that's funny til we went camping this weekend and he set his housemates free sometime during the night--luckily everyone was found but still that's scary.  They're incredible at escaping kennels and yards.  My oldest girl has an impressive destruction record and at some point learned how to escape some pretty secure crates without leaving so much as a clue how she got out. 

 If you decide to go that route, think HARD about it, do LOTS of reading, have a trainer lined up and start  training as soon as possible.  If you do, I'd recommend a male because they are a 100 times easier than a female.

Our Malamute died about 3 years ago at the old age of 16.  She was a go getter, to say the least.  She was not hard to train, consistency is the key.  You must have training sessions with a malamute every day, you can not skip a day or they get bored and become destructive.  The biggest problem we had was Renegade's need to run, she was never hard to find though, we just had to find the closes house with other malamutes and there she would be.  She was a loyal companion, never rough with the kids, she loved playing tag with the kids and would have never hurt a fly. 

Grooming is a huge factor with Malamutes because you have to be sure to get to the undercoat when brushing or they look shaggy and mangy. 

 I would never discourage a person from getting the breed of dog they truly want, I would just caution that every dog needs training and malamutes need it to be consistent training.

Good luck

I agree. Although I recommend NILIF to everyone, headstrong breeds, large breeds, and any working/herding dogs need it. I have a Malamute/corgi and while shes half malamte I can clearly see both breeds. I wouldn't reccommend this breed to everyone, but they aren't too hard to train if you start the day you get one and don't slack.

I love mals, the biggest downside IME is the coat. lol heavy shedding all year.

I don't find the grooming to be any big deal, every month or two I take mine outside with the high powered blower (more often if they're blowing coat) and shoot the excess hair off of them.  Those blowers are AWESOME and have many other uses to justify the cost.  If you have a longcoat they take a lot more but my standard coated dogs (yeah, I have 6 in the house) don't really shed that much....of course, everything's relative I guess!