Are the dogs in the movie Iron Will Giant Malamutes?
I saw Iron Will and if I recall, all of the dogs in it belong to a well known and respected breeder and aren’t giants. I was informed by someone recently, that there was a at least one giant in the movie, but I haven’t been able to verify this. Several were “woolies” (longer hair). The breeder of most of the dogs in the movie breeds dogs to the AKC standard size and is well-respected among other Malamute breeders. The original Malamutes were actually even much smaller than you see today – probably slightly bigger than a typical pet Siberian. Giant and “too big” is a recent thing. Years ago in the 30’s when Malamutes were first recognized as a breed there were 2 strains – Maloot and Kotzebue from those respective areas of Alaska. Maloots were larger with better front assemblies but too long of leg, Kotzebues were smaller and more compact with smaller ears and “classic” heads – NEITHER tended to be over 95 lbs. for a male. A Kotzebue male tended to be about 70-85 lbs (females 50-65), and
