Keelypso Keeshonden

Shadow is an Australian Shepherd we bought for our son from a breeder
that bred for herding stock, in February of 1999, just after the death of our
last Keeshond. To our knowledge, the breeder did not do any health testing
and does not show their dogs, but to this date, Shadow has been a healthy,
happy dog, except for developing a few benign tumors. He does have some
aggression issues with strangers, men in particular, so he has to be supervised
closely around people he does not know. Otherwise, he is very bright and
follows commands better than the Keesies and has shown a very strong
instinct for herding.

Annabelle ia a rescue Keeshond that was about to be euthanized for
aggressive behavior in Ohio. A call went out over the internet for someone
to foster her and try to rehabilitate her and we answered. When Cindy
picked her up at the airport, Annabelle's name was Lulu and she did not
even look like a Keeshond. Her mane was worn away by the improper collar
she wore and her coat was very thin and yellow, with very few guard hairs.
She was very overweight and we were told she had been raised on table
scraps alone. She would try to bite anyone that attempted to move her to
take away her food. We were also told she had been diagnosed as
hypothyroid. After some persistent retraining, she eventually stopped the
aggressive behavior and after a few months on quality dog food, her coat
came back in thick and with nice color. She was never treated for
hypothyroidism, because her problems stemmed from very poor nutrition.
After having her for about six months, our vet x-rayed her knees and found
her patellas were permanently luxated and she was in fairly constant pain
when walking. We feel this was the cause of her snapping at people who tried
to make her move. She went through a series of four operations to correct
the problem, which included the removal of her kneecaps. The operations
were not totally successful, but she is able to walk with a minimum amount of
discomfort and can even dance when she spies a meal on its way. Annabelle
is a very sweet girl who had the misfortune of being poorly bred by someone
who probably didn't have her parents knees checked for luxation and
probably didn't care about the result of their neglect, only whether or not
they would get paid for the offspring. Annabelle developed liver disease and
crossed the Rainbow Bridge on May 9th, 2008, just one month short of
her fourteenth birthday. We love her and will miss her always!

All of the health problems that have plagued Nikki, Tasha, Bianchi and
Annabelle are problems that can be avoided, to a large degree, when
breeding is done in a responsible manner with proper health testing. Even
though we love them all with all our hearts, it is sad to know their lives probably
could have been much more comfortable had they come from dogs that had
been cleared of the health problems that afflicted them.