Coat, Ears & Tail

AKC Working Group · No. 81 in 2025

How to identify an Alaskan Malamute

The Alaskan Malamute is a powerful freight-sledding dog, ranked No. 81 by the AKC in 2025. It carries a plumed tail over the back, and its gray, black, sable or red coat always has white on the belly, legs and face. Malamute eyes are always brown.

Photo of an Alaskan Malamute
Photo: waga11 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Field marks

These four marks are the ones the game gives you as clues. They paraphrase or briefly quote the AKC Alaskan Malamute standard.

  1. Well-furred tail carried over the back with “the appearance of a waving plume”
  2. Light gray to black, sable or red, with white on the underbody, legs and face; the only solid color is white
  3. Triangular ears with slightly rounded tips, set wide so they stand off from the skull
  4. Brown, almond-shaped eyes (blue eyes disqualify); thick, coarse guard coat

Tell them apart

Alaskan Malamute or Siberian Husky?

Check the eyes and the tail. A Malamute’s eyes are always brown, and its tail is carried over the back as a waving plume. A Husky may have blue or mixed eyes and carries a fox-brush tail in a sickle curve. A Husky is never heavy or coarse, while a Malamute is built to haul freight.

Alaskan Malamute

Alaskan Malamute

  1. Well-furred tail carried over the back with “the appearance of a waving plume”
  2. Light gray to black, sable or red, with white on the underbody, legs and face; the only solid color is white
  3. Triangular ears with slightly rounded tips, set wide so they stand off from the skull
  4. Brown, almond-shaped eyes (blue eyes disqualify); thick, coarse guard coat
Siberian Husky

Siberian Husky

  1. Triangular ears, “strongly erect” and set high
  2. Almond eyes that are brown, blue, one of each, or parti-colored
  3. “Fox-brush” tail carried in “a graceful sickle curve” when alert
  4. Medium-sized and never “heavy or coarse”; colors from black to pure white, never merle or brindle

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