The Name
The name Snowlion is a tribute to our first Malamute Zeke, who shared our lives 40 years ago and taught us much about the breed. We adopted Zeke at 11 months when his owner died in a car accident. Unfortunately, Zeke was with us only four years before he succumbed to a systemic immune disorder. A small outbreak of demodectic mange slowly spread from his feet to his entire body followed by a widespread secondary staph infection after we had him neutered. Poor Zeke endured the monthly shave downs, the weekly chemical dips and visits to the vets, and the daily regimen of lotions and pills in good humor.
Despite his poor health, he loved to romp in the snow and he kept his gentle outgoing demeanor. The neighborhood
children called him the Snowlion because of his peculiar appearance: only his head mane
and tail remained unshaved. After two and a half years of treatments his condition
worsened and we had to let him go. Another decade would pass
before we
started
showing and breeding Alaskan Malamutes, but the
heartbreak of losing Zeke at such a young age was a constant
reminder that health and longevity should be the main goals of every breeding
program.
Many of our Alaskan Malamutes are named after the mountains, rivers, and deities of Nepal and the Tibet borderlands where I carried out research for many years. The region holds a special place in my heart. Our foundation bitch Kali was named after the great mother goddess "Kali Devi" who is worshipped throughout the area. In her wrathful manifestation, Kali is also known as the "goddess of destruction"; an apt name that our own Kali lived up to--destroying socks by the dozen, shredding rolls of papertowels, and chomping on ski boots and poles among other things!