PetMeasure

Alaskan Malamute Weight, Size & Lifespan

Adult Alaskan Malamute
Photo — SCMW, CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

How big does an Alaskan Malamute get?

A full-grown Alaskan Malamute is a large dog, weighing about 75–85 lb as an adult.

Adult weight
75–85 lb
Also in kilograms
34–38.6 kg
Size class
Large
Life expectancy
10–14 years

Wikidata publishes 75–84 lb for this breed. The two sources don’t measure the same thing — see why.

Alaskan Malamute Size

As a large breed, an Alaskan Malamute keeps growing for longer than a small dog — larger breeds reach their adult weight months later (Hawthorne et al., 2004). Expect steady growth well past the first year.

Alaskan Malamute Lifespan

How long do Alaskan Malamutes live?

The American Kennel Club publishes a life expectancy of 10–14 years for the Alaskan Malamute, on its breed page. That is a figure for the breed, not a prediction for one dog — an individual Alaskan Malamute can fall on either side of it.

A second source measured it instead of publishing it. McMillan et al. (2024) followed 1,980 dogs of this breed in the United Kingdom and recorded 842 deaths, giving a median age at death of 11.3 years (95% CI 11.1–11.8 years).

The two roughly agree here, which is not always the case: on 34 of the breeds on this site the measured median falls outside the range the AKC publishes, in both directions. They are still not the same measurement — a life expectancy for the breed on one side, the age half the studied dogs had died by on the other.

Alaskan Malamute Growth Chart

What an Alaskan Malamute puppy weighs week by week, from the growth curve FEDIAF publishes (Nutritional Guidelines 2025, Table VII-8a) for a dog whose expected adult weight is 36.3 kg. It is an average, not a target, and it is only valid from 8 weeks to one year — FEDIAF notes that growth patterns show a certain individual variability. Read a row as the middle of a spread.

AgeWeight% of adult weight
8 weeks17 lb (7.5 kg)21%
10 weeks23 lb (10.5 kg)29%
12 weeks29 lb (12.9 kg)36%
14 weeks33 lb (15.0 kg)41%
16 weeks37 lb (16.8 kg)46%
18 weeks41 lb (18.4 kg)51%
20 weeks44 lb (19.8 kg)55%
24 weeks49 lb (22.2 kg)61%
28 weeks54 lb (24.3 kg)67%
32 weeks58 lb (26.1 kg)72%
36 weeks61 lb (27.7 kg)76%
40 weeks64 lb (29.1 kg)80%
44 weeks67 lb (30.4 kg)84%
48 weeks70 lb (31.5 kg)87%
52 weeks72 lb (32.6 kg)90%

Common questions

How much does a full-grown Alaskan Malamute weigh?

An Alaskan Malamute weighs 75–85 lb (34–38 kg) as an adult. That range is the weight the American Kennel Club publishes in the breed's official standard, re-checked here every week — it is a typical weight across many adult dogs, not a target for one dog. Wikidata publishes 75–84 lb for the same breed — a breed standard and a set of measurements don't answer the same question, so this page names both rather than picking one.

Is an Alaskan Malamute a large dog?

Yes — an Alaskan Malamute counts as a large breed, going by the middle of its adult weight range (34–38 kg). The cut-offs between small, medium, large and giant are a common veterinary convention rather than one official standard, so a breed near a boundary can be described either way elsewhere.

When does an Alaskan Malamute stop growing?

Later than a small dog. Hawthorne et al. (2004) measured that larger breeds keep gaining weight for longer, so an Alaskan Malamute is likely to fill out well past its first birthday. We don't publish a month-by-month figure, because no source gives one breed by breed — and an invented number would be worse than none.

Why is there a range instead of one weight?

Because the source publishes a range. Within any breed, weight varies with sex, genetics, build and health, and a mixed-breed dog usually falls between its parents' breeds. Narrowing 75–85 lb down to a single number would look more precise while being less true.

How long do Alaskan Malamutes live?

The American Kennel Club publishes a life expectancy of 10–14 years for the breed, re-checked here every week. That is a figure for the breed, not a prediction for one dog: an individual Alaskan Malamute can fall on either side of it, and how a dog is fed, exercised and cared for moves the odds. A second source measured it rather than publishing it: McMillan et al. (2024) followed 1,980 dogs of this breed in the United Kingdom, recorded 842 deaths, and report a median age at death of 11.3 years (95% CI 11.1–11.8 years).

Breeds of a similar size

Every dog calculator

Weight varies within the Alaskan Malamute by sex, genetics and health, and mixed-breed dogs fall between their parents. This is a typical range, not a guarantee.

Verified on . Based on Wikidata — dog breed mass (property P2067) (Wikimedia Foundation, query run 2026-07-22, CC0 license), Breed weights — official AKC breed standards (American Kennel Club, breed pages, accessed 2026-07-29), Breed life expectancy — AKC breed pages (American Kennel Club, breed pages, accessed 2026-08-10), Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death — Supplementary Table S3 (McMillan et al., Scientific Reports (2024), 14:531, 584,734 UK dogs — Kaplan-Meier median survival for 155 breeds), Body-Weight Changes during Growth in Puppies of Different Breeds (Hawthorne et al., Journal of Nutrition, 2004, vol. 134, p. 2027S) and Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs (FEDIAF (European Pet Food Industry Federation), 2025 edition (growth curves Table VII-8a, growth energy VII-8b and VII-10)). See the method.