Our FirstKeeshonden
This is a picture of our first two Keeshonden, Nikki and
Tasha, to the right, along with our Heinz 57's, Bianchi and
Snowflake, and our son Soren Christopher at two years
of age.
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 developed
problems standing beginning 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 Soren C. and was known to sleep under his
cradle when he was a baby and would awaken us when Soren cried. Her
intelligence was often surprising and she had a rather extensive vocavulary. 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 caught being naughty. Tasha was hypothyroid and
developed allergiesto 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 nad 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 urintaing
when petted after having been raised with four small children that were never
taught how to interact properly with a dog. Withina 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 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 that she was not especially fond of. 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.

Bianchi was a Lab-Terrier mix Cindy found roaming loose outside a bicycle
shop she 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. 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 alwyas a favorite of people
when they first met the gang of four, because of her unique appearance and
laid back temperament. Bianchi developed Cushings at around twelve years
of age and had to be euthanized at around fourteen years of age.