John, forgive me if you have already explained this, but what is the story behind that magnificent wolf's name?
We were just about to give up on Malamutes as a breed. As much as we loved and enjoyed Aspen and Blitz (the two we had before Ariel and Breeze) they both exhibited behavior (mostly fear-based) that worried us. We made it through their lives without incident (aggression and/or biting), but we felt it was only because we were cautious with them. And it worried us because we were seeing it throughout the breed. Dogs that couldn't be trusted (I know. No dogs can be completely trusted. There is always the potential for bad behavior. Still, some breeds are better than others. Beagles consistently make the dogs-least-likely-to-bite-you list and Cocker Spaniels consistently fail to make the list).
Still we love the breed -- the looks, the athleticism, the independent nature. So we decided to take a trip to the breeder we'd known for years. We decided we'd check out the dogs for the signs of that worrisome temperament and if our worries were confirmed, we'd walk away and look at other breeds.
The breeder showed us around the kennels and then started letting a few of her favorites out into the yard with us. Our worries were confirmed. The dogs not only didn't approach us, a few actually cowered away from us -- one running away and refusing to even be led over to us.
Then, kind of like the story of young David when Jesse, upon haven already shown the sons he was most proud of was asked, "So, do you have any other sons?" ...to which he replied, "...oh yeah, and there's David." ...and that became King David...
...the breeder said, oh yeah, there's IceSha. (Ice+Girl)
IceSha, upon being released from the kennel, came through the gate running right to me, sat down and leaned on me. Then they let out IceSha's son, Jasper. He immediately came to us as well and showed us the same loving attention.
Since I've already made the story unnecessarily long, I'll shorten it by saying that IceSha was Ariel's twin sister and Jasper ended up being the father to Breeze later that year.
We always thought if we got another female to name, it was going to be IceSha. She brought us Ariel, Breeze, and kept us loving Malamutes.
(I thought maybe I could find a photo of the original IceSha because they used the image quite a lot for their kennel. IceSha was their sled dog leader. I couldn't find one, but this is IceSha and Ariel's sire, Titan, and the dog most attribute the wonderful temperament to.) Incidentally, our IceSha doesn't have much in common line-wise with those ShoShire dogs, but her temperament is easily as good as Ariel and Breeze's. We win again.)