Blottie is booked for her pregnancy scan on Monday, 4th February at 5.30 pm. Although I am pretty sure on manipulating her tummy, that she is pregnant now at nearly 4 weeks gone. The scan will reassure me that it is pretty definitely pups I'm feeling.  The Dad to the pups she is hopefully carrying is our Casper.

So we are nearly at the end of the first month of 2019, and the end of 2017 into 2018 we had three litters. ​Blottie and Ernest's  litter producing ten lovely spaniel type pups, then Bumble and Ernest's litter  producing another eight beautiful spaniel type pups, and lastly Casper and Treacle's litter where we got to see what Casper was capable of producing, five very sweet tempered spaniel pups. So we know that the mixture of Cavalier, Poodle (miniature) and Brittany can produce a very nice athletic small spaniel type with a sweet nature and seem on the whole very trainable.
Two weeks before Christmas we were off to Bristol with the pup we kept from Blottie's litter,
​Teagol and another of our first cross Brittany girls Sasha to be MRI scanned on the BVA - CM / SM scheme.  A couple days ago I got their grading on the scheme. Sasha at 2 years and 5 months old is CM 1, and SM 0c. Teagol at 12 months old is CM 1 and SM 0c. They both have mild Chiari-like Malformation (CM). CM from research and grading on schemes does not seem to change, so once graded for this, you would not expect the grade to change, but the condition syringomyelia (SM) is a progressive condition in most cases. So a dog graded SM 0 under 3 years old, could have SM 2 by five years old.
Amazingly the mother, Primrose of Sasha although CM 2, like nearly every Cavalier, is SM clear, and so is her mother, Ysobel over five, although some of Ysobel's litter siblings had SM at 18 months old. The mother, Smudge of our other two Cavalier/Brittany crosses Bumble and Blottie who have been MRI scanned  clear of CM, is CM 2, but has SM 1 (none symptomatic). So you would think you would get at least as good a result, but size I think is a factor here and also the level of inbreeding in the mums. Smudge is a very big Cavalier and far less extreme looking. Smudge's breeding with a very low Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI) for a Cavalier, with her breeding being far less Homogeneous than Primrose's, who is very book end show bred with a lot higher COI. So using a lower inbred Cavalier when crossing I consider gives a higher chance for diversity in offspring.  You could see as puppies that Smudge's whole litter had much better head conformation, and although Primrose's litter the skull shape was vastly improved, but not on the same level we saw with Smudge's.
So to Teagol's result. I have to say, "It is tinged with a bit of disappointment." I so wanted to see CM 0. Ernest though is CM 2, so this is not a bad result with Cavalier coming in from both parents, and I'm pretty confident that her 9 litter siblings are somewhere between CM 0 to 1, so no CM to mild CM. Mild CM with the longer muzzle and better neck length, should make the likelihood of progression to symptomatic SM very very low. It will be interesting to see the results of the pup we kept back from Bumble's litter, Lottie's MRI scan later on in the year when she passes one year old.  She has an even better head than Teagol. 
So where are we now. We have Blottie pregnant by Casper, and feeling her stomach as she gets towards three weeks pregnant. I think she is pretty well pregnant. This will produce 3/4 Cavalier and 1/4 Brittany pups. I just get a feeling in my water, that we might get a better result with this, but I might live to regret saying that. Although I think the prettiness and elegance the Poodle puts in the mix and intelligence is undeniable. I wonder that change has to be more careful and maybe the dolichocephalic skull  of the Poodle is to extreme and I have just been kidding myself (You know you have to doubt yourself at times), and crossing is better done with the mesaticephalic skull dogs (which wild canines have) like the Brittany, who so far with MRI scanning has shown far better results than crossing with the Poodle. Maybe just maybe the answer is in being not so pretty.

Below are links to our "Changing head and faces" blogs, showing photos and more information on what we are doing.

Changing heads
Changing heads
Changing heads
Changing heads
Changing faces
More changing faces 

Update for  Charlie and Rowan ​

"Hello all,

wishing you all  a Happy New Year. 
I have attached the boys Christmas photo, which took some time to get, as both like to move around. Charlie seems happy to go inside Rowans cage & Rowan is not fussed. Charlie has his routine check up & took Rowan, thus allowing him the chance to meet the vet. They think he is adorable & say that he appears to be very smart.
The alteration to our working hours is going well, which means that Rowan is not left to long on his own. He is getting a suitable amount of exercise each day. He enjoys the woods behind & for the time being is still on a lead.
He enjoys wildlife programs & is confused why the animals do not reply when he barks at them.

All our love,

Woof,

Charlie, Rowan, Sheila & Vincent."

Hello Vincent,

thanks for the update, and we all wish you a "Happy New Year!"

Lovely to see the two of them together. The children had a lovely Christmas.

Look forward to seeing you all later in the year.

Love from us all

Jane "

New year greetings and update for Dimpsey ​from Anne

"Dear Jane

First of all a belated Happy New Year to you all at Poundlane .

We are enjoying this crisp and dry cold weather ,it makes walks so much more pleasant ,we usually manage around 2:1/2 to 3 miles a day ( I have a Fitbit ) which can take anything up to an hour and a half depending on how many doggy friends we meet, I know all the dogs names ,but not necessarily their owners names !

Dimpsey is a joy ,great company ,a wonderful little dog ,She does get very excited when any of the family arrive ,she has a mad few minutes but is gradually realising that she is ignored until she sits ,so we are getting there . Her recall is pretty good now ,last Sunday when we were out we met a friendly Mini Schnauzer and his owner on the community field , both dogs had a wonderful game playing chase , when we called them from the far end of the field Dimpsey came immediately,when eventually Max came back ,his owner told him to sit ,which he totally ignored but Dimpsey sat ,straight away ,I was so proud !

Well  ,I think it is time to go and make a cup of coffee , I’ll say cheerio for now ,and keep hoping for good news for you with the MRI results ,

Love from

Anne and Dimpsey"

"Hello Anne,

and a Happy New year to Dimpsey and you!

Interesting to hear how Dimpsey's recall is going. You may know her Dad, Ernest and her sister, Teagol have been on a local shoot on the line beating. Ernest has been really good, and on his last day out I felt confident to let him flush a whole line off leash. He had three birds cock up right in front of him, and he stood as if to pursue, but then glanced back at me as if for permission, and I shouted, "Ernest leave." and he did. I was mighty chuffed with him. Taking him out beating this season has been a real joy. We have one more day we can do a week this Saturday, before the end of the season.

Teagol being younger, and still a bit more impulsive. It has been for her to watch and learn, and she is allowed off lease at the end of each drive, when it does not matter if she has selective hearing. She has been really good though, and her recall, and to sit when needed to go back on leash has been very good. In all I've been really pleased with both of them. It was a shame that I could only get one day with Mum, Blottie, as she came on heat, she loved it. 

I have been really pleased with Dimpsey and her sibling's mix, they all seem pretty trainable smart loving little dogs. I'm off to get lunch now, and still waiting on those MRI results. Fingers crossed!

Love from us all at Poundlane

Jane x"

Hope to get back in the swing of things in the next few days. Still got a couple New Year greetings  to get up on here.

Our daughter, Molly rests with Rosie. Rosie is growing in to a lovely dog. Lovely character to her. Rosie is turning out to be a real find.

Casper is the lucky guy to be partnered with Blottie for her next litter, which all going well, will be here sometime around the 6th to the 10th March. She had a stunning litter with Ernest, and with a bitch of this calibre, unless just pumping out pups to sell. You try to match her with a different sire each time. Not putting your eggs in one basket.  
Would of loved to have had Blottie's daughter, Teagol's   MRI results  back before doing this pairing, but nature has conspired against me, and I've had to follow my gut with this pairing. We have decided to leave Sasha this time, as it would be to close to Blottie giving birth. I have bred litters close together before, and from that I have learnt it is hard to give them the level of care we like to give hem before leaving us, and it can take away the enjoyment of rearing them. I'm having a re-think about things which I will blog about soon on the last instalment of the Twelve month review 
I think this pairing will give us some lovely pups. I would be surprised if we have anything other than Blenheim (orange and white), although Casper's  Mum is tricoloured. 

Blottie is back in the pack after being on heat. I think she gets more beautiful with each year. Fingers crossed she's pregnant, but not to the two on guard duty.

The end of last week husband, David decided to clean the drain on our patio that the kitchen sink drains in to. It had not been draining that well. We have our own septic tank. The stuff he got out was not that nice, and as he went to get a shovel and wheel barrow to discard of it. He did not firmly latch the gate to the patio, and Ysobel was found eating what had been removed from the drain. Over the weekend she started getting sick and was totally not interested in eating. Her saving grace was she was drinking well. Sunday evening she seemed to be turning a corner on her own, but Monday morning she was urging up again. I suspected pancreatitis, as the crap she was found eating from the drain would of been very fatty, and she was confirmed by the vet on Monday to have a mild attack of it. Her bloods showed that everything else was functioning okay, but with her age of nearly twelve, two days of not eating and being sick had made her very frail, and she was admitted for the night. Tuesday afternoon I picked her up. She does not like being in the vets, and looked very frail and within herself when I picked her up. I was relieved to see her perching on the car window ledge,  looking out the window of the car wagging her tail at me, as I returned from popping in a super market to stock up on chicken breasts for her on the way home. My son, Thomas had waited in the car with her while I popped in the shop.  She seems on the mend, her appetite back and her wag back. ​

Want a puppy and can't wait? Then looks like you need to get hold of your local friendly drug dealer. Cruel dealers cash in on surging demand for designer dogs as puppy farms triple 
SSPCA's Mike Flyn says,“If you bring in £20,000 of drugs on the ferry and are caught, you are going to jail. If you are caught with £20,000 of puppies, you will get a fine."

After Bumble and Ernest's litter we decided to see what our new boy Casper could produce with Treacle.  Casper and Treacle were mated and in May last year Treacle produced five beautiful pups. I was very pleased with the litter, although one of the males at six months still had a retained testicle, which I doubt will drop now, and the only girl had a slightly undershot jaw. The retained testicle is not to much of a worry, and an undershot jaw unfortunately does pop up occasionally breeding from any breed, but with the Cavalier King Charles only being separated from the undershot jaw breed the King Charles Spaniel in 1945, we see it a bit more when breeding Cavaliers. 
​We did not keep any from the litter, as we already had retained two pups from the previous ones, and this was to check that Casper was firing on all cylinders. Casper showed us that he has a good appetite for the ladies, puts lovely dark pigment to nose and eyes and that he can produce pups with a generally longer skull in the cranium and muzzle areas, with two of the pups having very long muzzles. A lovely litter of artful and sweet natured pups. That was the last litter for 2018, and now we are in 2019, and waiting on MRI results. 

Just a couple photos of shooting today, as us beaters wait for lunch to arrive

Tomorrow I'm off with Teagol and Ernest on the line beating again for a small local shoot. I've really enjoyed getting out with the dogs beating so far this season. Ernest has shown to be a total sound dog as a small flushing spaniel, and his daughter, Teagol looks to be following in his paw prints. I hope to catch up next week with two more Twelve month reviews, and then news on what's happening, as we have three of our bitches Blottie, Lily and Sasha all on heat together at the moment. I was going to ring the BVA the start of next week, but I've chased them up today for the MRI scan results. They hope to have them graded by next week. Jessica and Sasha have come on a good six weeks earlier than expected, and at this moment my thinking is to breed Blottie with Casper (I really want to see what we get with 3/4 Cavalier and 1/4 Brittany), and Sasha with Ernest, which should produce some very nice small spaniel types. 

""Hi Jane

Happy new year to you and your family, including the dogs of course.
Saffy continues to be lovely company and is getting quite good on recall, except when an squirrel, rabbit or bird is in sight.  She has an amazing nose, on the beach all the other dogs are running around, but she constantly has her nose to the ground!  She continues to be very sociable, wanting to meet all dogs, whatever size etc.  This was her on the beach today.

She has been in season twice which is a bit strange.  Her first one was when she was five months old and then again last month - much lighter.  i have a theory that a friend who came to stay with an entire dog (9 months old)- two weeks before her first season provoked the first season as he was v interested in her and the second one which was v light was when it should have been. Do you think that likely?  So I have no idea where she is in her cycle- but either way she should be fine in February.
I loved the photos of your new year and Saffy seems to recognise Henry’s bark.  I played the video and she went round the room barking.
She has got v clingy over the past few days I think because the girls have gone away.  This pic was her at christmas with my sisters dog Bruce who is a sprocker.  And another with my friends dog who is a Kooikerhondje .

Anyway best wishes for 2019 - we look forward to seeing new litters of puppies!

Kathy, Ellen and Rachel and Saffy"



​"Hello Kathy,

sorry for not getting back sooner, I have been having computer issues. That is well within normal for a bitch to have a first season and then around 5 months later another. I have just had two of our girls come on heat two months earlier than they normally cycle. The male dog sniffing around her may of prompted her heating a bit earlier. I would not be concerned. At least that pretty much means she won't come on in February. I did think that she could of clashed with you going away.

Lovely photos of her. The side view of her head, looks like she kept her Mum's better length to muzzle and cranium. Very interesting to see her sat with a Kooikerhondje. 

Look forward to catching up with you in February.

Happy New Year from us all at Poundlane

Jane x"

Greetings from Blenheim Lucy

"Hi Jane, Hubby and all the family
We do hope you all had a great Christmas and of course loads of Mum's fab cooking!
Just sending some photos of Lucy during Christmas and a day out at West Bay on Boxing Day.    I am sending the photos "my way" (separately) as I am not that good on the computer😡  Hope you can find them🙏!!We wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.  Will keep in touch.
We hope Bert made it home for Christmas.  
Love
Tony and Judith"

​Photos below of Lucy enjoying Christmas and out and about on Boxing Day

"Dear Jane,
We had a splendid Christmas and Megan loved every moment except when we had the Stevenstone Lawn Meet here on Boxing Day and the dogs had to be shut in. She continues to rule the roost but is also becoming very biddable, she is very intelligent and really listens when we speak to her, if she doesn't like what she hears she turns a deaf ear. If i say "are you a little lap dog?" she jumps on to my knees! She put up a fox the other day, looked astonished and left the chasing to Bridget and Anna.
I hope her siblings are doing well, especially Jim, I cannot remember his new name.
Do come and see Megan,she is growing up fast and is booked in to be spayed on 16th January.
We will keep in touch and in the mean time a very happy and healthy new year to you all.
Yours,
Rowena"

Megan is from Treacle and Casper's 2018 litter.

"Dear Jane and family,
I just wanted to take the time to wish you a wonderful festive season and excellent coming year. 
I just wanted to share this little video taken today while on a walk in the mountains. Ruby who is Millie and Reggie’s daughter is so exuberant and acts like a puppy still even though she’ll be 7 in March! She still gets loads of attention from strangers wherever we go and she responds doing her ubiquitous energetic wiggle!
Love her more every day if that’s even possible. ❤️ 🐶 

Ruby is from Millie and Reggie's 2012 litter.

"Hello all
A very Happy belated Christmas to you all. Sorry we haven't been in touch for a while. We are all well. Mollie has had a lovely time, we went to family on Christmas Day and she played with their dog who is a jackawawa rescue dog. They run around chasing each other like headless chickens, they are so funny.
We've been on our normal monthly jaunts with the caravan again this year and our girl had a great time. She loves going away in the caravan and gets really excited when she sees us packing it up. She is a very good girl and so clever, I imagine her siblings are the same but we have to spell so many things (she picks up on everything we say!!!!) Loves playing ball, and her toy box is so full when she empties it out we can only just see the carpet, it's like having kids again. 
I hope you and the family are all well, they are growing so fast aren't they, where is the time going? 
I love the photos of all the dogs, especially the one of Teagol, he looks so much like the dogs of King Charles years ago, beautiful.
Am sending a few photos of Mollie, relaxing after the activities, we love her to bits. 
All the best and a Very Happy New Year to you all.
Love from Rhian and Russ"

"Hi Jane,
I rarely remember to let you know how Florrie is getting on.
She'll be nine in March I believe?
She's a lovely healthy dog.
She's on medication for a slight heart murmur.... but it hasn't slowed her down in the slightest. 
Here she is on Christmas day....sporting a recent haircut. 
Whenever she's just been to the groomers people assume she's a puppy!
Merry Christmas from the Chudleys. 
Amy"

"Dear Jane ,
Just sending you and your family best wishes for a lovely Christmas .
We managed to meet up with Daphne , Felicity and Dottie’s sister Lottie in October, they had a wonderful time together at a doggie agility park and it was great to catch up with Daphne and Felicity. Thought you’d like to see a picture of them both on our visit .
Dottie is still bringing us such joy , feel so lucky to have her . Busy  and excited waiting for Father Christmas !
Hope you have a great Christmas and a happy new year.
Love and best wishes
Sue ,Colin and Dottie x"

Dottie is from Primrose and Reggie's 2014 litter