Breed Information - Alaskan Klee Kai

Appearance

-Breed Standard-

The Alaskan Klee is a small version of the Alaskan Husky with a wedge-shaped head featuring a striking masked face, prick ears, and a double coat. The length of body is just slightly longer than the height. The tail is well-furred and curls over the back or to either side when the dog is alert or moving. The appearance of the Alaskan Klee Kai reflects the breed's Northern heritage.

They come in four different Colors:

Red & White	Solid White	Black & White	Gray & White
Owned by Desarie Fletcher		Owned by Jennifer Parks	Owned by Violet Hignite

With two different coat lengths. The above are short coats and below is a full coat.

Owned by Patricia Zengel

And Three Different Sizes:

Toy: Up to 13 inches	Miniature: Over 13 up to 15	Standard: Over 15 up to 17

The eyes come in the following colors:

Brown	Blue	Amber	Green	Bi-eyed	Parti

Temperament

The Alaskan Klee Kai is very curious, active, quick and agile. His loyalty and alertness make the Alaskan Klee Kai an excellent watchdog who may be territorial despite his small size. While affectionate with family members, the Alaskan Klee Kai is reserved and cautious with strangers and in unfamiliar situations.

Ownership Considerations

The Alaskan Klee Kai may be the perfect dog for some people, but it isn't a dog for everyone. Here's some things you should consider before bringing an AKK into your home. Like most dogs, without proper training they can be very destructive chewers, they are highly intelligent so the become bored easily. They seem to have an almost endless amount of energy and spend a lot of it getting into trouble unless you have the time to teach them appropriate ways of disposing of it. Chewing is one thing they will do to burn off energy, so is digging.

Many people think letting their dog run around the backyard all day is a suitable exchange for taking them for a walk, this is not the case. AKK's need to be walked. They need it for the socialization as well as the exercise and the strengthening of their view that their owner is their pack leader.

AKK can be loud, VERY loud. They are very vocal little creatures and they have a lot to say. AKK owners quickly become used to the 5-10 min greetings when they come home where their AKK must tell them all about the things they missed while gone, or perhaps its a brow beating for leaving them behind. If you have neighbors that don't like a lot of noise they may not like your AKK.

Expenses. These are no more than they would be for any other dog but they are still something you should take into consideration before adding a new canine family member. Your new puppy we need to finish it's vaccinations usually 3 more sets of shots plus their rabies. These can cost as little as $20 a visit to about $50 a visit. Your puppy or dog needs to be on a good diet. A bag of good dog food is going to cost you anywhere from $30-$60 dollars a bag. You will want to have them micro chipped if they haven't had this done already. That's another $35 to have it implanted and around $20 to register it. Speaking of registration, that's another $16 to UKC. We also need to account for toys, cleaning products, leashes, beds, crates, replacing things your puppy destroyed, having them spayed or neutered which is usually between $50 and $200. And we can't forget obedience classes that run about $100 - $150 per 8 weeks. You normally want to do about 3 sets of these 8 week classes. Yearly exam with full blood work, that's between $100 and $200. Last but not least, kennel fees for when you go out of town and can't take your dog with you. This runs about $35 dollars a day. This is not including any additional emergency things that might come up.

Health Issues

Link to AKKAOA's Recommendations for Health Monitoring

The Alaskan Klee for the most part of healthy little dogs, but there are some health issues that breeders are trying to weed out from the gene pool. There are as follows:

Cleft Palettes - a condition where the roof of the mouth is not closed and the inside of the nose opens into the mouth.
Cryptorchids - a condition where one or both testicles do not descend into the scrotal sac.
FVII - a clotting factor deficiency that rarely produces clinical signs.
Juvenile Cataracts - A cataract is any opacity or loss of transparency of the lens of the eye.
The opacity may be confined to a small area of the lens or capsule, or it may
affect the whole structure. A complete cataract affecting both eyes will result in blindness, whereas
small non-progressive cataracts will not interfere with vision.
Heart murmurs - Cardiac murmurs result from turbulence created in laminar blood flow. When the flow velocity
of fluid within a pipe exceeds a certain value, turbulence develops and energy is dissipated,
which generates audible vibrations.
Liver Shunt - A liver shunt occurs when the blood is shunted around the liver rather than passing through it
Luxating patellas -a condition where the knee caps slide in and out of place.
Pyometra - an bacterial infection of the uterus where it fills with pus.
Thyroid disease - an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the thyroid gland
Umbilical hernias - a break in the abdominal muscle wall at the point where the umbilical cord enters the body.

The Legend

The History

I could tell you the story second hand of how these little dogs came about, but why do that when you can get the story first hand from the lady who developed the breed, Linda Spurlin.

-Linda's Website-

The history as stated by the United Kennel Club:

The Alaskan Klee Kai was developed in Alaska by Linda Spurlin and her family, to be a companion-sized version of the Alaskan Husky. From the early 70's through 1988, the Spurlins carefully selected dogs who met their high standards for appearance and soundness. In 1988, they made the Alaskan Klee Kai available to others. Mrs. Spurlin originally called her new breed the "Klee Kai" but in 1995, it was changed to "Alaskan Klee Kai." The Alaskan Klee Kai is still extremely rare.

The AKK was recognized by the American Rare Breed Association (ARBA) in 1995 and by the United Kennel Club (UKC) on January 1, 1997.

More Information

For a complimentary copy of the AKKAOA AKK Newsletter please contact the Editor, Terry Wright at twright@mtaonline.net

Alaskan Klee Kai Association of American Founded by Linda Spurlin in 1988 (The Original AKK Breed Club)

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