About us

In 2000, I was interested in getting my first dog as an adult on my own. Knowing that I wanted to get into dog shows but also knowing that I didn't have time for a puppy, I started contacting breeders to talk to them about adult show prospects. I had a few breeds I was interested in at the time. Storm Kloud was a kennel name I had vaguely recognized from having gone to the dog show each July when it was in town. I'd contacted breeders in other breeds but many either didn't get back to me or they wanted to sell me a puppy. I really didn't want a puppy. I contacted Nancy Russell and she did get back to me AND she had an adult dog, an owner return, available if I wanted to come see her. The dog was spayed so she would not be showable, however, I was not bent on having a show dog that moment so I and my then fiance went to meet the dog. She seemed like a very nice dog. Quiet and well behaved. We brought her home a week later. Gone was the quiet, well behaved dog we had met. What I got was a french fry stealing, boisterious 18 month old wild girl. She really didn't answer to her name, at all, so I changed it.

Kita and I lived together while I finished my summer at college. I learned a lot in that time. Kita got a couple runs every day and plenty to chew but she still had SIGNIFICANT anxiety being alone. She destroyed a number of crates, pens, and even ripped a door off the hinges and put a hole in my apartment wall. I learned how to do some basic and not so basic home repair . Not easy in that time before YouTube. I briefly moved home after the summer term. Kita was really a lot of energy and it was suggested to me by Evie Olmem of Glacier Kennel, who I met at the dog show that summer, that Malamutes are really best living with another Malamute. After looking around online, I really was in love with a dog named CH Storm Kloud's Echo of Bear, owned by Eileen Kinnas of SnoRidge Kennels. I contacted Eileen, this time hoping for an adult dog who would be a decent show dog that I could learn to show dogs with. She happened to have a dog just a few months older than Kita who she thought would suit. Her health had turned and she had to place him. She really had hoped he could go into a situation where he could be shown so this worked out for everyone.

Nancy had encouraged me to join the Alaskan Malamute Club of Wisconsin and try out some weight pulling. I had also joined the Chicagoland Alaskan Malamute Club as I lived in Northern Illinois. Kita had done a couple pulls while she was with Nancy and had done ok in Novice. I borrowed a couple harnesses from a CAMC member and what luck, the Alaskan Malamute National Specialty was soon to be held in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin! We participated in the novice pull with both dogs and I helped a little bit with the show. It was nice to immediately be pulled into the flock. There was so much to see and we were hooked.

We moved to Wisconsin and I took some handling classes. My first dog show was at the July 2001 show in my hometown, that dog show I had been to year after year as just a spectator. I think we were second or third in our class but I was an awkward disaster but we kept at it. In August of 2001 we won our first points at the Racine Kennel Club show! I did my best to show him and we ended up finishing his Championship in October of 2003 by taking Best of Winners at the Chicagoland Alaskan Malamute Club specialty show.

In 2002 I brought home my first show puppy. A female from Nancy Russell. Bella was such an awesome puppy. Very early on it became apparent that she was going to be something special as a working dog. She was a sweet dog most of the time but get her into harness and she was all grit. She was running single lead at 6 months of age and has become the yardstick by which all of my other dogs are measured. She was truly an exceptional working dog. She did not, however, particularly enjoy the show ring but at the time that didn't matter because we were having SO much fun weight pulling, backpacking, and sledding/carting.

I never intended to breed. I looked around though and saw the type of dog I loved so much was dwindling in numbers. I started researching pedigrees and trying to learn what I could. We bred our first litter in 2005. I used Kita's full brother from a repeat breeding with Bella. We got 5 boys and kept Ikey and Vinnie from that litter. Ikey was a top weight puller and Vinnie was a really neat gee-haw lead dog. The next litter was by a SnoRidge dog named Audie, owned by my dear friend Kristen who, coincidentally, put her first points on her first show dog at the same show I had first won with Beamer. We had quickly become friends. Out of Audie I kept Buster and Layla in co-ownerships.

Nearly 20 years later, some things have changed, some have stayed the same. We've gotten into SEVEN sports (conformation, rally, agility, weight pull, dog sledding, backpacking, and recently, scent work) and we are about to head into our 4th generation of breeding. We have mostly stuck with the Storm Kloud pedigrees because we have a structure, working drive, and temperament that we feel is what an Alaskan Malamute should be. We still weight pull quite a bit but the showing has tapered off a bit. Our dogs are mostly just our pets, lounging around the house and yard but 2 nights a week and most weekends they're training or competing in various sports.

We HIGHLY encourage puppy people to consider getting into a dog sport or two with these guys. They love it and it's a great way to bond with them.

Jen and George