Our names are Patrick and Bathseba Marijnissen and are more than 17 years together. Since 4 years we now also have a daughter named Isis. Patrick works as an head electrician at a company and I (Bathseba) take care of everything in and arround the house.

Because of my passion for animals I have been able to drive Patrick also into this little world. I used to have a horse which I took care of and Patrick escorted me with the caring of this horse. When I got older and wanted to go and study, Patrick took the responsibility for taking care of this animal.
Even though he had no knowledge of horses or other animals he learned to deal with it and learned to love taking care of an animal. I followed a study called Animal management and have passed it successfully. Unfortunately because of making other choices I was not able to find a definite job in Animal care. Though I kept the passion for animals and kept searching for different possibilities. Eventually we decided to look for a dog. I searched the internet and several books for the right dog for us. I showed Patrick all kind of pictures and information about different dogs and finally the choice was made with a Thai Ridgeback dog. Not knowing how unpopular the dog would be we went looking for a puppy. We heard all kind of stories about the dog and therefore we began to doubt if this would be the suitable dog for us.

We decided to go and take a look at someone's home that had an older Thai in his house. This way we could be able to see if it would be a suitable dog for us. We visited a farm and once we arrived there we got shocked. Not because of the looks of the dogs, but with its character. The dogs were barking meanly and were showing there teeth. We didn't dare to walk any further and waited for someone to come. Finally the owner came and told us to walk along with him and ignore the dogs. Trusting the owner we walked with him into the house. Once we sat down the character of the dogs turned 180. They became curious and were very happy to see somebody visit them. They were lovingly and sat next to you waiting to be pet. We did not know what we saw and talked with the owner about the dogs. Because of this visit we got more inspired to search for a Thai puppy. Later on it seemed that the character we saw here was something many Thai dogs show.

By calling several people we arrived at a breeder in Germany . We decided to go and buy a puppy there, after having contact with him for many times, this was also a great experience. Not knowing what was heading towards us we left at 5 o'clock in the morning for a long drive into Germany . After a 6 hours drive we arrived at the breeder's house and we received a warm welcome. We talked with the breeder all afternoon about several things and had the opportunity to look at the parents and other breeding dogs. At the and of the afternoon, when we decided to go back home the breeder invited us to stay for dinner. This was really a question we would not expect from a breeder. Unfortunately we decided to turn the offer down, because we were looking for a long drive back home. We also wanted to show our family the dog that we have chosen the same day. This was our one day trip to Germany to get a puppy. Our mal dog Taptim Siam Luug Sorn called by the name Droes.

2 years later we thought it would be time for our male to have a mate. He was always alone at home and we felt sorry for him. We again went looking for answers if it was possible to have 2 Thai dogs in one house. Several people who had more experiences with the Thai dog told us that it would be impossible.

This is something that people should not tell us, because this make it more interested for us. We decided to look for a female, this because from experiences with other dog species you always hear that 2 dogs with the same sex are more difficult to combine, than 2 of different sex. We again contacted our breeder in Germany and he told us that there were puppies coming in Finland . We contacted Finland and he kept us posted with different pictures and information, by E-mail. After 12 weeks he sends our female by airplane to Amsterdam Schiphol airport. We had to search a bit where she would arrive, because she was travelling alone. It appeared that she would be send to a cargo hall, just on the outside of Schiphol. After a hour waiting once she had arrived we were able to pick her up at the cargo hall. It appeared that we had to pay some administration costs for the transport from the plane to that hall. Fortunately we had enough money and paid. Then a warehouse employee showed us the way to our new dog. There was a small bench on a shelf covered by an orange jacket. The employee took the jacket away and there was our little dog looking sadly outside, not knowing what was happening. We took her with us to the car outside and where our male dog was waiting too. We opened the bench and she came out of it. Our male took a quick look, but because of the many odours in the bench he would rather run away. I took our new little one onto my lap into the car. Our male drewled a lot because of the odours in the car. Once we got home he ran upstairs and staid there for about 3 days. Then slowly he came down and learned to know her. She loved him and wanted to play all the time. Now they are real mates and difficult to separate...

During these last few years we have been more active in the dog world. We have followed different obedience courses with our dogs and with our male I have even done agility, which he loved to do very much. We have also learned a lot from our dogs, things that are not published in books and this makes the Thai dog more unique for us.

At this moment we are a little step further and are spending our free time in the Thai Ridgeback Club Netherlands .

This is how we have started and we hope to receive more good moments in the future, especially because our beloving Luug Sorn is no longer with us and he left us a great daughter named Sao..

Best regards,
Bathseba, Patrick, Isis and Sao & Op Tsööi.