Did breeders remove the defensive trait in Alaskan Malamutes, or was that done centuries ago?

I was reading up on Alaskan Malamutes, and I had read that they were once used by the Mahlemuts tribe for many tasks, among these tasks was having the dogs keep an eye on the children for protection. In todays Alaskan Malamute I see that these dogs temperment make them so they are not good guard dogs / watch dogs. Is this a trait that was removed from the dogs in order to make them more friendly pets, or was it removed a long time ago for other reasons?

Great question.I'm not a fan of the artic/northern type breeds but i'll star incase any of my contacts has an idea.[ADD]Something is messed up... i can't seem to star it...

Well the needs in a good children watch dog and those in the average watch dog are two different things.A dog looking after children shouldn't growl often, chase after the children because they do act like prey, have a huge tolerance for being pulled on and fallen on, and shouldn't lunge.A dog looking after property would need to growl, snap, chase after running 'prey' and be wiling to take down the trespasser.

I think you misunderstood about the keeping the eye on the children part. They protect the children from strangers, with growls and such.But were more of a babysitter.I saw this first hand with our first Malamute, Shasta. She was five years old and we had no children,We took her to the beach with family friends, who had a 3 yr old girl.Shasta would NOT allow the girl to even touch the water. She blocked her, gently, repeatedly and were "herd" her back up the beach.It was truly amazing to watch, as we didn't have kids and how did she "know" to do this?Five years later we had our son...Shasta was a "giant" and was over 120lbs.She would sit outside his window and cry with him when he had colic. She would allow him to pull himself up and "walk" with her. She would lay next to his crib and would come get me BEFORE he woke up.When Seattle was hit by an earthquake when he was small infant, she refused to leave his side.She never, once, showed an aggressive side to ANY one, ever.But I've no doubt that had she believed my son was in danger, real danger, she would have been as mean as she could be.Mals are not good watch dogs generally...like a Dobie or whatnot. It wasn't what they were bred for reeally. Their freight dogs and I doubt the younger dogs had much time to babysit/guard the kids because they worked so hard. Most likely it was elder dogs, who had earned the right to have some babysitting duty.