   
NawtiKees
Keeshonden
is Paul (the guy in black) and Tracy Hofman (the lady in red) from
Vineyard, NSW, Australia, and our small, happy and growing family of
Keeshonds. Our
girls
are Kaysha
(Australian Champion Rymiska Millenium Lady) and Ellie May
(Australian Champion Calivale Class Narse). In September 2002, we
were joined by our first home grown kids from Kaysha – Cooper (Australian Champion
NawtiKees Just A Blow In)
and Willow (NawtiKees Shes Wicked - now living in Canberra with Craig
& Nina). In April, 2003,
our second litter was born to Ellie May – 8 babies in all, with us
keeping our second male – Chaos
(Australian Champion NawtiKees Pandemonium). Quite
soon after Kaysha coming to share our home, we found “doggy” things to
do, such as basic obedience classes, basic agility (not Kaysha’s forte
I might add!). Visits to the show rings
(luckily located very near to our home) soon introduced us to the
conformation world, and yet another exciting thing to do with Kaysha. Here we were again lucky to meet
Rachel and Adriane Millner (Rysup Keeshonden & Lhasa Apso’s)
who we had been emailing regularly for some time (indeed, it was Rachel
who introduced Marilyn to us). Thanks to
these guys and others along the way, we've learnt (and continue to
learn) the art of conformation showing & breeding. Our
second Keeshond - Ellie May, came from 'Camp Calivale'.
Ellie is the most delightful, funloving, playful, happy
and resourceful Keeshond. She gives more
love than you ask for, and she just adores people, dogs and our
cats (sadly now all our cats have departed this life - Bear &
Rastas crossed the
rainbow bridge in 2003 and Heathcliffe crossed the bridge in July 2004). She’s
also very intelligent, and is adored by anyone and everyone who meets
her. Kaysha
was first shown from her 1st birthday (a much later start to
showing than most) and was titled (Australian
Championship) in just over 12 months. Whilst
others have been titled faster, we considered this a tremendous
achievement as we had absolutely no clue for such a long time on what
to do, and how to get the best from our dogs. Kaysha
of course had to be trained for the show ring – and this is a harder
task with an older dog than with a new baby. We
think that Kaysha’s achievements are all the more special because of
this. In
August 2001 we decided that we would like to have a litter – our very
own “home grown” show dog. The
prefix NawtiKees was borne as a result of a raunchy email conversation
between Rachel and Tracy. It was
important that the prefix capture the nature – the very essence, of our
home and who we are. NawtiKees was the
natural choice. This doesn’t mean that
Keeshonds are naughty – its
more about our sense of humour and approach to life rather than
a reflection on our breeds
temperament. Our slogan pretty much
sums up the character of NawtiKees: "NawtiKees Keeshonden -
the best Nawti's......Guaranteed!" In
September 2002, Kaysha gave birth to 5 beautiful bouncing babies - 4
boys, 1 girl. Dad (Ch Calivale The Outlaw) was suitably
proud! From this litter we kept the girl (NawtiKees She's Wicked
- Willow) and (Australian Champion NawtiKees Just A Blow In -
Cooper). Willow has
since gone to live with Craig & Nina in Canberra and live the 'high
life', as she decided that the showring was not for her. Rikki
(ala Teddy) lives in Melbourne, Kyffin lives
in Sydney, and Tobi lives in Canberra. Sweet
Ellie May has been shown since she was twelve weeks old.
She was very easy to train – she’s a natural in terms of
her show training ability. Ellie played
second fiddle to her older sister and also other competitors for a
while, but in February 2003, Ellie May gained her Australian
Championship title, and was loudly applauded by those present. Ellie May had been mated to
Australian Champion Velsen Chasin Time, and was three weeks in whelp! She glowed with maternal happiness! On
16 April 2003 Ellie May delivered 8 beautiful bouncing babies – 4 girls
and 4 boys. 7 have now gone to their new
homes (in Victoria, Qld, Country NSW, Newcastle, Central Coast,
Badgery’s Creek and Seaforth), and of course Chaos is now part of the
NawtiKees gang! Cooper
obtained his Australian Championship in October 2004, winning his last
26 points in one weekend. Cooper is the first NawtiKees
Australian Champion and we are incredibly proud of our boy.
Cooper has now exceeded our expectations by taking out BEST IN SHOW (All Breeds
Championship Show) and RUNNER UP TO
BEST IN SHOW (also at an All Breeds Championship Show) in
February, 2005. Chaos
obtained his Australian Championship in February 2005, and is now
enjoying a little break from the showring to be 'just a dawg!".
Unlike his brother Cooper, Aunty Kaysha, and mother Ellie, Chaos finds
the showring a tad bit boring, and would much prefer to just be
snuffling around the backyard looking for sticks to chew, birds to
chase and grass to roll in! In
January 2005 we moved from our Schofields home to a new house on 1/2
acre in Vineyard, NSW, so that our growing family have all the room in
the world to run, play and explore (and trust me - they are loving
every second of thier new house). We have plenty of room, plus
they have their very own 'play room' - just for dogs, complete with
toys, rugs, beds and a 3 seater couch and cushions! They aren't
half spoilt, are they! We
now have 8 Keeshonds and a toy poodle, and the family continues to grow
and prosper. To find out who all our Kees are, and their latest
adventures, visit our Latest News page! We
are members of a number of canine Associations, including:
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