Common features of the Alaskan Klai. The reason for the appearance of the species and breed. The beginning of distribution and the history of the name. Club formation and formation of the breed.
Common Distinctive Features of the Alaskan Klee Kai
Alaskan klee kai or alaskan klee kai is available in small and medium settings, and in three recognized color options: black and white, gray and white, or red and white with distinctive eye rims. These dogs are not heavy and not very sophisticated. The species is part of the Spitz family and looks like a miniature Alaskan husky. The pets are built harmoniously with a well-proportioned wedge-shaped head and a tapering muzzle. Beautiful eyes and pointed ears give the dog a clever expression. They have a lush, beautiful fur coat and a fluffy tail, twisted into a ring.
At first, the dogs were bred to be excellent companions for humans, but later, they were loved as show dogs for their beautiful appearance and small size. This small dog is a beloved and loyal family pet. The breed can be wary of strangers and young children, so it is best to socialize them from an early age. Kli Kai is a good guard dog, as it is very alert and always alert. These hilarious pets will follow their owners wherever they go. Dogs will chase any object and therefore, they need to be kept under control on the street, on a leash.
The history and reason for the appearance of the Alaskan Klee Kai breed
The story began in the mid-1970s when Mrs. Sperlin and her husband traveled to Oklahoma to visit their relatives and first met a dog that became her inspiration for the breed now known as the Alaskan Klee Kai. Among the various canines and other domestic animals kept by her relatives was a small gray-white, no more than eight kilograms, an Alaskan husky bitch named Curious. The name was given in view of the anomaly of her small stature compared to the usual Alaskan huskies and inquisitive behavior. Intrigued by the little dog, Mrs. Sperlin asked her relatives if it was possible for her to take it for herself. Her relatives, who had enough four-legged pets to take care of, were more than happy to agree to this proposal.
After Mrs Sperlin got this unique little fluffy dog, she began to notice that her inherent supernatural resemblance to a full-sized Alaskan husky made her a show star wherever she went. People seemed to immediately become attached to the small dog, admiring her with exclamations: "Oh, what a cute mini-husky!" Mrs Sperlin even recalls an incident when, shortly after entering a busy restaurant, she looked around and found that almost all people flocked to one area, where they could inspect the small dog through the window pane. The ability of this fluffy ball to attract the attention of people and its uniqueness made Mrs. Sperlin think about breeding a new breed of dog.
The origin of the Alaskan Klicai: canines and breeding methods
Inquiring about the pedigree of this little pet, she learned that her appearance was the result of an accidental breeding that occurred in Fairbanks, Alaska, between a miniature, fluffy dog and an Alaskan husky. It was then, realizing that a unique species had been created by such an accidental bond, that Mrs. Sperlin's son-in-law established a small-scale breeding program to distribute the new dogs. The "curious" little dog was owned by Mrs. Sperlin, and was the product of an initial, inadvertent mating. After learning more about her pedigree, Mrs. Sperlin began her breeding project to create similar individuals. The pedigree of the Kli Kai includes the blood of the Alaskan huskies, Siberian huskies, to a lesser extent American Eskimo dogs and the Schipperke.
The main difference between her breeding project and her son-in-law's program was that she could selectively breed the very best dogs, while her relative, under pressure from his family, could not select the right litters. Due to their great compassion and love for animals, they did not allow him to take the necessary step to cull animals that were genetically defective in some way. As a result, Sperlin's son-in-law's breeding program suffered. Ms. Sperlin, on the other hand, had stricter breeding practices to produce the right specimens.
Her son-in-law's decision to abruptly end breeding in Alaska and sell her dogs to Mrs Sperlin in the early 1980s provided her with a significantly larger gene pool to work with. Along with his animals, he gave her one piece of advice that his family would not allow her to follow: "Breed the best and discard the rest." Mrs Sperlin said, "His words were my tacit faith, but now I followed them openly and religiously … With my now large gene pool, I quickly began to see the results of this tough approach, which served as an incentive to adhere to even stricter selection rules."
Distribution of the Alaskan Kli Kai and the history of its name
In 1986, a close friend of Mrs Sperlin, who was familiar with her breeding techniques for the Alaskan Klai, brought her mother, Eileen Gregory, who had traveled from Colorado to see the new species. Impressed by the uniqueness of the breed, Mrs. Gregory asked if she could get photographs of the dogs to take with her. Back in Colorado, the woman could not forget about these little pets. Then, she tried to convince Mrs. Sperlin that the world needs her cute Alaskan Klee kai. All requests for the release of the breed were initially rejected by Mrs. Sperlin. She said: "I was strongly convinced that the population of the species was too small and that my breeding program was not ready to open up to the world."
In 1988, Mrs. Gregory's constant close attention paid off when Mrs. Sperlin sold her the first miniature husky, after accounting for the cost of feeding and providing veterinary care for her growing breeding stock of 30 dogs. After this initial sale, Mrs. Sperlin found herself overwhelmed with letters and requests from other people who also wanted such pets. The public interest in this small dog breed was quite astounding and people even suggested a name for the breed. The first priority was based on the idea of learning traditional Eskimo words, until they came across the phrase klee kai, which means "little dog." They also decided to mark in the name the place where the new species was formed and came up with the name klee kai from Alaska, which was later changed to Alaskan kli kai.
Maintaining her ideals and strict adherence to good breeding practice, Mrs. Sperlin ensured that every puppy from every litter is thoroughly tested for external norms, medical resistance and personality. Puppies were also weighed, measured and regularly graded. All this information was recorded for each individual that Mrs. Sperlin brought out. It was a lot of work, a burden that Mrs. Gregory helped ease by keeping most of the information on her computer.
The history of the creation of the first club organization of the Alaskan clique
As demand for the Alaskan Klai grew, Mrs Sperlin realized that although her original goal was to create a beloved little companion dog, some of her dogs would be acquired by individual breeders for display in competition shows. Of course, this required the creation of an official organization dedicated to the Alaskan clique, and this association would be recognized as a national nursery such as the AKC. Therefore, carefully choosing a board of directors from among her closest and most trusted friends and colleagues, Mrs. Sperlin, with the help of Mrs. Gregory, founded the Klee Kai Kenel Club from Alaska in 1988 and also contacted the AKC.
Quoting the original founding documents, the aim of the directors of the central breed club was: "To initiate an original parent club, as suggested by nationally recognized kennel clubs, in order to promote and improve knowledge of the newly developed dog breed, which later became known as the 'Klee Kai' … This original organization will develop and establish the standards by which future groups interested in forming such breed clubs will base their activities."
The Alaskan Klee Kai (Mini Husky) goes international
Although the breed was not accepted into the American Dog Club (AKC), ultimately, thanks to the efforts of Ms. Gregory, the Alaskan Klee Kai received full recognition from other club kennels such as the International Dog Federation, the American Rare Breed Association and the United Kennel Club (UKC). …
In 1994, the director of the Klee Kai Club from Alaska was invited to bring his pets to the Rocky Mountain Pet Expo in Denver, Colorado. This show competition provided the club with the opportunity to introduce and educate the public about the breed on a larger scale. The resulting result, and popularization gained rapid impetus, and the organizers of the event asked the club to attend the event again next year.
As the popularity of the Kli Kai continued to grow, Mrs. Sperlin found herself under increasing pressure and it was extremely difficult to find herself out of the practice of rapid breeding, which would lead to the type of poor quality animals. The stress of club politics began to hang over her as well, and she felt like she was longing for a past simple time when she could just enjoy these amazing little dogs.
Recalling this, Mrs. Sperlin stated, “I strongly believe and argue that only the best individuals should be allowed to breed, and my own sales contract reflected this in a strict late offer to the broker. However, as the world of the Alaskan Klai changed, I realized that changing my mind was not easy. I longed for the days when my friends and I created the breed standard."
In 1995, the politics and pressures of a successful breed club finally grew too strong, and Mrs. Sperlin realized that she would have to sacrifice her core beliefs in order to continue working. Choosing his integrity before compromising, and after 18 years of hard work and dedication, she left the club and stopped actively breeding Alaskan Kli Kai.
The decision, which she describes as follows: “Finally, the time has come when I reevaluated my priorities and decided that I would rather stop breeding Alaskan cliques than when my beliefs are compromised. In January 1995, I flew with the nine remaining Klee kai to Mrs. Gregory's nursery in Colorado, and there I left eighteen years of my efforts, along with sadness, advice and blessings … I am grateful to the people who support my dream. By breeding only the best individuals, the Alaskan Klee Kai can continue to be a breed to be proud of. A new variety, genetically formed and free from defects, can only be obtained through the dedication of responsible breeders who follow their conscience instead of their hearts or wallets."
The path of formation of the breed Alaskan Klee Kai
The resignation of Ms. Sperlin began an era of great change for the Click, as noted on the American website of the Alaskan Click Association: “In January 1995, Linda Sperlin retired as President of the Association and Registrar of the breed. Eileen Gregory, secretary of the Association and Linda's representative for the continental United States, took over the role of registrar. The AKK registry and association bureau were relocated to Colorado. The breed association grew, paperwork grew, and registry costs were high, so the final fees had to be paid. With this also came the right of the members to vote for the breed name. Members voted to change the breed name from Kli Kai to Alaskan Kli Kai. The club's name was then changed to the Alaskan Klee Kai Association of America (AKKAOA).
As mentioned earlier, the recognition of the Alaskan Klai by the American Rare Breeds Association (ARBA) is primarily attributed to the efforts of Eileen Gregory, who achieved this with the development of the organization's first application, in August 1995. The first success was duplicated in the following 1996, when the Alaskan Klee Kai Association received full recognition at the national level - the International Federation of Dogs (FIC).
The Alaskan Klee Kai Association of America then applied to the United Kennel Club (UKC) for breed recognition in mid-1996. After reviewing the UKC's application, the AKKAOA board of directors was informed that, in order to achieve recognition, the breed standards for the Alaskan Kli Kai must be rewritten into a format acceptable to the UK. After the revision was completed, the new breed standards were sent for study and then to the UKC for formal approval.
After revising the revised breed standards, the UKC (America's second largest registry) fully recognized the Alaskan Klee Kai breed and took responsibility for the growing breed registry since January 1, 1997. Although the UKC was now in charge of the roster, the American Association of Alaskan Kli-kai maintained the right to approve or disapprove of breeding stock.
As AKKAOA states: “According to the UKC contract, there was to be an initial period of 5 years during which AKKAOA would still be responsible for breeding stock approval and all mature Alaskan Kle Kai should be tested to control quality breeding. Newly born specimens that are screened and free of disqualifying deficiencies will be registered with the UKC.”
In 2001, after numerous correspondences, revisions and changes in club policies and procedures, AKKAOA was granted the status of a temporary UKC club. Two years later, in July 2003, the UKC approved AKKAOA as a fully licensed club. In April 2005, AKKAAA submitted a package of presentations to the UK to ask for recognition to wear National Parents' Club status. Today, this process is not yet complete and Alaskan Klee Kai is listed as having no national parent club.
As a new breed, the Alaskan Klee Kai traveled the valley path in a short period of time. Today you can even see it in three different sizes: toy (toy), miniature and standard versions. However, the variety is still considered a relatively rare breed, with a database reporting that it contains only 1,781 unique Alaskan Kle Kai.
Interesting facts about the Alaskan clique in the following video:
