 Crystalcreek Alaskan Malamutes and German Shepherds | sitemap | log in
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Nico
Seeonee's Belkofski
(Tigara's Northern Raider x Tigara's Ice Flow)
13/09/1991 – 10/01/2004
Nico was bred by Cath and Dave Herdman from the Tigara line. A superb working line, bred to meet the freighting breed standard of the original Malamutes. Mals are known to be dog dominant and Nico was definitely at the top end of that. He was very “dog dominant” and through him I learned to read the subtle signals given out by dogs and to know what he was thinking and anticipate his behaviour and moods. Despite the fact that Malamutes are not supposed to be “trainable”, he did basic obedience training and even won a class test, he also did agility for fun. Then I got into Sled Dog Racing with him and he was in his element. He was a true working dog, he would run for about half a mile - if that - from the start and then got into a steady pace which he kept up consistently, uphill/downhill and straight. As such, he never won races, but he worked all the way round, I never had to get off and run. It was often commented upon that he was the only dog seen to be running all the way round a course with tight lines (I don't get off my rig and run with them!). He ran in competitions till he was 11 years old and kept the same average speed throughout - a proper working dog. He also did a bit of weight pulling in his time and did very well in his early years, usually coming in the top three of his class. He was very clever and knew that if he didn’t want to pull any more all he had to do was turn around twice. We entered the odd breed show too, despite his dominance he was very good and would stand between dogs happily and run round past them and ignore the ones running past him – he just knew the difference. In 1993 he qualified for Crufts. We duly attended in March 1994; unfortunately, we were benched next to a very aggressive dog that had attacked Nico from behind a couple of weeks ago at a weight pull competition. Instead of being benched properly, the dog was on a lead and every time someone came to meet the dogs he would come forward and turn round the barrier and have a go at Nico. When we went in the ring, this dog was just flying out at everything and some of the more dominant dogs – like Nico – who would normally have been passive in the ring, naturally argued back, he caused a right rukkas. It was one of the worst experiences I had and I swore I would never put a dog of mine through that again.
Nico met the ideal height for a freighting malamute, coming in at 25” at the shoulder and had superb conformation for a tireless working gait that he could keep up for miles. His only fault was that he was a bit light in the bone, the ideal freighting weight for a male malamute is 85lb and he usually came in at about 75-80lb. Despite his aggressive dominance with other dogs, he could walk with packs of dogs without bother, which we often did when at agility shows where we would walk with friends and their dogs – up to 20 at a time, we had dogs round to stay and he could do obedience and agility with other dogs around him without bother. He was a very loving dog with people and loved children even though he didn't grow up with them. I still miss him. When I decided to have a litter from Star, I sent up a promise that her first born boy would be named after him, and so, Crystalcreek Nico's Dream (pet name Axel) is now living in Newcastle and a very handsome and much admired boy he is turning out to be.
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