Current Board: 2009 – 2011
 Contact My name is Desarie Fletcher and I am currently owned by 3 wonderful children and 18 , yes 18 Alaskan Klee Kai! 7 males and 11 females, some of which are puppies.I first heard about the AKK about 8 years ago and immediately starting doing my research on the breed. It took us about 2 years before my obsession to own one of these beauties became reality. We brought home our first AKK, Kika, in 2003 from Andrea Hays. We originally had no interest in showing her, but Andrea convinced us to come out and try it. Kika did awesome that first show, bringing home several best of breed wins, we were hooked from there. Later, we purchased a male named King from Barb and Alan Wieblehaus and hoped to have our first breeding pair. Unfortunately King did not pass the breeding quality exam and was placed in a local pet home with some of our friends. We later discovered that it was very challenging to actually get our hands on breed quality males due to their testicles not descending. Desarie Fletcher |
 Vice-President: Mike Carlin Info: Coming Soon |
 Secretary: Julie Baker
My name is Julie Baker and I’m proud to be serving as your current Secretary. Let me give you a little background information on myself. I am married, no children, and I’ve been involved with breeding dogs and participating in dog shows for 23-years. I worked as a veterinary technician for a number of years and my formal education is in Animal Science. Because of my own personal experiences, I have a very strong interest in the health of our breed, and I look forward to contributing anything I can as we all work to continue to improve it in the oncoming years. We became involved with the AKK when my husband Jeff found them in a book of dog breeds and decided he absolutely had to have one. I thought it would pass, but he proved me wrong and we brought home our first little girl, Cayenne, in 2002. From that point on, just like so many others, we were hooked. With my experience being only in the AKC world, I didn’t take the opportunity to show until a couple of years later when we moved from Oregon to California. I met Desarie Fletcher while in search of a stud dog, and she encouraged us to come out and show UKC, and we’ve been attending them ever since. I have been a Show Chair for AKC events, and it wasn’t long before Desarie and I decided to ‘just do it’ and were able to put on the first UAKKA Multi-Breed Show here in California. I’ve also been able to be involved in planning the Specialty that we have at Premier every year which is always a fun event. We’ve just started participating in weight pull events, which is a completely new genre for me, and I’m really looking forward to the new experiences that it will bring. We have a small program that keeps us ever so busy, but it’s worth all the work and love that we pour into our dogs. I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to contribute to this breed at this time in history, and I look forward to the many years ahead. Please feel free to drop me an email and introduce yourself if we haven’t met yet! See you ringside! |
 Treasurer: Shelia Sweet
I saw my first Alaskan Klee Kai during the summer of 2006 on a National Geographic episode entitled Designer Dogs. I wanted a play mate for my recently acquired rescue Aussie, Shadow. She was 13 weeks old and needed a playmate closer to her age than my elderly Border Collie, Kasey. Kasey is about 10 years old now and had no desire to play with a young pup. After a lot of internet research I wanted to meet an AKK in person before making a final decision to get on a waiting list or to purchase. I first spoke to Eileen and then set up a meeting with Heart of Texas to meet their AKK at a dog show near Austin. They invited me to come down and help them show their dogs. I explained I had never been to a dog show before and asked if that would really be a good idea. Barbara said “Sure, come on down.†She stuck a leash in my hand and I got a second place ribbon in my first show. Well, I was hooked after that. I went home with my beautiful Foxxy and that started my whole Klee Kai adventure. After attending several shows with Foxxy and taking her to show handling classes I developed a huge desire to make a positive impact on the breed. It has become my passion. I have since been entrusted with beautiful dogs from Virginia Skiby, Eileen Gregory, and Bette Cook, in addition to a few more from Heart of Texas. My breeding program has gotten off to a rocky start with several heart breaks along the way. My first male puppy turned out bi-lateral cryptorchid, was neutered and placed in a wonderful pet home. At six months of age, my sweet little Rio was injured and sustained a partially torn ACL which wasn’t diagnosed until about a year later when examined by a third vet. Prior to that she was examined by two vets and x-rays were taken two months apart to rule out Legg-Perthese. My beautiful Mandy developed patellar luxation at about six months of age. Received surgery and recovered very well. She was spayed and placed in a wonderful pet home as also. As for actual breeding, my little Foxxy passed all of her health tests and was bred only to reabsorb about half way through her pregnancy. Her second breeding resulted in closed pyometra two days after standing heat and she was spayed after a scary week where she almost died. About that same time Rio was bred after passing all of her health tests and her pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage at about 6 ½ weeks. This was followed by a uterine infection due to a retained dead fetus and was treated as an open pyometra with prostaglandin injections. I have recently been blessed with Rio’s first successful litter of three beautiful little babies. So, it seems there may be a light at the end of the tunnel I have learned so much in the past 2 1/2 years. They say those lessons learned the hardest are learned the best. Through bad experiences, I have gained knowledge for the future. I am a strong advocate for health testing to prevent disease in future generations of this wonderful breed. All of my dogs are OFA certified for Cardiac, Patella, and Thyroid. CERF eye tested as well as bile acid testing for liver function. I also ensure any dog is tested for brucellosis prior to being bred to or by my dogs. I look forward to serving on the health committee for UAKKA in hopes my efforts will assist others to see the importance of routine testing to prevent health concerns in future generation of the Alaskan Klee Kai. |
 Membership Secretary: Tammy Tyrell Info: Coming Soon |
 Director: Lanie Crawford
My name is Lanie Crawford. I am a Veterinary Technician, Pet Groomer, and Independent Consultant for Beauti Control. I live near Ottawa, Kansas with my husband John and our “zoo” (as friends and family affectionately call our home). We have 5 Alaskan Klee Kai, 2 Weimaraners, a Shih Tzu, five cats, and two horses. I am working toward my Bachelor of Agriculture (Animal Science and Industries) at Kansas State University, where I will then complete my Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. I had to leave school some years ago to care for my father, and hope to be back in the thick of things soon. I have always been an avid animal lover, especially dogs, and have been involved with raising and rescuing since 1996. I first discovered the Alaskan Klee Kai in 2001. We already had Weimaraners, and I was looking for a small breed in addition to the “grey ghosts”. When I came across the AKK on the ARBA website, I was immediately intrigued. After extensive research, I knew this was the breed for me. =) After waiting for what seemed like forever, I finally brough my first AKK home in 2005, Kaima. Since then, we have added 4 more (Kesha, Maverick (who passed away last year from heart complications due to lack of care in his previous home), Arella, and Willow), and Arella blessed me with my beautiful little Smooch from my first AKK litter. In addition to raising Weimaraners and AKK and doing a lot of rescue work, I do animal assisted therapy with Willow and Lia (our Shih Tzu), and up until recently with our oldest Weimaraner. I also do fieldwork with the Weims, and am working toward getting into competitive obedience, agility, weight pull, field trials, and hunt tests with the various dogs. I am also a member of local dog clubs, and Weimaraner Club of America. I am looking forward to serving on UAKKA’s BOD |
 Director: Jennifer (Jenn) Parks
My name is Jennifer Parks, although most people know me as Jenn Parks. I’m a full-time student and part website administrator, graphic designed, and photographer. I’m owned by 5 Alaskan Klee Kai, a 13 year old Pom, and a long-haired cat. I first came across the AKK about 5 years ago while doing research on the internet. I had just completed a year-long course to become a dog trainer and wanted to get a puppy to train to be my demo dog at work. I loved huskies but didn’t want another 50lbs dog. When I saw the Alaskan Klee Kai I Kukai came to live with us in 2005 and changed my entire life. I met my doggy best friend, Judy, through Kukai’s breeder, and through Judy, the entire CA Klee Kai community. I knew nothing about dog breeding or showing when I got Kukai. Thankfully the AKK community took me under their wing and taught me the importance of health screening and the principles of breeding to improve the breed. Being owned by a pack of Klee Kai has brought such joy to my family’s lives. I’ve met so many wonderful people and have been blessed with my puppies finding wonderful homes with people I consider part of my family now. |