Kool Alaskan Malamutes, Kool Siberian Huskies, Kool Samoyeds Breeder writing own favorable comments and puppy guarantee voided if vet prescribes Flagyl (metronidazol) the most preferred treatment for Giardia and bacterial infestations Ionia Michigan

Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, involved in starving and abusing dogs to frame other breeders. Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, and Kiskakon Malamutes located in Allen, MI, and owned by Dawn McClellan are trying to ruin other breeders' businesses:

In September 2008, Kool Alaskan Malamutes came into the knowledge that Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, was involved in starving and abusing dogs to frame other breeders for grudges that she held against these breeders. She possibly also did this to put these breeders out of business so that she could gain the entire Alaskan Malamute market. Jolene Houghtaling published starved and abused dog pictures on the internet stating that these other breeders did this. Jolene Houghtaling also spread the word around to stay away from buying from certain breeders. A number of Alaskan Malamutes breeders went out of business due to this tactic of Jolene Houghtaling.

Dawn McClellan, owner of Kiskakon Malamutes located in Allen, MI, is now helping Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, ruin other breeders' businesses.

Kool Alaskan Malamutes stuck up for one of these breeders in October 2008 that Jolene Houghtaling framed with starved and abused pictures. Jolene Houghtaling then had her lawyer unrightfully shut down our website in the beginning of 2009 because we were publishing the truth on our website of how Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, had spread slander on the internet about this breeder. Jolene Houghtaling lied and said that we had slander on our website. But of course, ALL of the evidence shows that Jolene Houghtaling is the guilty one who starved and abused the innocent Malamutes and also swindled Malamutes by use of a third party to gain all of the bloodlines that she wanted.

Jolene Houghtaling then had Wildpaw Malamute forum members write Ripoff Reports and other bad reviews against Kool Alaskan Malamutes starting the very end on January 2009 to get back at us for publishing the truth on our website in defense of this breeder. Then, Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, served lawsuits on us and the breeder that we helped, using the false witness of Dawn McClellan, owner of Kiskakon Malamutes located in Allen, MI, to get back at the breeder that we helped. Both Jolene Houghtaling and Dawn McClellan lied under oath at the lawsuit for the breeder that we helped.

Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, also is using domain names for Cascade Alaskan Malamutes and Wakon Alaskan Malamutes in order to get puppy buyers to come to her rather than go to them. This is unethical and shady.

To the author of this false report against Kool Alaskan Malamutes:

We do not write false reports like others do.  We have ALL of the evidence, and it will not be given out here.  You ought to do your "homework" better and stop making false assumptions.

If you were man or woman enough, you would identify yourself.

Kool Alaskan Malamutes refuses to rebut or answer any of my questions other than to say they are shaking their heads and ask what absurdities people come up with. Kool Alaskan Malamutes have 8 complaints listed against them and I have taken the time to read each and every one of them. No where have Kool's taken any responsibility for their own actions, rather, they insist this is a conspiracy against them lead by one breeder, Jolene Houghtaling of Hudson's Alaskan Malamutes. Maybe Kool's will answer a few questions to support what they claim to know.

Kool's are making some pretty harsh accusations against Jolene Houghtaling of Hudson's Alaskan Malamutes with not one ounce of proof. They have come to the conclusion that this is possibly a way for Jolene to capture the Alaskan Malamute market.

If Jolene was In fact starving and abusing dogs to frame other breeders, why aren't there any complaints about her on the internet? If a number of breeders went out of business, rather than point the finger at Jolene, is it possible these other breeders went out of business due to their own bad business practices or economic times?

Kool's accuse Jolene of having her attorney shut down their web site and getting Wildpaw Malamute forum members to write Ripoff Reports. The moderator of WildPaws, on MANY occasions has denied there were any discussions about any breeders on the forum and has pleaded with Kool's to stop using their name. An attorney cannot just go and demand a website be shut down for no good reason, there would have to have been some wrongdoing on the part of Kool Alaskan Malamutes.

Kools accuse Jolene Houghtaling of using domain names for Cascade and Wakon Alaskan Malamutes in order to get puppy buyers to come Hudson's rather than go to Cascade or Wakon, yet there is no proof these domain names are being used by Jolene.

Kool's accuse Jolene Houghtaling of posting slanderous reviews and ads against other breeders yet, again, where is the proof? Where are these ads?

I see the Kool's are doing a fine job of slandering and bashing Hudson's Alaskan Malamutes, not the other way around. They are accusing Jolene Houghtaling of Hudson's Alaskan malamutes of using a cattle prod on her dogs and that her dogs fight to the extent of ripping ears off one another. Is this something Jolene told them, were they there when it happened? What proof do they have of this accusation?

Kool's accuse Jolene Houghtaling of Hudson's Alaskan Malamutes of swindling Malamutes from unsuspecting owners to capture all of the Malamute blood lines. How does she do this? Who was swindled and what bloodlines?

Finally, Kool Alaskan Malamutes accuses Jolene of lying about her dogs weights. Did they or their vet weigh her dogs? Are they aware dogs weights change according to the seasons and are they also aware that a working dog who is well muscled can weigh more than a dog of similar build due to the fact that muscle weighs more than fat.

Kool's have taken the 8 complaints against yourselves and tried to put the blame elsewhere rather than trying to diplomatically resolve any problems. Are they trying to say that all of the complainants have lied and made false claims against them?

Kool's are warning the public to BEWARE of supporting and/or joining and buying puppies from members/owners of the various Alaskan Malamute breeders, forums and breed clubs such as: Hudson's Alaskan Malamutes and Huskies owned by Jolene Houtaling, Kiskakon Malamutes, Wildpaw Malamute forum, The Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA) and Golden Years Alaskan Malamute rescue. Kools claim they have been and/or involved in unethical practices. Where do they get this information that all of these groups are involved in bashing other breeders, speaking lies about other breeders and feeding the dogs in their care, less than quality food? The only one I see bashing other breeders is Kool Alaskan Malamutes themselves. How in the world do Kool's know what someone is feeding their dogs and whether or not they have enough money to feed them quality dog food?

What exactly is the Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA) doing?

Kool's say their vet said show breeders ( of which most of these clubs' members consist of ) are involved in unethical practices. They feed their dogs arsenic to improve their coats. Here we have the "he said, she said." This is not proof just because their vet said it. Maybe if their vet brought up arsenic,they misunderstood what he was saying or took it in the wrong context. Arsenic was also used to treat heartworm.

As for Kool's accusing members of dumping Malamutes in kill shelters, maybe these people felt the dog stood a better chance by being put in a shelter rather than being sent back to Kool Kennels.

 Kool's accuse these other organizations of telling people they come into contact with that their Malamutes are better than other breeders' Malamutes, but Kool's boast on their own site their Malamutes are the biggest and the best.

Kool's are accusing these others to be breeding Malamutes with hip dysplasia, yet as seen on Kool's very own website, they breed dogs with no certifications at all. Also, the only certifications Kool's give , and only on some of their dogs is for hips. There is much more to look at other than the dog passing the OFA. The OFA has breeder recommendations regarding these OFA results to assure sound hips in the offspring of these dogs. There are many other health issues to be considered as well, including Anemia, Behavior, Bloat, Chondrodysplasis, Coat Funk, Diabetes, Epilepsy, eye problems, Hypothyroidism, immune disorders, Polyneuropathy, skin problems and more.

As I've mentioned before, Kool's state on their website, their reason for breeding was their anticipated move to Alaska. They say that they started breeding their own sled team. I don't understand why in the world anyone would breed a team of dogs without ever having worked them before. They apparently did not do their research even with their anticipated move. Dog sled is not a means of transportation anymore in Alaska, All Terrain vehicles and snowmobiles are much more popular and easier to maintain than a team of dogs, therefore, dog sledding is recreation. Kool's story sounds "romantic" and made for movies, but not very credible.

Now, as for the author needing to do his/her "homework." I will disclose some credible organizations to support my claims:

The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals

The Alaskan Malamute Research Foundation (AMRF)

The Alaskan Malamute Club of America Health and The Alaskan Malamute

The Alaskan Malamute Club of America Day Blindness

The Alaskan Malamute Club of America Polyneropaty in The Alaskan Malamute

The Alaskan Malamute Club of America Chondrodysplasi Certification Committee

Canine Health Foundation

You can also Check the AKC breed standards regarding blue eyed Malamutes.

I am only involved in all of this to protect the integrity of the breeds I hold dear to my heart.

For those who would like to see a rebuttal.  Just 5 short sentences sum it up:

Shaking our heads.  Yeah, right.  Gee whiz.  What absurdities that people come up with.

The author needs to do his/her "homework" better. 

You talk a lot about the OFA certifications. Do you know anything about breeding a dog with only "fair" hips? On two of your breeding females, you show their hips to be "normal." Why don't you show the true evaluation as indicated on their certificates? Their hips clearly read "fair." Also, several of your dogs have been tested for hips, however, there are no elbow results? Your males all test good, without a single excellent. You've bred females without their clearances, sell their puppies then give the b***h away for free. So let me get this straight, you are breeding your "GIANTS" with hips that fall in only the "FAIR" range. If there is going to be all of that extra weight on the skeletal system, shouldn't the hips be no less than excellent? Sounds like to me, Kool's are a little deceptive when it comes to OFA clearances. Also, why don't you test their eyes and what about CHD (dwarfism) testing?

BEWARE of the various Alaskan Malamute breed clubs, forums, and breeders such as the Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA), Wildpaw Malamute forum, Golden Years Alasakn Malamute Rescue, and Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies owned by Jolene Houghtaling:

BEWARE of the supporting, joining, and buying puppies from the members/owners of the various Alaskan Malamute breed clubs and forums such as the Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA), Wildpaw Malamute forum, Golden Years Malamute Rescue, and Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies owned by Jolene Houghtaling. They have been and/or are involved in one and/or more of the following unethical practices:

1. Bashing other breeders.

2. Publishing and speaking lies about other breeders.

3. Feeding the dogs in their care less than quality dog food because they did not and/or do not have the money to buy quality dog food.

4. Member(s) dumping Malamutes in kill shelters.

5. Members posting slanderous reviews and reports about other breeders.

6. Taking steps to destroy the businesses of other breeders.

7. Publishing lies about their dogs' weights to sell their puppies.

8. Hounding and stalking other breeders.

9. Using the domain names of other breeders to get their business.

10. Telling people that they come into contact with to stay away from buying puppies from certain breeders.

11. Telling people that they come into contact with that their Malamutes are better than other breeders' Malamutes.

12. Knowingly breeding Malamutes with hip dysplasia. According to our head vet, show breeders (of which most of these clubs' members consist of) are involved in unethical practices. When our head vet was involved in showing himself, he became aware that show breeders regularly, as ONE example only, fed their dogs arsenic to make their coats nicer looking to help their dog win the shows. With arsenic being a heavy metal, our head vet knows that it will kill the dog. The show breeders say, oh well, as long as I win the show that is all that counts. This is deplorable.

Our OFA vet says that show breeders are the worst with bringing HD (hip dysplasia) into the lines of each breed. All that show breeders are concerned with (despite what their websites indicate) is WINNING. They will breed dogs with OFA hip dysplasia if they are champions or have champions in their lines. This is deplorable.

I was certainly surprised after all this time, that Rip Off Report notified me that Kool Alaskan Malamutes had filed a rebuttal against my claim! I was even more surprised when I realized that instead of rebutting anything I had to say, they used my claim as a soap box to defame a number of people. I did my homework before my reply. I am somewhat internet savvy. Nowhere did I see where these other people or organizations are publically defaming Kool Alaskan Malamutes. Kool Alaskan Malamutes is doing a fine job of defaming themselves. I am a little curious though, you are warning people to stay away from organizations intended to keep the breed true to it's standard. You admit on your information page about yourselves that your dogs are not the best looking, you were originally breeding for a sled team for your move to Alaska and then just fell in love with breeding pets. Do you or do you not care about the integrity of the breed? I don't see where you've ever even worked your dogs for that sled team you wanted. Do you realize the amount of "pets" in shelters because of the poor economic times? Do you realize the amount of Malamutes in shelters because buyers do not realize just how difficult the northern breeds can be? All you say on your site, is that they are good with children. Nowhere do you mention the amount of training they need, how destructive they can be without proper training or how they need a very firm but gentle and fair owner. There is no mention about the intelligence and decision making abilities that have not been bred out of them. You, having only been breeding for 9 years may not know all of this.

Researching on when you started breeding, it just so happens several movies about northern breeds came out. Perhaps you were trying to capitalize on those like the Dalmatian breeders after "101 Dalmatians?"

One group I see that you have not tried to defame is the American Kennel Club (AKC). Perhaps it's because they never questioned you when you publically mocked all of these groups, that are supposedly trying to defame you, on your website, advertising your "RARE BLUE EYED MALAMUTES" last spring? How nice of them to let you register that litter without and inspection and DNA testing. Perhaps being so new at breeding, maybe you didn't know, it's not genetically possible for a purebred Malamute to have blue eyes. Maybe one of your Siberian Huskies was involved in that breeding. Oprah Winfrey did some interesting research on the AKC.

You might want to try a search on "Oprah Winfrey" and "AKC." You might also be surprised with your results. But I know, AKC ads sell puppies.

 BEWARE of the various Alaskan Malamute breed clubs, forums, and breeders such as the Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA), Wildpaw Malamute forum, Golden Years Malamute Rescue, and Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies owned by Jolene Houghtaling:

BEWARE of the supporting, joining, and buying puppies from the members/owners of the various Alaskan Malamute breed clubs and forums such as the Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA), Wildpaw Malamute forum, Golden Years Malamute Rescue, and Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies owned by Jolene Houghtaling.  They have been and/or are involved in one and/or more of the following unethical practices:

BEWARE of the supporting, joining, and buying puppies from the members/owners of the various Alaskan Malamute breed clubs and forums such as the Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA), Wildpaw Malamute forum, Golden Years Malamute Rescue, and Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies owned by Jolene Houghtaling.  They have been and/or are involved in one and/or more of the following unethical practices:

Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, involved in starving and abusing dogs to frame other breeders.

In September 2008, Kool Alaskan Malamutes came into the knowledge that Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudsons Malamutes & Huskies, was involved in starving and abusing dogs to frame other breeders for grudges that she held against these breeders. She possibly also did this to put these breeders out of business so that she could gain the entire Alaskan Malamute market. Jolene Houghtaling published starved and abused dog pictures on the internet stating that these other breeders did this. Jolene Houghtaling also spread the word around to stay away from buying from certain breeders. A number of Alaskan Malamute breeders went out of business due to this tactic of Jolene Houghtaling.

Kool Alaskan Malamutes stuck up for one of these breeders in October 2008 that Jolene Houghtaling framed with starved and abused pictures. Jolene Houghtaling then had her lawyer shut down our website. Jolene Houghtaling then had Wildpaw Malamute forum members write Ripoff Reports and other bad reviews against us in the beginning of 2009.

Jolene Houghtaling also is using domain names for Cascade Alaskan Malamutes and Wakon Alaskan Malamutes in order to get puppy buyers to come to her rather than go to them. This is unethical and shady.

Wildpaw Malamute forum members are saying horrible things about Kool Alaskan Malamutes. Not only are Wildpaw Malamute forum members saying terrible things about Kool Alaskan Malamutes, but their own members are dumping Alaskan Malamutes in animal shelters to be killed.

Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies and one of our competitors, has as her friends on Facebook Wildpaw Malamute Forum members.

Please read way above for evidence that Wildpaw Malamute forum members are saying horrible things about Kool Alaskan Malamutes and dumping Alaskan Malamutes in animal shelters to be killed.

Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies, is unethical and is trying to ruin other breeders' businesses:

1. Posting slanderous reviews and ads against other breeders.

2. Posting slanderous articles on her own website against other breeders.

3. Getting other people to post slanderous ads and reviews against other breeders.

4. Starving and abusing dogs to frame this on other breeders because Jolene was mad at these other breeders.

5. Is a friend of Wildpaw Malamute forum members. Wildpaw Malamute forum members are saying horrible things about Kool Alaskan Malamutes.

Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudson's Malamutes & Huskies, is also involved in unethical breeding practices:

1. Breeding dogs with hip dysplasia to get puppies from the lines of the dogs who have the hip dysplasia.

2. Using a cattle prod on her dogs when they dig out to teach them not to do it again. The proper thing to do is to cement under the fence so that they cannot dig out.

3. Has dogs that live together that fight to the extent of ripping each others ears off.

4. Lies about her dogs weights to sell her puppies.

5. Swindles Malamutes from unsuspecting owners to capture all of the Malamute bloodlines. 

Wildpaw Malamute forum members are saying horrible things about Kool Alaskan Malamutes. Jolene Houghtaling, owner of Hudson's Huskies & Malamutes, has as her friends on Facebook Wildpaw Malamute Forum members.

Kh6

Jefferson U.S.A.

there's some false information...

Devil's Advocate: I'd rather not drag the name of the forum on here but the forum is the first one that comes up when you google "malamute forum". I've been a member for 9 years (even prior to the new format) and I'm not sure why your browser would alert to a problem. Contrary to what has been posted, bashing a particular kennel (using names) publicly is forbidden. We do however have posts about what to look for in a breeder, decoding breeder websites, etc. There are a few people on the forum who have purchased dogs from the Kools. One of them discovered this site and since the people know each other from the forum having had similar experiences, they let the others know about it. Nothing more, nothing less, not driven by any outside breeder, etc. I'm not directly affected by any of this but I know the people involved and have seen the posts on the forum, discussing their problems and looking for help resolving them.

As a breeder, the "evil" AMCA kind, I would question some of what has been said in the various rebuttals and would love to go to town pointing out everything that doesn't make sense but it's not my fight. In this case I think both parties share responsibility, one took on a dog with likely same sex problems, the other allowed it to happen.

Kh6

Jefferson U.S.A.

Not sure where that came from or the relevance...

For starters, this breeder is not being bashed on the forum. It is not allowed. I believe anyone who wishes to read the posts on the forum are welcome to do so but you have to be a member to post. Feel free to do a search, there are no posts bashing this breeder. Some of the people filing reports are on the forum but there are over 700 members from all over the world--the malamute world is a small one and given the number of litters produced by this kennel, big surprise that some of their puppy people found the forum and joined. We have pet people, show people, working people, breeders, and rescue people on there.

It's irrelevant where the administrator is from. He maintains the forum from a technical standpoint and doesn't participate in discussions--I'm not even sure if he owns malamutes. The moderator is the one who polices the forum and mentioning breeders by name in a negative light is forbidden and may get you expelled from the forum.

It's not quite the conspiracy you want it to be.

Doris

Chesapeake U.S.A.

The "Other" Forum

I am the moderator of the Wildpaws Forum. I am the one responsible for making sure that our forum rules are followed. We do not allow any negative comments about a person, business, or product by name.

I have done a thorough search of our site and Kool Alaskan Malamutes is not mentioned anywhere on our forum. With 700+ members, there are members who have purchased puppies from Kool's as well as many other kennels. The fact that they are members of our group does not make the Wildpaws Forum in any way involved in these Ripoff Reports. There is no mention of Ripoff Reports or getting together to file complaints against anyone. What our members do outside of the forum is their personal business and not linked to our forum.

I do not want our forum drug into any conflicts outside of our group. We are not linked to any breeding kennel and do not sell puppies on our forum, so are not in competition with any breeding kennels. Since the Kool Alaskan Malamutes name is not posted anywhere on our forum, we are not involved in any way with any of the complaints filed.

Please be careful about using names on a site like this, where the info can not be edited. Even if wrongly accused, the info can not be removed. Our forum is very careful to not post negative info about anyone by name to protect ourselves from legal issues and we expect others to do the same for us.

Thank you

Wildpaw Malamute forum states that nothing negative is being said on their forum about Kool Alaskan Malamutes, but please read the following email excerpts from a Malamute rescue group and emails from a previous puppy buyer who is/was a part of Wildpaw Malamute forum. All email addresses have purposely been omitted. The name of the Malamute rescue worker has been also purposely omitted. Maybe nothing negative is being said on Wildpaw's forum itself about Kool Alaskan Malamutes, but the members of Wildpaw Malamute forum are clearly saying terrible things about Kool Alaskan Malamutes:

1. On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 11:51 AM, Britney Behling wrote:

"Hi Pat- Sargent is doing great, we love him to death. He is currently in Novice training, graduated from his puppy class with flying colors. He LOVES his sister and his favorite toys are balls, he has quite the accumulation of them at this point. (I have attached a couple pictures). We would love to find Sarge a playmate as his sister is getting a little older now and would much rather relax on the couch with us than run around and wrestle with Sarge. Unfortunately, we can only afford about 200-250 for another dog, so if you have any puppies that haven't found homes yet and their prices drop a little bit, it'd be great if you could let me know. Like I said, we would love to have a new puppy in the house. Thanks so much for your time.

Britney Behling"

On May 26, Britney wrote an email to the Malamute rescue stating that they had another male dog now, obviously adopted/bought after the February 22 email from Britney to us that is seen above.

2. On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 2:41 PM wrote:

Please find below a message submitted on 2009-05-28 at 18:41 comments: "Hello- We have been contacted about a pup you sold (out of Power and Montana) that the owners have to "get rid of". I'd like to make arrangements for him to be returned to you. Please email me at your earliest convenience....this pup doesn't have much time. Thank you."

3. On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 8:55 PM, Britney Behling wrote:

"Pat- After receiving Sarge from you, we joined Wildpaws Forum and heard terrible things about you, your family and your "puppymill" as most would call it. We were told not to expect you to take any sort of responsibility for any defaults in your dogs by not only other malamute owners, but by other breeders and by the Alaskan Malamute Rescue themselves. What would you have done, may I ask? Driven the 5 hours to come pick him up just to sell him to another family unaware of the temperment problems you knowingly breed into your poor animals? He has a severe aggressive reaction with other dogs in his home and we did what was best for him due to the dangerous situation we were presented with in our home. He will go to Alaskan Malamute Rescue and any family interested in adopting him will be informed of his aggression along with only being placed in a single dog home."

Sent from my iPhone

On May 28, 2009, at 7:44 PM, Kool Family wrote:

"Britney, Per your signed contract, you were required to contact us if you no longer wanted your Mal from us. Why did you "drop" him off at a rescue?

The Kools"

4. On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 8:35 AM, wrote:

"I was contacted about a mal by DuPage County - area shelters often contact breed rescue about dogs at their facilities. We have him listed on our website as a potentially incoming dog (he is still at the County kill facility at present). We frequently help dogs from area shelters. Can you help him? As you know, rescue is a small network of volunteers. We don't have a kennel setup or anything like many breeders do. Please just let me know if you are able to help Sarge, I don't want to see him die."

So, this great Malamute rescue worker took HER time and HER gas money to rescue Sarge and drive him to us shortly after the above email, and Sarge JUST left us in October 2009 for his new home. Not only are Wildpaw Malamute forum members saying terrible things about Kool Alaskan Malamutes, but their own members are dumping Malamutes in animal shelters to be killed.

While Sarge was with us for over 4 months, he lived in wonderful peace with 2 other AKC purebred Malamutes even sharing with them open feeding 24 hours/day as well as the same water.

For those who would like to see a rebuttal.  Just 4 short sentences sum it up:

Shaking our heads.  Yeah, right.  Gee whiz.  What absurdities that people come up with.

Our "puppy" (who turned two years old last week) has been a complete and total joy. My fiance', Marlene, had owned Malamutes in the past, and in the time that we have been together, the one consistent thing that I was hearing from her was "I want to get another Malamute". Her plan, of course, was to wait until she was able to retire. I made the decision to escalate the process, and starting researching Malamute puppies prior to her birthday.


More by good luck than anything else, I found that the Kool's had a very cute, purebred Malamute puppy (on their website) that was going to be ready for delivery right before Marlene's birthday. I called Pat Kool, assuming that it was going to be a quick conversation to buy the dog. I was surprised (but glad) to know that it wasn't going to be quite as quick as I thought. Pat really put me through the wringer, wanting to know all about our lifestyle, our yard and fencing, and even wanted our veterinarians name and phone number. She was obviously very protective of the breed, and wanted to be sure that Chaco was going to have a good home. I assured her that the new puppy was going to have a better lifestyle than I have..... :-)


After several phone calls back and forth, we worked out the details of having Chaco flown to New Mexico. Pat was very conscientious, and always called on time (I was trying to make the arrangements before Marlene came home from work.. to maintain the birthday surprise). Throughout the planning, sale, and travel arrangements, Pat was very professional.


Chaco arrived at 10:30 PM on a Sunday night. Marlene had NO idea why I was dragging her to the airport on the night before her birthday.... and probably went into shock when the 25 pound ball of fluff arrived in his carrier at the airport baggage office. I was expecting a terrified, messy young pup, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Chaco arrived.... happy, curious, and obviously very intelligent. Immediately, he had his first exposure with things like collars, leashes, automobiles and traffic, etc. He has always been a very "thoughtful" dog. He processes everything, and then acts accordingly.... but with a little reassurance, he adapted very quickly to his new life. Our then 11 year old cat taught him the valuable life lesson that cat's can make your nose hurt... and they have been the best of buddies since.


As far as "Would we do it again?"..... the answer is not "We Would"... but more "We Will". We'd like to get Chaco a female playmate, and have been watching the Kool's website for a suitable companion. We almost put in our request for a female pup about three months ago, but finally decided to wait until after August, when our younger daughter is getting married here. I suspect that this Fall, we'll be anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new, female Malamute pup.


Chaco has grown up to be exceedingly handsome. I've never lived with a dog that consistently gets so much attention, and so many compliments. He loves people.. loves animals, and is amazingly affectionate. And so good looking! Chaco was riding in my Blazer with me a few months ago, with his head stuck out the window. I sensed that something was going on out that side of the car... and glanced over to see a man, in his pickup truck, with the window rolled down.... taking Chaco's picture with his cell phone camera.


-Taylor