Alaskan Klee Kai
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She is the cutest..the picture of her on your couch, the first day you had her, I swear she looks like a toy dog..so cute..
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They ARE adorable, but I must ask…. at the risk of, but not the desire to, offending ....
does this "breed" not fall into the category of the "designer dogs" that so many here often object to so strenuously? It IS a recently "developed" breed {1970's} designed to give people smaller huskies essentially.
I think the difference is the Klee Klai was bred to a "type" unlike the majority of designer dogs which are mixed breeds ranging from first to multiple generation crosses and do not conform to a recognizable standard.
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The difference between new breeds like the Klee Kai and Silken Windhound and designer dogs is that the breed developers have worked hard over many generations to develop dogs that breed true to type not just randomly crossing two pure bred dogs and giving the pups a cutesy name. Both the Klee Kai and Silken Windhound combined several existing breeds to develop a specific look and then worked to get dogs that consistently produced the desired type. The founders of these breeds have kept extensive records about health, temperament, conformation, etc that they have observed as they developed the breed.
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We saw a TV show about them. My husband loves husky's but they are so big. This would be more my size. I am not sure if they fall under "designer" or not. Was it a husky that was bred smaller?
Whatever they are, they are adorable.
They are a mix of Siberian and Alaskan Huskies, Schipperke and American Eskimo Dog. The breed development began in the '70's so - for me- that's not an awful lot of generations for developing the look and then working on type consistency, though for some it may be.
While they thought to be a reasonably genetically healthy breed, much is yet unknown as the breed is still fairly new. They are known to have issues with Juvenile Cataracts, Pyometra, cardiac issues, liver disease,thyroid problems, Factor VII deficiency {which can lead to abnormal bleeding}, among other things, and they tend to be abnormally shy.
My dd was looking into getting one last year. I have to admit, after looking into it with her, I discouraged it . . . . :-/.Though, like I said, they are darned adorable!!
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Actually 30-40 years is alot of generations for a breed to develop consistency. As for the list of health issues, Pyometra can and does occur in all breeds especially if females are kept intact in their later years. Pyometra is more common in other breeds where they cycle more frequently than basenjis so the uterus get pounded with progesterone more often but it occurs in all breeds. They have a genetic test for Factor VII and are breeding away from it just like we are doing with Fanconi. Before they were accepted into UKC, the breed club required health testing to be done prior to breeding in order for the litter to registered. UKC does not allow this practice so when they were accepted in UKC they could no longer require the health testing but they do still strongly encourage it.
To me this is a huge difference from a designer breed.
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Aren't many of our current dog breeds the result of planned combinations of other breeds? Dobermans, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, etc.? It seems that careful, deliberate breedings over several generations…rather than a first generation "mix" offered as a "New breed", is the difference between an planned new breed, and a designer dog.
JMHO! -
hi sorry ive took so long to reply but i have been busy with work…...
very interesting reading your comments...
Yes this breed can be aloof but so can any other breed but with the right up bringing they are just like and other dog my Kya will play with any dog and let anyone touch (when she wants to be touched tho) sometimes its straight away others it a few mins but she does in the end...
They are very smart and very active when you are but relax when you do.. They also have a high prey drive.... Also their dont have a doggy smell...
But cant wait to give her a B friend lol
Thanks for all your comments
Ben -
You are right about the catahoula Great picture. That is about the coloring of our guy.They like basenji's come in many colors. Yes the leopard in the name is because of the spots. Our guy is about 24 inches at the withers and about 50 lbs. They are the state dog of louisana because they come from catahoula county. They go back to the explorer de soto who's bulldog bred with the local indian's dog and therefore became the catahoula. They act like basenji's in many ways. He is so tall when on his back legs nothing is beyond his reach anymore. They are not as of yet akc recognised. They are on the waiting list for approval. When we found out what he was, we did lots of research on the catahoula lepoard dog. They herd pigs and cattle.
At the end of one research page we found the comment "if you like this kind of dog you also might like A BASENJI'. So now we have two basenj's and a large dog that very much acts like a basenji. Will forward pic's
