Kiri Mctavish From Scotland

Where do I start? With her father I guess. Kiri was Dexi's daughter. He was out of my first litter and became one of the top winners of his day. In 1999 he took the position of Joint 3rd Top Sire in the breed. Not for the amount of progeny, but for the quality! Kiri was bred by Ron Russell in Scotland, she was the litter sister to top winning Krystal...Sadly Kiri had a dentition fault so her wins were strictly achieved at Open show level.

Kiri joined our family at 9 weeks old and was immediately resented by top bitch Nikki. As Kiri grew up her relationship with Nikki became more and more volitile, culminating in a huge fight when Kiri was about 18 months. By this time Nikki was quite the old lady, and though daughter Seffe joined in to assist her, Nikki bore the brunt of the fight which no doubt she started. From that day on Kiri was never allowed to interacted with Nikki. Then came a fight between Kiri and Seffe, and later between Kiri and Krizzie, but when she got hold of Tali I swore she would never interact with another bitch in her home again, therefore Asha and her daughters have never been victims to Kiri's outbursts.
 But Kiri was not an aggressive dog. She was beautiful, friendly and loved eveybody, she loved the boys, loved the cats and was predictably safe in any situation were there wasn't another "Blanik bitch!" I guess she had felt the early resentment at her introduction to the pack, and being of strong character simply would not be bullied. There is no doubt Nikki made Kiri the way she was with other bitches, and Seffe didn't help the situation either.
Kiri grew into a beautiful, strong, eye catching bitch. Mostly she was kind, obedient and gentle.Though Kiri's hip score was acceptable, because of an auto immune condition  (A.F) her mother developed later in life we decided not to breed from Kiri. It turned out to be the best decision as in 2004 Kiri was diagnosed with MMM, it's self an immune mediated condition. (Click on the link if you want to read about it  Kiri's MMM) Kiri was lucky she recovered well and though she had to stay on a low dose of steroids for the rest of her life the condition did not affect her any further. 


2011

The years have plodded on and Kiri seems to have always been here, like her father before her she was Steve's pride and joy .. his special girl. With each year she stayed strong in body and mind, to this day her mobility was amazingly good ... but the light was going out and these the last few days have been hard, simply there was no choice.
Kiri loved food, well she loved to eat anything ... it's not that long since she had an operation to remove three huge bits of plastic from her intestine! She also loved water ... and mud. We called her Kiri Mchippo, or said Kiri was in Hippo mode again. It's only been a matter of weeks since she last waded in a mud filled puddle. Not the best of moves at a grand old age, but I was not going to spoil her fun!
The tears have flowed this morning, it's so hard to say goodbye to loved one. But I know in my heart it was time, and it was the last act of love that we could show her. Watch your backs Nikki, Seffe, Krizzie and Storm .... she coming!!! Goodbye to our little Scottish baby ... sleep tight Kiri Mac, thank you for all the love and fun you gave us .... You Have Been Loved.