We are Rita, a retired teacher, and Willard Thomas, a semi-retired metallurgical engineer with two daughters, a grandson, and a granddaughter all pictured below. Here is a sample of Andrea's (our youngest daughter) gymnastics routine at the World Championships in 1985. Gymnastics . The previous year she was 14th in the world at the Olympic games in Los Angeles, California. We are very proud of our family as well as our dogs, and work extremely hard at doing the best we can at everything we do.
Our first exposure to dog shows, and breeding, was in the early 90's, when we acquired our Sheltie, CH Kinships Silver Shadows CD AgN, and the breeder wanted him shown. He was our first champion and gained both obedience and agility titles. I was still working full time and knew I could not breed while I was working. Once retired, I began researching the Havanese, and four years later toward the end of the summer of 2000, we found the most adorable puppy who we named Delta Dawn Mijo's Mojo (Mojo). The following year Pocopayasos' LJ's Hot Tamale (Molli) came to be part of our dream. In December of 2002, Molli and Mojo had their first litter and life has not settled down since.
Over the years, I have been involved with, and/or taught agility, obedience, and tracking. I have had dogs all of my life but it was Gizmo, who was a " mobile genetic defect " (who we adored by the way), who presented us with such a health and temperament challenge that I felt motivated to become involved with breeding. It became my goal to produce the healthiest, most sociable Havanese possible.
Willard learned the joys of dog ownership after we were married and he is an indispensable part of Sonrisas. He calls himself the "Official Unpaid Kennel Help&quo;. He has taken over the job of running the dogs in agility because I can no longer do so, although I am currently working with George who I hope to compete by handsignals and verbal commands alone.
In 2006 I was Breeder of the Year. Tiny was top Havanese for four years running, followed by his son, Sonrisas Hijo del Conquistador in 2009
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