Introduction
My name is Wichita van Rijkom, I live in the Noordoostpolder in Holland and I am the proud owner of a little house-zoo as you may call it. My whole life I’ve been surrounded by pets and my dream was always to eventually study animal management and after that get a job in that sector. Unfortunately my health has been going downhill for years now so that won’t be possible anymore. Yet I will not sit still and do nothing so I decided to make the most of life with what I have! And so eventually the plan came to have a litter with our Abby to be involved with animals still in a way that I love and to also still mean something for others and especially the breed Shetland Sheepdog. In the year 2008 I started the preparations to measure up to all the requirements made by the Dutch Sheltie kennelclub and in 2009 our first litter was born. In October 2009 the kennel name was also approved so ever since then everything is official (the kennelname Special Princess comes from Abby's pedigreename Yin-dee Special Princess, I loved that name so much that I decided to make it my kennelname so thanks Har and Petra for this oh so cute pedigreename)!
(Me, Abby, Ashley and Eevee in April 2011)
My whole life I’ve been surrounded by pets. It started with cats and rodents, and eventually I got my first dog when I was 4 years old (a Yorkshire Terriër mix named Macy). In the years to come many more cats, rodents, fish and came into our home and eventually we welcomed a second dog (a Chow Chow named Belle). A couple of years ago we were searching for a good vacationhome to bring Belle to while we where on holiday when we came across a sheltie breeder. That's when my love for the Shetland Sheepdog breed was born. I was totally in love so when we were looking for a playmate for our chihuahua Ashley in the autumn of 2007 we soon decided that this should be a sheltie. At the end of 2010 we kept a puppy from Abby's 2nd litter, a tricolor female with the name Eevee which made our pack reach the number of 3 again. And that's not all because we also have 2 cats, 1 rabbit and 6 chinchilla’s (you can find more information about them on the Dutch part of the site).
(Me and my first two dogs Belle and Macy during out photoshoot
for the magazine Break Out!)
From about my 9th my health has been going downhill so every since I was 14 I didn’t have to go to school due to my diseases. I’m now unfit for work so that’s why I spend so much time with my pets. I have a lot of hobbies but because of my health issues it’s not always possible for me to enjoy these hobbies. Of course my animals are my biggest hobby and I spend lots of times with them. In the past years I’ve also been spending a lot of time in writing, especially to get more awareness for people with chronicle illness. This is going really well because so far I’ve been in multiple magazines, newspapers en also on a educational cd-rom. And the thing that I’m most proud of, in the year 2008 my first book was released (or well not my book but a book that I co-wrote) and it is now available in the bookstores here in Holland! Horseriding is also something I love to do and something I've been doing for many years now (off and on). Curently I'm riding at a special school for people with disabilities on a pony named Karstad (the teddybear there, he's a Fjord). In the summer of 2011 I also started singing lessons (just for fun) and I also love to visit musicals every now and then.
Because of my health problems I live with my mom. We have quite an impressive past that comes down to that we always only had each other. Because of my health problems this still is the case as now a days my mom is also my caretaker. My grandmother, who's has lived next to us for years and still now lives very close-by, also helps out a lot and because of our relationship I consider her to be my 2nd mother. She helped raising me with my mom, babysits the pets often.
My mother is a math teacher and has been for over 15 years already now and before that she was working in the traveling/air traffic business. In 2009 my mother decided to go back to school to get her University degree (she already has a college degree but wants a higher one) so she is very busy with that at the moment and hopes to graduate in the summer of 2012. The breeding, shows and all that I do with the girls is really my thing but of course my mother helps me when needed. She also grew up with animals (including a dog, a poodle named Wendy) I believe I inherited my love for animals from her.
(My mom and Eevee, here 4 weeks old)
The breeding that I did with Abby was purely a hobby. Abby’s had a total of 2 litters that of course grew up in our home together with all of our other animals. They were socialized from a very young age up until when they left our home. Things like the vacuum cleaner and walking outside on a leash were examples of things we tried to get them used to before the pups moved into their new homes. The weeks that the pups were here there was a webcam online so that everyone could follow there every move and we also plan trips with them from week 6 till their departure here so they got a good preparation of the big live outside our home. The breeding that I did with Abby was of course according to the rules made by the Dutch Shetland Sheepdog kennel club so the pups got an eye exam, got vaccinated and dewormed by us and a chip from the ‘Raad van Beheer’ (the organization that arranges the pedigree’s and other stuff like that here in Holland) all before they left to their new homes. The plan was to give Abby a well deserved break after her 2nd litter and to then in a couple of years, of course if she could still handle it, have a last litter with her. Unfortunately all those plans ended at the beginning of 2011... Abby was diagnosed with an terrible illness (epilepsy) and although the information about rather it's hereditary or not are not very clear I decided right away to stop breeding with Abby and to also stop the preparations of breeding with her daughter Eevee. How the future will turn out to be I cannot answer at this moment. We're just enjoy our girl as much as we can because healthy or not, my girls will always be the sunshine’s in my life and I will always love them to death no matter what and I hope to love and cherish them for many years to come!
(Me with Eevee, Ashley and Abby in January 2012)
I'm a member of the Dutch Shetland Sheepdog kennel club