When you think of an Alaskan Malamute, Star Wars isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but it turns out that Star Wars creator George Lucas is one of our biggest fans! An Alaskan Malamute dad himself, Lucas based the character Chewbacca on his Mal, Indiana. If the name “Indiana” sounds familiar, it’s because Lucas’s pup also inspired the name choice of Indiana Jones!

As you might expect, Alaskan Malamutes come from Alaska, and we are the state’s official dog! We are one of the oldest breeds around, dating back over 4,000 years. Some humans believe that we are descended from the wolf-dog hybrids that traveled with their humans from Siberia to Alaska across the Bering Strait land bridge. Like many other spitz breeds (like Siberian Huskies and American Eskimo Dogs), we look like wolves and we howl like them, too! But don’t worry – we are fully domesticated and sweet as can be. Our first humans were an Inuit tribe, the Mahlemuts, who lived near the Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska (and we get our name from them). They bred us to be strong working dogs, tough enough to weather Arctic temperatures. My ancestors helped their humans survive in the harsh conditions as sled dogs, pulling heavy loads for long distances. We may not be as fast as our Husky cousins, but we are stronger in the weight-pulling department! We also helped our humans to hunt big