4th September 1994 - 25th April 2006

Flynn's Story

How We Got Flynn!!!

We met Flynn’s breeder Michelle Chitty at a local dog show. We had been researching the breed for some years, and were hoping to get a Malamute in the future. What a surprise to find a breeder on our doorstep, we saw ‘Boris’ at a local exemption show and we could not believe it. What a magnificent dog!!!! We approached Michelle, and got her contact details.

We had just bought our first house, and we were spending most of our spare time making the house liveable. We contacted Michelle a year later after we had finished renovating our house regarding getting our name on her list. When we contacted her, she actually had a litter, and was looking for prospective owners, we decided, that we wanted to wait until her next litter. Michelle gave us other breeder’s details, but we had fallen in love with Boris, so decided to wait.

About Flynn

Flynn our first Alaskan Malamute, came into our life November 1994, he was 8 weeks old, and we had waited 3 years for him……………..what a wait!!!

Flynn is now 10 yrs old, and he has had a fulfilled life, he has had the pleasure of Dog Show’s, Rallies, Weight Pulls, Back Packing, Camping Trips, Holidays, and walks with his friends. He is now taking a more leisurely relaxing time at home with the others, but still enjoys holidays, and walks. Flynn has always had a good nature towards other dogs he meets, and even at the age of 10 will still allow new dogs visiting our home in, with no aggression.

Flynn at Stud

We had the opportunity to use him at stud with 2 Seacourt bitches owned by Janetta Parkyn’s. We had a successful mating with Phoebe a lovely Black and White Bitch, but unfortunately she did not become pregnant. The second bitch Daisy was not so easy, she was a very dominant bitch, and as Flynn did not want to upset her in away, did not take advantage of her.

When we got Dakota, we decided whether we were going to use Flynn with her, and whether Dakota’s breeder would allow us to use Flynn. At this time Flynn’s coat was not very good, although we had Flynn tested for numerous disease’s we did not know what was causing his coat to look so bad, so we decided to have Flynn neutered.

Neutering

Whether to neuter or not is a question that most people ask themselves when they have animals. We had Flynn neutered at 6 years of age, the reason for this was a number of things.

We were not showing him anymore, as his coat was not show quality
He had something wrong with him, and we were not to sure what it was, so we decided not to use him for breeding
There would also be a possibility in later life that he could get testicular cancer.
We wanted him to have the operation at young age, as we did not want to put him through an operation at an old age.
After Flynn was neutered his coat came back, and he was now in full bloom again. So we believe it was a hormonal condition.

Incontinence

In neutering Flynn he then became incontinent.

Dogs: Health, Disease and Physiology: Reproductive and urinary system, including incontinence

If anybody finds any better websites on incontinence, please let us know!!

Cancer

In March 2006 Flynn was diagnosed with Lymphosarcoma we were told that it is not the aggressive type of cancer but the type he has is treatable with chemo but is not a cure. Because of Flynn's age, and the fact he is pretty happy and well at the moment we do not want to put him through chemo which would cause him the same side effects a person would have being on chemo. What we will be doing is looking into a holistic remedy and try to control the cancer this way. The vet's seem to think that without chemo he will only have months to live, so we are going to try and make them happy ones. If Flynn had been younger, and fitter the seniro may have been different. This has been a hard decission to make, as we must think of Flynn and his Quality of Life, and not of ourseleves wanting to spend more time with him. I am sure when the time comes we are going to regret our decission but we believe at this moment in time this is best for him. Flynn is a bit of a baby when not well, and we don't want to see him go down hill when on the chemo. He has lost quite a bit of weight over the last few months due to sickness, so he does not have much to fall back on.

Cancer Information, Research, and Treatment for all Types of Cancer

Washington State University, Pet Health Topics, Canine Lymphosarcoma

The Holistic Dog

Flynn's Pedigree