Back in April 2004, during Songkran Festival (A famous Water Festival in Thailand), we travelled to the eastern part of Thailand. Our previous memory is that if you are going to find a good Thai Ridgeback dog, This is the place where you should go. We made the first stop at the oldest famous kennel in Thailand. We had purchased from here, before a long time ago. But on this occasion, we found no puppies available. Aunty Somkit is no longer active in breeding dog by herself at the age of 84. We still admire her so much as being one of the greatest contributors to the Thai Ridgeback dog in Thailand. She spent two third's of her life, breeding the RED colour TRD. We always visit her whenever we get the chance, and I believe every TRD breeder in Thailand know her. Before we left for our Island tour, she promised she would contact people she knew and let us know if she can find some puppies for us.

This is not the first TRD we have raised in the past decade. We got the first one from Trad province, in the far end of the eastern region, ten or more years ago. The second, and the third and all our other TRD also came from that region. It is only pure-bred we have raised since 1990 We have raised them one by one and quietly at home, and we have truly fallen in love with the Thai Ridgeback Dog.

On our way from KhorChang Island, we stopped at a fuel station and FORTUNATELY, we saw an advertisement, for TRD puppies for sale!!! We called the breeder immediately and set up an appointment in order to see the litter. This was a wonderful litter, all red brown colours TRDs. But its a pity again, we were not fortunate enough to get any female pup. We decided to go back to the kennel where we got our first TRD, ohโ€ฆohโ€ฆ believe it or not!!! The farm was not as nice as we expected. And we were told there was only one 3 month old pup for sale. But the pup looked different in it's appearance and size to that of a 3 month old trd.

Finally, we got back to the TRD mom again Somkit; and we were given the chance to buy a real nice brown-red TRD with a very beautiful arrow ridgeback (crown ridge), and a strong big head, curved tail, and an especially sound temperament. He was 4 months old and was the most beautiful boy in the litter. Just the right quality we were looking for. We had no doubts about our decision to buy him and welcome him into our home

We named our new male puppy Komain, (a deep red colour stone 'Garnet.') We also named our kennel as โ€œNoppakaoโ€ which means nine stones this is a Thai style ring (which is composed of a Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, Topaz, Garnet, Spinel, Moon stone, Zircon, and Chrysoberyl Cats eye).

It meant a lot to our family to acquire Komain. He has given us great joy and has shown us he is very intelligent too. So we decided to get one more female pup for him just because we found that Linchee, our existing female, who was 3 years old was too old for โ€œKomainโ€. We start searching for more information so we could find the best quality female pup for him.

In only a short while, we got a nice a female pup 3 months old from a big kennel in the central region of Thailand. Her name is โ€œTaptimโ€, another stone which means โ€œRubyโ€ as you may have already guessed another red colour.

We put a lot of hard work and effort into our TRD stories, and spend most of our weekends visiting TRD kennels throughout Thailand. We have done a lot of research by finding articles from old magazines, talking to other home raisers, and meeting with many breeders, no matter how big or small they are. We spend most of our spare time visiting several dog shows in Bangkok and other countries. Along our journey's, we have generated many new friendships. We have made a lot of good friends from all our visit's in the past few months. I can hardly believe that it is more than 20-kennels we have visited now.

We have found that all TRD owners have something in common. A kind heart, and all are dog lovers who want to do anything he/she can do to promote the breed we love. While on our trips, we have shared information and learnt a great deal from others involved with the breed. They all have pro and cons on their breeding style and farm management. All the people we have met have left us with a lovely lasting impression of there warmth and friendliness and how welcoming they have all been towards our family. They have never been reluctant to share any information with us or any knowledge they have. And have given us a lot of suggestions and recommendations for future breeding and advice on finding/choosing a better dog.

We are at the moment purchasing more cages to welcome our new Thai ridgeback family members. Two of them are ready for our blue and Isabella TRD. You may already be aware that there are 4 colours registered in the FCI standard {Red, black, blue and Isabella (light pink)} but the Isabella one is extremely difficult to find. We have been successful in finding some very nice breeders who are now breeding pure-bred Isabella and also blue TRD, they have a very kind heart and open mind. This is only the beginning for us, we have decided to raise more and more TRD at our home. As of today, we have purchased a larger piece of land (~15,000 sq.m or 155,000 sq.ft) adjacent to Bangkok, just to allow our dogs to have more space to run and swim. We are going to set up a farm where all of us, including our children and dogs, can breathe in healthier air and spend more time relaxing together.

Furthermore, when we expressed our idea of promoting TRD. All of our friends are so kind and eager to share with me their experiences. They keep sending me articles and books to read. They show no reluctance to share there knowledge and experiences. And I am so proud to be at the centre of this community, all of whom share the same goal as ours; promoting TRD world wide to share our beloved dog with others.

We agreed amongst the members of our club, that not all dogs are lucky to have a place they can call home, so we will work also with charity dog organisations to aid and assist street dogs and help rescue dogs on any occasion we can.

Please allow me to give a big thank you to the following kennels, organisations and people in Thailand which help initiate us with the launching of this web site.

Please accept our kind appreciation!!!
Bansrithai, Aunty Somkit, Khun Siri, Loong-An farm, Khun Manoon Chonburi, Khun Somsak Tharua, Noppawong, Loh Ngen farm, Khun Maitree Chiang Mai, Thai dog Association, Jatujak Magazine, War Dog Center, Veterinary Technology of Kasetsart University, Public Health Ministry, Tawan Namfar, Two nice families in Korat (Moo, Noi and ...), Khun Sayan, Khun Pitak, Khun Sawang, Khun Amnart, Khun Thammarat, Lawyer Pu, Khun Somsak (Shrimp farm), Conservation Group, Phuket farm, and all the other nice people I have spoken with, but couldnโ€™t list out all names. And also a big thank you to the most important people to me โ€“my lovely 4N family who have joined me on most of the trips I have made, and who have continued to support and forgive me, for spending all my spare time on our cause to promote the TRD .

Noppakao
Bangkok Thailand

September 2004

Edit by: DonnaUK