# Anyone want an Alaskan Klee Kai?



## FlashTheRottwuggle (Dec 28, 2009)

I posted her on the Petfinders thread but wanted to bring more attention to her since AKKs are pretty rare especially in NY. Sorry if I broke any rules with posting the same thing twice.

Kristi Dushek from the Alaskan Klee Kai National Rescue contacted me today about this girl Mystic at Pets Alive in Middletown, NY. The rescue can't pull her because Pets Alive won't deal with rescues, they only adopt to families. Middletown is quite a ways from me and I don't really have the $225 to get her if they would approve me. I contacted them anyways but haven't heard back yet.

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/16578358
























I definitely don't need 3 dogs but I would take her in a heartbeat. I signed to foster at the AKKNR but didn't think I would ever hear from them as there aren't really any AKKs around this area (I thought). So if anyone else loves AKKs and has the opportunity to snatch her up, there she is.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

So sad that such a new breed, with such careful breeding/breeder setups is already showing up in rescues. I don't understand why this pup didnt' end up back at her breeder....
I wonder if she's chipped or tattooed (likely, no?) if so, wouldn't the breeder be able to be contacted and manage to get the dog back?


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## FlashTheRottwuggle (Dec 28, 2009)

From the email I received, the rescue saw her on Petfinders and from the pictures are sure she is an AKK. Apparently Pets Alive won't even talk to them because their policy is to only deal with families. I don't know whether Pets Alive looked for tattoos or microchips but it seems they would want to contact the breeder if they had any chance.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

She definitely looks lke an AKK to me, and frankly, ths may be one of the rare cases where a dog from a RB ends up in rescue. Usually the scenario s one of two things- the owner passes away and the family doesn't KNOW that the dog goes back to the breeder (and none of them want the dog); or else the owner and dog aren't working and the owner is too embaressed to return the dog so they turn them over to rescue instead. The rescue 'knows' all breeders are bad and here is more proof, this dog's breeder didn't take him back! Even if the breeder contacts them after the fact, well, they're just trying to save face/plan to breed the dog/etc. (This happened to a friend of mine in Cardis about 10 years ago with a shelter in Chicago, and to this day she still worries about where that puppy ended up- they wouldn't pass along her contact info to the adopter, let alone let HER adopt him. FTR, he was a 9 month old neutered boy- my Indy's nephew.) 

That said, AKKs are still very numerically rare, but they police their breeding community pretty closely, and I can't imagine this dog's breeder wouldn't take him back if notified.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Dogstar said:


> She definitely looks lke an AKK to me, and frankly, ths may be one of the rare cases where a dog from a RB ends up in rescue. Usually the scenario s one of two things- the owner passes away and the family doesn't KNOW that the dog goes back to the breeder (and none of them want the dog); or else the owner and dog aren't working and the owner is too embaressed to return the dog so they turn them over to rescue instead. The rescue 'knows' all breeders are bad and here is more proof, this dog's breeder didn't take him back! Even if the breeder contacts them after the fact, well, they're just trying to save face/plan to breed the dog/etc. (This happened to a friend of mine in Cardis about 10 years ago with a shelter in Chicago, and to this day she still worries about where that puppy ended up- they wouldn't pass along her contact info to the adopter, let alone let HER adopt him. FTR, he was a 9 month old neutered boy- my Indy's nephew.)
> 
> *That said, AKKs are still very numerically rare, but they police their breeding community pretty closely, and I can't imagine this dog's breeder wouldn't take him back if notified.*


Exactly.
Is there any way of finding out about the tattoo or chip? Notifying the small number of breeders out there to contact the rescue? If the original owner signed a contract to return to the breeder (which is likely) the breeder may have claiming rights on the dog.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

Yeah, I very rarely see them in rescue, and when they are, they're on the AKKNR page. I've only seen one on Petfinder in the past six months (when I started looking for one), and it was a chihuahua/AKK mix, not a pure AKK. I'm surprised this dog's breeder hasn't contacted them. I'm also surprised that the dog's not chipped -- all eight of the breeders I spoke to when buying my AKK chipped their pups before sending them out. 

AKK breeders are so careful about the breed, and their contracts tend to be thorough. This one's breeder most likely does have reclaiming rights. Helderberg Huskies is the only breeder in NY; I wonder if anyone's contacted them to see if they might know this dog.


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## Independent George (Mar 26, 2009)

FlashTheRottwuggle said:


> From the email I received, the rescue saw her on Petfinders and from the pictures are sure she is an AKK. *Apparently Pets Alive won't even talk to them because their policy is to only deal with families.* I don't know whether Pets Alive looked for tattoos or microchips but it seems they would want to contact the breeder if they had any chance.


Seriously?


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

I contacted one of the breeders I know about this dog. She's going to look into it further, and she has two fellow breeders visiting this weekend and said she'd see if they could work something out between them. She also said it was a shame this pup wasn't chipped... she chips every one of her pups before they leave!

She also said this dog looks more like a mini husky than a pure AKK (which is what I thought, too... she has more of a Sibe look than most AKK), but I guess no one can be sure unless they can find the breeder.


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## FlashTheRottwuggle (Dec 28, 2009)

I don't know if the dog is chipped or not and Pets Alive isn't saying. Here is what was written in the email to me:

"Alaskan Klee Kai National Rescue was recently informed of a Small Husky-like dog in a shelter (Pets Alive) in Middletown, NY. We are unable to verify if this is an Alaskan Klee Kai as the shelter has a strict adoption policy to only release dogs to families (thus providing no additional information to us). Pet's Alive did rescue this 5 year old Female named Mystic from a South Carolina Kill Shelter, where she was surrendered by her previous owner. If you may be interested in this husky-like dog, please follow the link below to fill out an application with Pets Alive."

So since she came up from SC, her breeder could be from elsewhere.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

The breeder I contacted sent them an e-mail letting them know about AKK breeder contracts and asking if she could take and place the dog, as she's familiar with the breed. She also asked about height, weight and proportions to see if she could determine whether or not the dog is an AKK (the dog's head looks too big, but she says that could just be the pictures). There are a couple of people breeding "mini Siberians" that look more like that.


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## JessieLove09 (Mar 27, 2010)

She is beautiful. I have never even seen or heard of an AKK.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but are they anything like huskies? I was thinking of getting a Husky in the future, but they are escape artists and stubborn and independent.Then I thought of a Malamute, but I don't know.lol. I want one those wolfish or husky looking dogs, but are AKKs anything like Huskies?


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

They are shyer and more aloof than huskies. They tend to bond with their families and don't care much for strangers. Mine actually isn't shy with people, but he's not overly excited to meet them. He'll let them pat him or even hold him, but he'll be looking around, interested in other stuff. He, like most AKK, does not like people reaching over his head and will shy away. He makes a lot of neat noises, but (so far) he's not as vocal as a lot of AKK seem to be.

This page and this pdf contain a lot of useful info about the breed. 

Here are a few pictures of my Casper: one, two, three. I happen to think he's one of the better-looking AKK I've seen.  He looks a lot like a husky (some of them look more like chihuahuas or poms, especially the toy size ones), but he's probably going to end up a mini size, under 15 inches at the shoulder and weighing around 15 lbs.


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## JessieLove09 (Mar 27, 2010)

oh soo cute! Can they be medium sized? Your Casper is a cutie! He looks like Demon from Snow Dogs.lol


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

Crantastic said:


> Here are a few pictures of my Casper: one, two, three. I happen to think he's one of the better-looking AKK I've seen.


Your boy is gorgeous. I really love his blue eye. Where was the third picture taken? The red rocks add a great contrast to his beautiful coat.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

Casper is very cute. The ones down here showing are universally very snipey, with no bone and iffy temperaments.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

JessieLove09 said:


> oh soo cute! Can they be medium sized? Your Casper is a cutie! He looks like Demon from Snow Dogs.lol


Like that page I linked says, the largest they get is 17 inches at the shoulder and about 20 pounds (standard size AKK), so not really what I'd consider medium, more of a larger small dog. Casper is looking like he'll end up a mini size at between 13-15 inches tall and around 15 pounds. He's five months old now.

Yeah, there are a few different looks... some AKK are snipey; some are stockier and have more of a chihuahua head. I think Casper is a nice medium. His breeder seems to get very nice pups -- here's a picture of her pups from last year (with bonus schipperke!), and here is Casper's mom.

No word yet on that shelter dog.


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