We found Otto at the Peninsula Humane Society (Maggie's origin also).  We only know Otto came to the shelter covered in mud and hair so matted  on his belly, the hair had to be removed with shears. Shelter people said, Otto was the subject of an animal abuse case as he was so dirty. Otto's rap sheet  described a mellow, non-aggressive malamute mix with some house training but not too obedient.  We interviewed Otto without Maggie and then with Maggie. Otto was friendly but more interested in the traffic outside of our room.  What struck us was how good looking this cast off eight-year old was (by teeth wear estimate).   Next we had Maggie meet Otto.  Maggie greeted Otto by barking at him but little else.  They walked around each other and at one point, I believe Otto was going to try mounting Maggie.  Otto did not try that, and Maggie was oblivious to Otto's intentions.  We left and decided to have another meeting of Otto and Maggie to see whether we could have Otto as a new companion for Maggie. The second meeting did not go as well as we had hoped but in the opinion of the shelter personnel, the meeting was a lot better than some meetings of new potential pack mates. We decided to give the new pack member a try. We paid the fee (only $40 as Otto was already fixed) and introduced Otto to our car.  Otto would not sit in the back seat beside Maggie yet. We drove to the Seal Point Dog Park on the way home to give Maggie and her new pack mate a little time at the park.  Otto now was free from being in a jail, but recovering from the kennel cough picked up while an inmate. Otto also had two fractured teeth on both sides. He may have been a backyard dog who was chained with a cable and his fractured teeth may have been an unsuccessful escape from his captives. Somehow he wound up in the creek that flows through Foster City to the bay. He escaped from the creek and wandered into the Laurie Meadows Park next to the creek. Many mothers use this park with their children in the small kiddie playground and if Otto wandered close by, he would be hard to miss. That's where animal control came to take Otto to the showers in the shelter and then a groomer who had to shave all his stomach hair off for it was so matted from lack of care. Otto then got kennel cough at the shelter. In jail from 2/28/07 to 4/1/2007, Otto was unclaimed and nobody filed a missing dog report. It is known in dog rescue that if a dog is not claimed in 48 hours, the dog was thrown away.

Later when Otto recovered fully from the kennel cough and gained a little weight from his original 60 pounds (27 kg)  to 74 pounds (33 kg), more of his personality came alive. Otto has no problem with stealing food left unprotected in the kitchen ready to be eaten or cooked. Maggie never stole food.  Maggie did not welcome Otto too well, and his first few nights were spent confined to the bathroom where we discovered Otto is not above drinking from the commode.  That's OK for California living means the water in the toilet will be needed after the BIG ONE.  Despite Maggie's cold reception, Otto's happiness to be out of jail sent Otto running in and out of the house through the doggie doors finally winding up on my side of the bed.

Otto has spent 176 days with our pack, and Otto continues to attract people who want to pet him and ask all about our malamute adopted on April fools day who turned out to be a big surprise.   Contrary to his rap sheet, Otto knows the commands for sit, come, down, stay and eat.  Our first day at the park, I found that Otto also will come to a hand signal.  Maggie will come to a hand signal too, but Maggie has had 13 years to grasp that through daily use. Why did Otto turn out to be a street dog with such good looks?  We ask that question every day but Otto won't tell.

Otto will mount another willing male. Otto does this preliminary mounting acceptability by placing his paw on the dogs back from behind. If the first contact is OK, Otto will follow through with mounting. Otto met the no nonsense male GS named Meathead and tried to explore compatibility. I did not see this next event, but Meathead rejected Otto and scared Otto into running the length of the dog park to sit at the gate wanting to leave. Otto knows Meathead's tastes now. 

Otto loves little dogs. Otto also likes to try to convince little dogs that Otto is not bigger than the little dog by barking at the little dog. 
On a walk, Otto walks with only a minor pulling. If Otto sees another dog or cat or raccoon, he will stand on his hind legs trying to get the critter but a whistle of any note or riff will stop Otto.

 
Otto and Maggie slowly came to peace with each other too. Maggie several times did a play bow to Otto, but Otto barked in response. Finally, enough time had passed and after Maggie's play bow to Otto, he gave Maggie a play bow in return.  They danced around, and Maggie gave Otto an almost kiss. They then walked past each other, and they separated. Maggie has repeated toned down play bows, but Otto ignores her invites. But, then we have only had Otto for 5 % of his life. Maggie will figure out a way to settle everything since she is the queen of the house. Otto wants to stay too and as a malamute, pulling together is in his genes.

Otto will chase a tennis ball if it's not too far away, and sometimes he misses what Maggie would see. We found in his medical exam that Otto has cataracts in one eye and maybe the start in the other eye. This would explain Otto's inability to catch treats by mouth if they are thrown to him. 
Otto has settled into sleeping by my side of the bed while Maggie has moved out of the bedroom and preferring now to sleep by the window or door to smell the odors from the draft underneath the door to outside.

Otto yields to all dogs and allows little dogs to hump his head. When we saw that we knew we had a teddy bear that changed into a dog. Our nightly walks bring people from the shadows wanting to know all about this dog people cannot resist petting. We can tell Otto stories but only drawn from 5 % of his eight years. Otto will run after a ball, pick it up, or sometimes bat it around with a dance before picking it up and usually dropping the ball before returning. His eyes don't make Otto a Frisbee fan like Tiger (d. 9/21/2006). Otto likes to run with other dogs but usually loses all races.  

Otto now poses for photos wearing hats as Maggie does but the first time I put a hat on his head, Otto shook his head, and the hat went flying.  After watching Maggie pose for photos of a dog wearing a hat or anything else, Otto keeps the hat on his head. Otto learns fast and I'm sure Otto can make updates to this page.

Otto has spent 300 days in our pack, and his personality comes out every day. He likes to be around when you wake up. You touch him, and the night air freshness is unleashed from Otto's fur forest of black, brown, grew, and white colors. Otto has not yet found a favorite spot to sleep. Otto likes to sleep outside by the patio door, and the temperature hasn't fallen low enough to force Otto indoors. During the summer Otto stayed inside because he wanted to remain in the house to map his space in the new home. Otto would rather stay in the warm house than loose his space inside.

After each nightly walk of Maggie and Otto, Otto on returning home will try to be the first into then howl at Maggie. Maggie will bark at Otto telling him to shut up. Otto will keep on howling until he's had enough of being laughed at or imitated.

Maggie has yielded the whole house to Otto with Otto free to jump on the bed or sleep in the bedroom. Maggie will also allow Otto to wait for crumbs to fall into his own space at dinner time.

Otto is a thief and finally figured out how to open the kibble container. Neither Maggie nor Tiger would be that naughty, but both were raised by this same hand and not that of a stranger.

Otto will steal any food left unprotected in the kitchen. Frozen pizzas, loafs of bread, and any available meat for dinner will disappear into Otto. This thief part of Otto was funny except that it was our food he preferred to steal. So far, none of our dogs have figured out how the refrigerator door opens.

Otto plays the lover boy to other boys that is a distorted testosterone flash back. If the object of his affections rejects Otto's moves, Otto will run away. Otto will not stand up to an assertive small dog, and Otto often preferring to run when chased by a small dog.

After only 318 days getting to know Maggie, Otto sadly saw Maggie leave for doggie heaven. Otto acted much different from Maggie's departure. His appetite took a hit and he became a finicky eater. Slowly Otto came to accept Maggie's passing and realize he has become the only dog in the house.

Because of Maggie passing, Otto has agreed to maintain this site as soon as he learns a little more HTML coding.

Otto met an intact male poodle at the dog park. Otto danced around with the poodle making similar moves. Otto was too slow to be able to mount the poodle. The poodle had only mounting Otto in mind too. Poor Otto spent all his time breaking the poodles mounting attempts. The poodle's owner tried to intervene whenever Otto was getting too beat up by the poodle. Otto rolled on the ground and defended himself as best he could. We caught this dance on video and slowed Otto's moves by computer showing clearly Otto has no aggressive tendency. Otto only wanted to prevent the poodle from mounting him while Otto tried to deal with this dancing target who would not cooperate and allow Otto to be the mounter instead of the under dog to the poodle. I am positive Maggie or Tiger would have chased this frisky poodle to the showers like her YouTube show of 12 year old Maggie stopping a 2 year old intact dog known as Skeeter from any mounting. As placid as Otto is, he will fight if challenged over food. At first it was prudent to give Otto his dinner and leave him alone. Now Otto will permit petting while eating only if the petting starts at the same time of offering his food bowl. One year later I can pet Otto's head while he begins to sample and inspect his dinner. I only pet him for a short time since the goal of reduced food aggression has been met. Without Maggie, Otto usually sleeps outside of the bedroom in the living room giving him a good view of any bedroom activity. Other times Otto sleeps next to the window on the floor in the bedroom. Otto will stay on the bed but not yet for the whole night showing that sleeping in a bed with humans is foreign to Otto in confirmation that he was a backyard dog. In another video on YouTube, A husky puppy tred to provoke Otto to play the husky but Otto refused. See Here's Otto Part 134

Otto's rap sheet at the shelter listed Otto as a mix. Part of Otto's magnetism is his blue eyes. Blue eyes in a malamute will disqualify the dog for pure breed status. Otto is probably a woolly husky-malamute mix. He is small for a malamute now weighing 74 pounds. The design of his face is called an open face as opposed to a mask that occurs in malamutes. Otto needs a daily combing to keep his fur under control.

After dinner, Otto likes to nap on the cool patio on a variety of mats and rugs some of which collect to be washed but not until the local humming birds have taken all the easily accessible clumps of Otto's fur to build their bird nests. Otto won't say how many bird nests have been built with his donated fur. The local bird nest building supply stores are feeling the pinch of Otto's free fur giveaways.

Otto now is the star of YouTube