Revival and lots about Cinna

Going to try to revive this blog. Changed the title to "Adventures of my Alaskan Klee Kai" instead of "Alaskan Klee Kai Photo-a-Day." I still take photos of the pups every day, but writing a blog all the time is too much to handle. So I'll try to make it a monthly or maybe weekly thing.

Many of the photos I take can be seen on their Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/KokoroAndCinna/

Let's see...what's happened since my last post. We brought Cinna home! :D

We were a little worried about how Kokoro would handle having a little sister. He loves meeting dogs at dog parks, but he had only had two dogs visit in his house before. We needn't had worried. My fiance and I met inside the mini-dog park at our apartment complex with both dogs on leashes. At first, Kokoro was so excited to see a new dog that he didn't notice the leash. When he did, he followed the leash up to Adam's hand, then back down to Cinna, then he sat down and pondered this. It was so cute seeing him trying to piece this together. I have some photos but it was late at night so they're dark. (It was a long day getting Cinna too us. A story for another time maybe).

Anyway! After the dog park, we brought them inside the house and Kokoro insisted on trying to play with Cinna. Cinna was a bit drowsy and confused after her flight and her new surroundings, so she wasn't in the mood to play. They eventually laid down together. When Cinna went in her cage to rest, Kokoro followed her. It was love at first site.

In the four months since then, they've grown close. They've never had any real fights and they don't seem to have any set positions of dominance...which is interesting to me. I think Cinna is content with Kokoro being alpha and he doesn't feel the need to boss her around.

Cinna slept in her crate a grand total of one night. lol. The second night she started crying and chewing are the bars. I don't think she understood why Kokoro was able to sleep on the bed and she wasn't. Adam wanted to let her sleep in the bed so I told him that she could, but he was responsible for any cleanup if it was needed. Cinna immediately made herself comfy and went to sleep. I shouldn't have worried. She's never had an accident in the bed. And she loves to cuddle! lol.

She is so small that she can't jump on our bed so we set up a box at the foot of the bed so she could use that as a step. For the first couple months, it was a cardboard box covered with a towel to make it look better. Eventually, she figured out it was covered with a towel (she LOVES towels), so she pulled it off. lol. We now have a small ottoman in it's place. She caught on to jumping into bed using the step very quickly, but it took her a couple months for her to learn how to jump down. I'm glad she was smart enough not to take a flying leap like her brother. I was afraid she would hurt herself. For the longest time, Cinna would need help getting down. Kokoro would use this to his advantage by running into the bedroom while they were playing, jumping on the bed, then leaping down and leaving Cinna stranded. She would let out the most pathetic bark asking for help. But that's a thing of the past, after some coaching, she learned to use the box/ottoman to step down. Now Kokoro's trick doesn't work.

We take the pups with us everywhere we can. They both love dog parks. Cinna gets excited any time she meets any dog smaller than her. Cinna is about 14-15 inches tall and 8 pounds. She's polite to all dogs and greets them. She gets a little scared trying to play with big dogs. She knows she's small and worries about getting trampled...at least I think so. I've seen her cringe when a pack of stampeding dogs ran by. lol. We usually take them to a park with a small dog side so we don't have to worry about them getting hurt. Plus, Kokoro has...issues...with some dogs, so a small dog side is best. We're hoping the training class in the Fall will help.

Speaking of training, both of the pups are really smart. They both know sit, down, leave it, roll over, spin, shake hands, high five, dance (putting their paws up in the air and balancing on their back legs), stay, and come. Though, with stay and come, we're working on distractions (ie- training at dog parks). Kokoro also knows play dead, shake with the opposite paw, spin in the other direction, how to go through a tunnel, and leap over hurdles. Cinna recently learned the hurdle trick too. We're hoping to agility train them in the future. We're going to be signing them up for an obedience class in the Fall to work on come and stay with distractions, then I'm thinking agility for Kokoro and either Agility, Fly Ball, or Scent Work for Cinna.

Well, I guess this entry it long and ramble-y enough. lol. I'll try to post again soon and maybe include some photos next time.

~ Risha

Vultures, Carrots, and Bed Destruction

Trying to keep up with my original idea of daily posting by not skipping the second day. lol. Good thing a few interesting things happened since my last post so I have something to write about.

First! A neat photo from Kokoro and my walk last night. Not really an "AKK" photo but I'm letting it count since it has an AKK related story. lol.

(Ugly watermark 'cause I think it's a neat photo and don't want it showing up other places.)

Vultures in a tree! Kokoro HATES birds. Well, maybe hate is too strong of a word. I think he's fascinated by them and wants to learn how they fly. lol. Whenever he sees them on our walks, he wants to chase them. With most birds, this is okay 'cause they're tiny, but the vultures are bigger than Kokoro. And, about a month ago, they stopped flying away when they saw him. Now they just hop across the ground and stare at him. I keep him on a short leash as we walk by with him snarling and barking and running back and forth trying to get to them. Last night, we were walking and Kokoro suddenly stops and looks like he saw something across the pond. I look and don't see anything, but, even as he's walking, he keeps looking. Eventually, I notice that the vultures are up in a tree. When we got to that side of the pond, Kokoro looked up at the vultures and barked a few times. lol. It was kind of cute. That lead to this photograph. 

Next up, I recently learned that Kokoro likes lettuce and carrots. So here's a shot of him eating a piece of carrot. Not a very good photo, but I still think it's cute that he likes vegetables. My beagle, Reilly, used to spit them out and wait for something better. kokoro likes to savor food and will nibble off tiny pieces to enjoy.  

And, I feel kind of bad posting this next group of photos because it shows Kokoro being a bad boy. lol. He doesn't normally do things like this. Earlier today, I was sitting in the living room and I hear Kokoro playing with his toys which is usual. Then I start hearing ripping sounds. I go to investigate thinking that he ripped a hole in one of his toys and is tearing the stuffing out. I was surprised to see this...

Kokoro had pulled the cover off of his bed and was ripping off foam pieces. Thankfully, he never eats stuffing or, apparently, foam, so it was just thrown all over the rug. I yelled at him and picked up all the foam pieces then put the cover back on the bed. The bed is, surprisingly, still useable. It just has a giant hole in the side. lmao. 

I tried to be mad at him, even with him giving me cute confused looks after being told "No!" But then...I turned around and there he was sitting all pretty with a piece of foam placed at my feet. I guess I had missed a piece and he helped me by bringing it over. It was like he was saying, "Mommy! Look you missed a piece!" How can you be mad at that? lol. 

~ Risha

And So It Begins...

Been meaning to start a photo blog since June when I first brought Kokoro home. But I kept forgetting about it. So, I made one of my 2013 resolutions to start a photo-a-day blog. Since I take photos of Kokoro, my Alaskan Klee Kai, almost every day, I decided that would be my theme.

I guess, since this is my first post, I should post a little about the Alaskan Klee Kai breed, how I found out about it, and Kokoro. This is going to be long...so bear with me. lol.

I guess I should start with Kokoro's breed. Alaskan Klee Kai look like miniature Siberian Huskies. They come in 3 sizes: toy, miniature, and standard and range from 13 inches to 17 inches tall. They are not simply "miniature huskies." They are a breed all of their own. Huskies tend to be friendly dogs that love everyone. AKK tend to be more shy and only really comfortable around people they see as their "pack." They are definitely not for everyone. They require A LOT of socialization with other animals and people. I've had Kokoro since he was 5.5 months old and take him with me pretty much everywhere. He is still shy around people. He never snaps but he just seems resigned that people what to pet him. And trust me, if you get an AKK, people will want to pet him/her and will want to ask you A LOT of questions. You will get stopped where ever you go...multiple times. Anyway! I could go on and on about the breed and my personal experiences, but I'll just link you to some references about the breed -
http://www.akkaoa.org/Alaskan Klee Kai Association of America, Inc
Alaskan Klee Kai National Rescue
AlaskanKleeKaiScam.com

And now the story of how I found out about the breed and Kokoro -

It all started about 7 years ago. I've always loved dogs and wolves even as a child. About 7 years ago, I was looking through a dog breed book. I saw a breed I had never heard of before...Alaskan Klee Kai. I had always loved huskies but never wanted a big dog. A miniature husky! This breed seemed like it was made for me. That same year, I visited with a breeder. She had many dogs, including the second red AKK ever, but I fell in love with a grey and white named Cadence. He curled up on my lap. I had heard that the breed was more reserved so this surprised me. And...just my luck! Cadence was looking for a new home. Unfortunately, it wasn't the right time for a new dog. I knew this, but it still broke my heart. So, I swore that when I graduated from college, I would get an AKK of my own. 

Fast forward to 2012. As I finished my classes and May quickly approached, I started preparing for what had become my dream dog: a gray toy AKK. Eye color didn't really matter...but I thought blue might be nice. My fiancé, Adam, and I moved out of student housing and into a dog friendly apartment complex.

Unfortunately, in April, tragedy struck. My beagle, Reilly, who had been a part of my life for 13 years (over half my life) passed away. That was very difficult for me. I know some people think I replaced Reilly with Kokoro. This isn't true. I was going to be getting an AKK anyway and no dog can ever replace Reilly. /end tangent 

I started contacting breeders and was recommended to join the AKK of Florida Facebook group. This was fantastic because I wanted Adam to meet the breed before we decided. Plus, I wanted to see of I still loved the breed as much as I thought I did. I hadn't seen another AKK since visiting with the breeder all those years ago. Over a weekend, I was able to meet four of the Florida AKK. All three sizes. We loved the breed! We knew it was prefect for us. And, after seeing all three sizes, I realized they weren't all that different and maybe I should consider a miniature or even a standard instead of just focusing on looking for  a toy.

After that weekend, I started contacting more breeders and filling out questionnaires. I saw many puppies I liked but none that seemed to be "the one." Then I found Eileen Gregory's page alaskankleekai.net and saw this little guy - 

 (Photo courtesy of Eileen Gregory and Chris Shackleford)

And knew he was the for us. Well...kind of. I contacted Eileen about "Nelson" (Kokoro's name at the time). Then another puppy I had been looking at became available again. His name was Bering. I struggled with the decision between the two of them. I actually cried over it. But, in the end, Adam and I decided on Nelson. Bering is still available if anyone is looking for their very own AKK. 

Anyway! Back to the story, we decided on "Nelson" but wanted to rename him. I had always imagined having an AKK named Chiisai, which means "small" in Japanese. But I decided that would probably be too confusing - "Cheese Sigh? oO"" So then I thought of Ookami which means "wolf." But that didn't seem to fit. After showing Adam's mom a photo, she noticed that his facial markings kind of looked like a heart. Adam looked it up in Japanese..."Kokoro" and the name stuck. ^^ His full name is Ookami No Kokoro which means Heart of the Wolf. 

After a flight from Colorado to Florida, including a layover in New Jersey, we picked up Kokoro at the airport in June. And life hasn't been the same since. Kokoro has brought such joy into our lives. We're more active and attend more (mostly dog related) events. I started out wanting an 8 week old toy gw AKK. And fell in love with a 5.5 month old miniature gw AKK. I'm actually glad we skipped the puppy stages. He's been fantastic. He lost his last baby tooth the second day we had him. So we missed the teething stage. And he caught on to potty training relatively quickly. The first night, he cried three very pathetic howls in his crate...he'd had a long day. The second night, after he decided he liked us better, he cried until we moved the cage into our room. He's slept there ever since and has never complained. He is so smart! He aims to please. When learning a new trick, he figures out what we're asking and is so excited during training. He finished basic obedience in October and we plan on enrolling him in Beginner Agility soon.

We've enjoyed having an AKK so much that we've decided to extend out family. In about a week, thanks to Barbara Manley, will be getting our second AKK. An 8.5 month old red and white miniature female. 

(Photo courtesy of Heart of Texas Alaskan Klee Kai)

We've named her Cinna, short for Cinnamon. I really hope Kokoro likes his new sister. lol. 

So....that's my story. Hopefully, the rest of the blog posts will be shorter. ^^; 

I end this post with a photo taken about a week ago before Kokoro and I went to the dog park. It was cold (maybe 40 degrees...we live in Florida) outside so we're all bundled up. lol. 

~ Risha

P.S. Actually typed this up on the 9th but didn't end up posting it until the 14th. Wondering if this might not really be a photo-a-day blog...but I guess we'll see.