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.