"Our dogs will love and admire the meanest of us, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage."
AGNES REPPLIER

My introduction to the world of Dog Showing was brought about in 1995 by my dear friend Sina (Casqueen Boxer's) who had previously bred and shown Boxers but was at that time having a break.   I wanted a pet Bichon Frise but after Sina's 'quiet' persuasion, I found myself with a show quality Bichon Frise, Zipadedoda Heavenly Sin from Zipadedoda Bichon's in Sydney, and went on to title our first bitch. Sin Sin's photo right.

Consequently it was the start of a new way of life for myself and my husband Wayne and of course the end of Sina's break from the show ring.  I was the groomer and Sina the handler and we eventually titled three Bichon's, two from Zipadedoda and one from Zettamay Bichon's.  By this time Sina had the bug again and seriously began showing and breeding her beloved Boxers with her husband Sam.

During our walks around the show rings we had always admired the Miniature Schnauzer and vowed that 'one day' we would have one to show (and love and spoil of course).

After convincing my husband Wayne that we really did need another dog, recommendations from within the dog fraternity led us to Marelyne McLeod-Woodhouse of Schönhardt Miniature Schnauzers.   Marelyne has been breeding Mini's for 30 years and has imported many Champions from Catherine McMillan of Minuteman, Canada, Carole Hansen-Baws of Hansenhaus in the USA and various kennels in the UK.   Marelyne has also breed numerous champions of all three colours, Salt & Pepper, Black & Silver and Black.

I had my heart set on a Black & Silver and it was obviously meant to be as when I contacted Marelyne, she had a litter of four Black & Silvers.   And along came Flynn (now Aust Ch Schönhardt My Wickd Ways) photo left - no prizes for guessing why he is called Flynn and boy is he wicked.   Our life has never been the same - especially for 'Sin Sin' our Bichon Frise, who loves Flynn dearly.

We were also extremely lucky to get Flynn's litter sister Treat who became our foundation bitch.  After gaining her Australian Championship she went on to produced our first litter in Oct 2001.  We kept the only black bitch from the litter, Searider Rogue Torpedo (Asha) photo right, who became our first home bred Champion.

We would like to thank Marelyne for giving us the opportunity to love, own and show such a stunning Mini as Flynn   He is everything we could have wanted and more, to introduce us to the world of Miniature Schnauzers.

And of course an enormous thank you to Sina, without whose friendship, guidance and expert handling, we most probably would have thrown in the towel and given up showing as 'all too hard'.

After many years of traveling around the country shows in NSW, Wayne and I decided to make a more permanent move to Central West NSW.  In March 2004 we brought a 25 acre property close to Forbes which we commuted to from Sydney (5 hours drive) nearly every weekend for over 12 months.   In June 2005 we moved here permanently and have never regretted the move for a moment.   Our dogs have 3 acres to run around on everyday and they too just love the life in the country (except for the snakes).  There are plenty of dog shows in the West to choose from, generally in the cooler months from April to October.

Hope you enjoy our website and be sure to come back and check for updates.

Denise Richards
Searider Miniature Schnauzers