Tiddler aka Garry Baldy not out of the woods yet

Tiddler is not out of the woods yet, as he has been born with open Fontanelle. I have had a puppy many moons ago (Before I had the website) born with this condition that by 8 weeks the opening had closed and has gone on to have no problems. Tiddler's opening is a bit bigger than that pup's though. It is a little smaller than the tip of my smallest finger. You might ask Why Would A Puppy's Skull Not Fully Develop? and we don't really know the answer to that, but many Apple headed breeds suffer with this condition.

​Open fontanelle can be seen with any type of puppy, but is more common in toy breeds, especially apple head shaped breeds. King Charles spaniels are commonly born with open fontanelle and when we see this condition expressed in the Cavalier King Charles spaniel it probably has a connection to their not so distant shared ancestry with the King Charles spaniel. Tiddler's head is apple shaped.

Tiddler now 10 days old

A lot of people do not realise that the King Charles spaniel is a separate breed than the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, but up until around 1942 they were the same breed with two distinct types being bred and is why the separation in the end. The Cavalier King Charles was an attempt to breed the spaniels nose back and to look more like the spaniels of the courts of King Charles I and King Charles II. The King Charles is very much like the Bulldog and is basically a caricature of what that type of dog originally looked like. Breeding for defect rather than health and function.

Back to Tiddler who although small is gaining wait in ratio to his siblings and at this time looks to be developing okay cognitively. Nearly up walking and is first to the milk bar when Mum arrives. My main worry is Hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and that I'm afraid is just a case of waiting to see. Tiddler also has the name Garry Baldy, which is a play on the biscuits called Garibaldi that my children love. Given to him by our son, Alfie, because when he was born prematurely he was a bit of a baldy. Let's hope for happiness and not heartache with our little Tiddler aka Garry Baldy.