Airedale Terrier vs Alaskan Malamute — Side by Side

	Airedale Terrier	Alaskan Malamute
Lifespan	10-13 years	10-14 years
Size	Large	Large
Weight	40-65 lb	75-85 lb
Energy	High	Very high
Grooming	Moderate	High
Shedding	Low	High
With kids	Good with kids	With supervision

What actually separates them

Less hair on the sofa with the Airedale Terrier. More with the Alaskan Malamute.
Less brushing with the Airedale Terrier. More with the Alaskan Malamute.
Calmer of the two is the Airedale Terrier. The one that needs more exercise is the Alaskan Malamute.
Alaskan Malamute tends to live longer — 10-14 years against 10-13 years.
With young children, Airedale Terrier is the safer default — Alaskan Malamute is listed as "With supervision".

The honest downside of each

Airedale Terrier

As the largest terrier breed, the Airedale keeps a full terrier prey drive and stubborn streak in a 50-plus-pound body, and breed mortality surveys put cancer as the cause of roughly 4 in 10 Airedale deaths — noticeably higher than most breeds.

Alaskan Malamute

This is not a bigger husky you can keep quiet in an apartment: Malamutes are powerful, determined escape artists with a strong prey drive toward cats and small dogs, they blow their entire undercoat out twice a year in dramatic fashion, and the same Arctic coat that looks glamorous means they genuinely struggle and can overheat in an average summer.

Read the full pages

Airedale Terrier · Alaskan Malamute
Health problems, origin and what living with each is actually like.