Thuja Afghan Hounds

About me, today...
	We are several years further now from the start of Thuja and the 4th Thuja-litter will be born in 2,5 weeks. Something I am very much looking forward too. Back then I spoke about a limited breeding program and today I stick to this. I am very proud of what Thuja has achieved so far with so very few litters. The A-litter with UK Ch. Thuja All in The Game, International champion Thuja As Good As It Gets by Zharook, Dutch and International champion Thuja April in Paris. Our B-litter was born in 2008 consisting out of exquisite females with International, Dutch and Luxembourg champion Thuja Bittersweet Me being one of the best females Thuja will probably ever produce in my humble opinion. Her sister Ch. Thuja Better Believe It, Holland's no. 1 Afghan female in 2011, not to forget their beautiful sisters Thuja Black Betty and Thuja Breaking Dawn sparingly shown... Thuja Better Believe It became in 2010 the mother to our C-litter. A litter with only three pups with again females in majority, I am starting to believe THUJA stands for girl-power. From this litter I kept Thuja Candy Kisses who excels in movement and attitude. She is still a very young girl, maturing slowly which I love but despite of that she became the no. 1 Afghan female in Holland 2012. Allthough I am not very active with my Afghans in the racing scene, Thuja Candy Kisses is visiting the racing track on a regular base and I am very proud her houndy construction shows off over-there!
In my choice of males for my females I am very selective. I want the best possible males who suit my females in type and confirmation and complete them where necessary in order to produce Afghans that stand for what I think are correct Afghans within the standard of our breed. If that means we need to travel far, so be it. We until now travelled to the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. The expectations of our upcoming D-litter are lying in the same line of the earlier litters. So I hope, like back then, Thuja's future looks bright. If would like to be a part of Thuja's future you are always welcome to contact us. Doing well in the dog scene is a nice thing but the highest we value above all are wonderful loving homes for our Thuja Afghans. Kelly
This is what I wrote quite some years ago, About Me..... My name is Kelly de Meijer and I have been born in 1972. I am living together with my husband Gerard, our daughter Meeke and our four Afghans Lotte, Joris, Sita, Lilah our two cats Ini-Mini and Dikki Dik. For a living I work as a secretary at an engineer company five half days a week, which leaves me plenty of time to spend with Meeke and our dogs...
Dogs... They are a part of my life, always have been and always will be... The first Afghan joined our family when I was 7 years of age. Despite of finding it a funny looking breed I got hooked real soon and started to visit dog shows at a real early age, guess at that time I was 10 or 11 years old. Of course more Afghans followed and we, my mother and I started breeding in 1989 under the prefix 'Serra Parecis'. Most of the combinations we did have been based on the Boxadan- and El Khyria-bloodlines, which I still highly value today. At this moment I have four Afghans; Ch. Serra Parecis Dream Away The Day, her son Ch. Serra Parecis Go Like Elijah and her daughter Serra Parecis Gone With The Wind and grand-daughter Thuja April In Paris. Next to them I co-own several others at Serra Parecis... I prefer to keep the number of dogs small, as they are living with us in the house and I want to be able to give them all their fair share of individual attention. Kennelname.... When I became 30 years of age I thought it was time to start something of myself and the best present I could think of was my own kennel name: 'Thuja'. Thuja is the name of a toxic tree and has no special meaning, but I just loved the name 'Thuja'.... Breeding... In 1999 I bred my first litter sired by USA Ch. Thaon's Oliver and my female Int., B. Ch Serra Parecis Dream Away The Day. At that time it was still under the prefix 'Serra Parecis'. This litter produced International, Dutch, Belgian, Luxembourg Ch. Serra Parecis Foolish Game. Right now I think Thuja will have only a small breeding program as my goal is not to produce quantity, but quality instead in which I hope to preserve the classic Scandinavian looks. Time will tell if Thuja succeeds... In spring 2004 I had my first Thuja-litter out of Serra Parecis Gone With the Wind and Ch. Exxos Gameboy at Zharook. The quality of the litter exceeded all of my expectations and has given Thuja a wonderful start. A special thanks goes out here to my puppy buyers who have contributed to it all. Handling... Something I really love to do... For many years I mostly have been watching at the ring side people handling their Afghans and it was at the World Dog Show in 1995 I got a chance to handle Ch. Serra Parecis Fair Player up to winning the World Champion title, one of the many highlights! My most special dog to handle so far has been Ch. Serra Parecis Foolish Game who told my mother (who takes care of him) 'to take a hike' in the rings and more or less had chosen me at the end of lead to show the dogs scene what kind of a dog he was. What a team we made, I will always treasure those memories! Anyway it's real fun to do and nerves have made place for a positive vibration to handle a dog the best I can, making it every time a new challenge...
The rest of the family: my husband Gerard and daughter Meeke pictured in BrianÇon (France) 2006



Here hiding behind a puppy belly in 2004