Kathleen Corkum – Bio
I was born and lived most of my life in the Halifax area of Nova Scotia. In 2014, my employer, a National Insurance Broker, sent me to Edmonton to open our operations in Western Canada. I am a Business Development Manager with the four western provinces being my territory and love my job!
I got my first Alaskan Malamute in 1988 and was lucky enough to get the pick male in the litter with an agreement that I would show him. Since then, I have produced many Canadian and American Champions and have been rewarded with Specialty wins on both sides of the border. Most notably, Best of Opposite Sex at the 2010 American National with a homebred bitch, handled by me, under an internationally known and respected Malamute breeder of both working and show dogs. Another of my homebred bitches, a red & white, went BW at the Canadian National and WB at the American “pre-National” Specialty the same year, both wins from the Bred By class and under breeder judges. I’ve also handled one of my dogs to three BIS wins and many Group wins/placements. Besides the show ring, I have working titles on a number of my own dogs (Working Pack Dogs, Working Weight Pull Dogs) and two Malamutes, one bred by me and one sired by a dog I bred, carry the remarkable Working Sled Dog Advanced & Excellent titles. Both dogs worked on a touring sled dog team on South Island, New Zealand as well as running on puppy training teams of Alaskan Huskies for an Iditarod team in Alaska and had thousands of miles under their paws as functional sled dogs. I also run my dogs in harness (sled and cart). I am also very proud to say that I am on my 4th generation of dogs that carry the official “Temperament Test” title and my dogs and I have participated in many PR events over the years. These including hosting a pancake breakfast for the NS Museum of Natural History during Klondike days, appearing in a TV commercial and on a morning TV show as a promotion for Year of the Arctic, again for the NS Museum of Natural History, many Meet the Breed Booths over the years and, most recently, we provided dog sled rides (or cart rides, depending on the weather!) for the Christmas in the Heartland event in Strathcona County here in Alberta.
My husband and I very much enjoy hiking and camping, always with a couple of the dogs! While we now have a trailer, we did enjoy back country hiking and camping with the dogs in Nova Scotia and the dogs always packed their fair share of our gear! Backcountry camping in Alberta tends to be somewhat more dangerous than NS and I admit to some fear of grizzlies, wolves, and cougars and thus we now stick to front county camping for the most part.
In other dog related activities, I am Show Chair for the Northern Alberta Canine Association and have also started my judging career and I am on permit for half of Group 3. I am also a Life Member of both the CKC and the Halifax Kennel Club and have been a member of the Alaskan Malamute Club of Canada since 1988 and served on their board in various positions for well over 20 years.
