Keelypso Keeshonden

Nikki was a Keeshond purchased by Cindy from a recreational breeder who
did not show or do any health testing. She had hip dysplasia and began
having problems standing up at around thirteen years of age. The condition
progressed to the point that she had to be euthanized two months shy of
age sixteen. Nikki was Cindy's loving companion and can never be replaced.
She was the alpha dog in the group and kept everyone in line, but she was
very loving and gentle with our son, Soren, and was known to sleep under his
cradle when he was a baby and would awaken us when he cried. Her
intelligence was often surprising and she had a rather extensive vocabulary. It
was necessary to spell certain words in her presence and even that did not
work for long, after she figured out what was being spelled. She was the
Queen Bee until the very end and has taken a large piece of Cindy's heart
with her in her passing.

Tasha was a pound rescue Keeshond that was very poorly bred, but very
much loved and very loving herself. She had a habit of wrapping her front
legs around you and hugging you and would show the famous Keesie smile
when in trouble or when caught being naughty. Tasha had hypothyroidism
and developed allergies to just about every grass and tree found in Texas,
where we lived at the time. It was not until she was close to fourteen years of
age, when we moved to Colorado, that we discovered she was not allergic to
the vegetation in Colorado and her life long battle with skin problems was
over. Unfortunately, she only lived a little more than a year after the move and
had to be euthanized due to having grand mal seizures resulting from liver
failure, at around age fourteen and a half. A sweeter dog could never be
found!

Snowflake was an American Eskimo mix we adopted from the Irving
Humane Society in Texas at around age two. She had a habit of urinating
submissively when petted, after having been raised with four small children,
who were never taught how to interact properly with a dog. Within a few
weeks of her adoption, and after a lot of patience, this problem all but
disappeared. She spent the next twelve years with us and then, after the
passing of her best friend, Bianchi, she decided she wanted to live with
Cindy's parents, where she could get all of the love and attention, instead of
having to share with all the Keesies, of whom she was not especially fond.
She resided in Dallas, Texas with Cindy's parents and their daschunds
Polly, who passed away in the Spring of 2007, and Abigail. Snowflake
passed away in the Summer of 2007 at around sixteen years of age.

Bianchi was a Lab-Terrier mix Cindy found roaming loose outside a bicycle
shop she and Soren frequented in a Dallas suburb back in 1991. She had
no collar or ID of any kind and was around nine to ten months of age at the
time. She became the first dog acquired by Cindy and Soren, jointly, and
was named for the brand of bicycle Cindy road. Bianchi was very sweet and
gentle, as long as food was not involved, but was known to wound a couple of
her pals over a treat or a meal. She was always a favorite of people when they
first met the gang of four (Nikki, Tasha, Bianchi and Snowflake), because
of her unique appearance and laid back temperament. Bianchi developed
Cushings Disease at around twelve years of age and had to be euthanized
at around fourteen years of age.