My first kees was an error in judgment on my husbands part. It was 1967, we were newly engaged and I had just moved into a flat that was to be our home after we got married. Remember, this was a time when you didn’t live together before marriage. I didn’t like staying alone at night so my fiancee generously gave me his credit card and said to purchase a puppy. Off I went to the nearest "Puppyland", what did I know about good breeders, health checks etc. As I went into the store I was immediately drawn to a cage that had a "teddy bear" in it. I asked the store clerk what kind of dog it was and his answer of course was "quiche - hound". I had never heard of that kind of dog before and was immediately in love. Needless to say some $400 + later, an arm load of supplies and a fuzzy bear in my lap I was on my way home. Back then that was a lot of money for a puppy and I was lucky my future husband was blinded by love, me, not the puppy. The little guy was a 4 month old male and I named him Jude. His mother was "Cinderella Lass" and so his registered name became Jude Cinderlad. Little did I know this would become the beginning of "Cinderlad Keeshonden". Interestingly enough his pedigree contained a few champions from the Mari-Ben and Keenic lines.

A few years later I decided to get a female and again knew "nothing" and I bought from an ad in the newspaper. I purchased a lovely little bitch out of a litter of 10 and called her Tara. She also had a lot of Ruttkay behind her and again champion lines.

A couple of years after that, 1972, I decided it would be fun to have a litter of puppies. And of course being the naive "breeder" that I was no health checks were done. Surprisingly enough Tara started having puppies about 3AM one morning and continued on through the following morning. Finishing up with 12 healthy puppies. They all survived regardless of my stupidity. Many were sold to close friends and relatives who had fallen in love with the breed through me. I had placed an ad in the local paper and a couple, John & Joan Allard, came out to look at the pups. They wound up purchasing 2 puppies. I later learned that one became a champion and the other was neutered and placed in a pet home. That was my first "champion". Totally by accident.

I bred Tara one more time and she gave me 11 puppies. That was it for me, I was done breeding! I had 2 small children by this time and I decided raising all those pups was more than I could handle.

Some friends of mine that had purchased a female from me decided they wanted to breed her. I was smart enough to know that she shouldn’t be bred back to her father or any of her siblings. Where to find a stud? Off to the nearest dog show I went. We had gone to a large benched show several times just to look at the different breeds. When a more local show came up I went to talk to breeders. I came across several here in Michigan that seemed to have little interest in breeding to me and one little "lady" named Florine Bastuba. Little did I know this was to develop into a 30 yr. friendship that brought our families close together and changed my life forever.

That was all it took. A lot of time, some VERY long phone calls and the beginning of my education into the dog world began. Luckily Flo knew the lines behind the bitch and agreed to breed her "IF" we would do all the health checks necessary and use contracts requiring spaying and neutering of all pet puppies. No problem, we agreed.

From that litter came my first "show dog". I had decided I had to have a male pup from this litter to show because it would be related to my old dogs. This was not the wisest decision to make. He was a sweetheart, a lovely boy but was terribly cow-hocked. One good thing, he loved to show. Although he never finished, lacked 4 pts, it was the beginning for me.

In the interim I purchased a couple of dogs from Flo and bred a couple of litters. None of which gave me what I was looking for. I then purchased a lovely bitch from Flo who was actually third pick in the litter. She became AM/CAN Ch. Van Florik Sorceress V. Cinder, ROM. The love of my life, my heart dog, my Tess.

When it was time for Tess to be bred I had gone to several Nat’ls and found what I thought was the stud of my dreams. He seemed to compliment my bitch in every way. Out of this breeding came a litter of 4, 3 males 1 female. All finished with specialty wins, BOB’s from the classes and group placements before the age of 2 years. Conformation wise it was an exceptional litter.

The true foundation for Cinderlad Keeshonden was born. Tess was bred several more times producing 8 champions in all, getting her Register of Merit.

Cinderlad continues to produce quality and not quantity.  We normally have only one litter per year but can refer you to other breeders if we have no puppies available.  Sometimes you may have to wait for a puppy from us, this may be due to many things.  Breedings don't always come when you want them to and puppies are hardly available on demand.  Waiting lists are common among breeders.

Pat Tocalis - 2006