The New Breed

A Balmain resident seeks to establish Australia’s first kennel association for an extremely rare dog breed.

Joe Thoennes submitted a formal application on Monday to set up the Alaskan Klee Kai of Australia (AKKA).

The association will focus on expanding and representing the Australian Klee Kai population.

Mr Thoennes is a former Google employee who arrived in Australia three years ago, bringing with him his muchloved Alaskan Klee Kai dog, Ozzie.

Mr Thoennes said Ozzie, a miniature Husky with glassy eyes and black and white fur, was the first Klee Kai to arrive in the country.

Mr Thoennes said the Australian Klee Kai population has grown to ten dogs, with rumours two more are present.

He said part of the kennel’s mission is to increase the breed’s Australian presence, and so he intends to work with Southern Cross Klee Kai, a Klee Kai breeding organisation on Sydney’s outskirts.

“The main thing is you have to import sufficient stock to get the breed started,” he said.

“You need something on the order of over 100 to have an effective gene pool that you don’t end up with incessant genes overlapping.”

The current Australian breeding program is limited by a lack of unrelated Klee Klais, and the waiting list in this country for new Klee Kais has around 130 people on it.

Mr Thoennes said he is considering establishing an exchange program where people would import a Klee Kai for the breeding program and then get a first pick from the resulting litter.

This would overcome the problem of Australia’s quarantine process which, owing to the considerable period of confinement, effectively ensures it is impossible to import puppies.

“This is one of the ideas for getting people a puppy that they’d want and increasing the gene pool which are both things that need to be done.”

The kennel association also intends to represent the interests of dog owners in public policy, and promote awareness for responsible dog ownership.

The Klee Kai breed are derived predominantly from the Alaskan Husky, with elements of American Eskimo, Siberian Husky, and Schipperke also included.

They are essentially a small lap-dog version of the Husky, weighing on average ten kilograms.

“Huskies are working class dogs, they have a lot of energy, they take a lot of space,” Joe said.

“Klee Kais have a lot of energy but they require a lot less energy to burn it off, and they require a lot less space.

They are more of lap-dog than a Husky would ever be.”

An accidental breed, Mr Thoennes said Klee Kai’s first emerged when an Alaskan Husky mated with an unknown dog.

On a trip to Oklahoma in the mid-1970s, Linda S Spurlin came across this first Klee Kai as she was visiting her brother.

“She was from Alaska and her brother had many dogs, and she noticed this little Husky looking thing.”

The brother gave it to her, and she returned to Alaska.

“Everywhere she stopped people were obsessed with this dog, so she got the idea of establishing a dog-breed: miniature huskies.”

The breed now seems to be adopting an international presence.