About
When we got to know this amazing little breed, we fell in love. Never had we intended to breed the Klee Kai, and our first Klee Kai, Apollo, wasn’t expected to grow into the beautiful male he did. We were advised by established breeders around the world that it would be a terrible waste not to breed him as he was a healthy and handsome dog and the breed so very rare in the UK. We brought in Athena from Texas, and that’s how it began.
As mentioned in the ‘Who are we?’ section, we are not big breeders. We have a few Klee Kai, some retired now too. So we do not have lots of litters. That aside, we do take breeding Klee Kai seriously.
Our puppies and their owners are members of our family. Having so few pups a year means we can commit to staying in touch with our owners weekly, and always available to support and advise them when needed. Every single puppy and subsequent adult dog, is very dear to our hearts, so we aim to raise the puppy the best way we can to try and ensure the puppy has a happy and healthy life.
Breeding for the breed
The Alaskan Klee Kai, being such a “young” breed, needs its breeders to adhere to the standards put in place by founder of the breed and the kennel clubs it is part of.
ALL our Klee Kai are fully registered with purple ribbons (meaning pedigree) with the UNITED KENNEL CLUB (UKC) and have also been submitted to join the AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB - FOUNDATION STOCK SERVICE (AKC FSS). Any studs we use must also be fully purple ribboned UKC Alaskan Klee Kai. This means NO outcrossing of other breeds added to our dogs, as this is essentially cross breeding. Our Alaskan Klee Kai are pure Klee Kai.
Our aim is to produce beautiful, yet functional examples of the breed. We aim for the breed standards set out by the Alaskan Klee Kai Association of America by pairing within standards and compliment one another.
The gold standard of breeding is usually to show the dogs and gain titles. Unfortunately being in the UK, and the dogs not registered within the ‘Kennel Club’ of Great Britain, our access to shows is limited to the USA. While it would be a great honour to title our dogs, as the situation is currently, we do not feel flying our dogs in cargo to the USA and then back again is something we want to do. This is by no means condemning the process, but not an action we believe is right for us. Once our breed eventually reaching the more local kennel clubs, we aim to enter the ring as soon as possible.
Breeding for Health
The Alaskan Klee Kai, being such a young breed is considered healthy as a breed. That being said, limited gene pools and their foundation breeds have resulted in a few conditions that have arisen in the breed. While the breed is comparatively healthy to most, we as breeders still have an obligation to try and prevent these conditions being passed on to puppies.
FVII.
FVII or Factor 7 deficiency is a blood clotting disorder that causes excessive or prolonged bleeding after an injury or surgery. All our dogs are either DNA tested for the condition and confirmed as non carriers, or subsequently confirmed as non carriers by parental clearances, as such with our home bred dogs.
Our DNA tests have been carried Animal DNA Diagnostics here in the UK.
Physical examinations.
All our dogs are checked following a strict BQE, Breeding quality examination, by a certified MRCVS Veterinarian. Using certified vets who have skills in the areas of the dog being examined, we can be confident in limiting the potential of passing genetic conditions into our pups.
The breed in the UK has no governing body such as the BVA to register the health results with, so for this purpose we followed the advised testing of the OFA In the USA to plan our breeding exams. Our vets use their requirements, as well as other testing at our request, when conducting the breeding quality examinations.
We look for
Breeding for happy dogs
As breeders, we don’t just have a responsibility to breed healthy Alaskan Klee Kai. We have a responsibility to try and raise confident and social puppies!
The breed does have a tendency to have a shy aspect to their personality. This is why as breeders we aim to work from the moment the puppy is born to help them develop bonds and trust with humans. We use the same methods as ‘Muttamorphosis’ to raise level headed and confident Klee Kai. A lot of time and effort is put in, to ensure that the puppies will settle into their new homes as best as possible before we hand over the socialisation ‘reins’ to the new owners.
They are exposed to:
🔷People
🔷Children and babies
🔷LOTS of animals
🔷Other dogs and breeds, within and outside the household pack.
🔷Handling from day one to allow trusts to develop with being handled, examined and picked up.
🔷Exposure to standard home life (flooring, sounds, materials, electrical equipment etc.
🔷Loud noises such as factory, train, traffic and firework sounds.
🔷Training to using set toilet areas which can then be transferred to where the new owners want.
🔷Crate training, being used to being securely crates but also being loose in the house while supervised.
🔷Exposing puppies to routine treatments (and pretending to do treatments to desensitise them) such as nail clips, brushing, and examining the puppy. This allows puppies to know what to expect when these things need to be done by the owner/groomer/vet later on.
Owners are welcomed and encouraged to stay in contact daily for support and advice. It’s worth remembering that even some of the best socialised Klee Kai still choose to stick around their owners rather than rush up to meet new people. It’s an aspect of the breed that is very common, although some of our Klee Kai didn’t get that memo!
Our intentions are well rounded and confident puppies that go on to be happy adults. We have been fortunate to find that these methods have been very successful thus far, but we are continually researching and reassessing our methods for future litters.