Ernest and Lily are one year, and are 3/4 Cavalier, 1/4 Poodle.

And Bumble's sister Blottie

I didn't take this photo intentionally for comparison, but they are all but lying parallel to each other with the front of the cranium level, so a good way to show why Cavaliers are classified as brachycephalic on the Cephalic index. Looking at the photo you will see line B indicates the front of the cranium, and line A is the back of the cranium for Toby (Cavalier) on the left of the photo, and for Henry, it is not. He has around another couple cm's at least cranium beyond that line. Line C indicates where Toby's muzzle ends, and again you can see Henry's muzzle extends considerably further. Cavaliers are often not considered short nosed, but that is when they are compared with other breeds with Brachycephaly, that have extreme shortened muzzles like the Pug and French Bulldog. Compared to a dog head with medium proportions though, they are clearly short muzzled. Henry is a Brittany, and is classified on the Cephalic index ​as mesocephalic "having a head of medium proportions, not markedly brachycephalic or dolichocephalic."
​So everything Henry has in his longer cranium and longer muzzle, Toby also has, but it has to  fit in to a lot less room. So we have a concertina effect on the head from the back of the cranium, due to the shortened length of the cranium, and also from the front of the cranium, due to the shortening of the muzzle. Which should be then easy to comprehend and visualize why we see brain prolapsing issues at the back of the skull, and constricted airway issues, as bone, cartilage, soft tissues and teeth all struggle to find space with dogs being bred with Brachycephaly and understand why breeding  Brachycephaly in to dogs intentionally, should stop. 

Most people think the problems with breeds bred with the disease Brachycephaly is all to do with the shortening of the muzzle, and many problems are caused by this, and the short muzzle does further compound the issues caused by the the shortening of the cranium, but as Cavaliers are one of the longer muzzled breeds being bred with Brachycephaly, they are also one of the commonest being treated for BOAS. "In a study of BAOS surgery on 155 Australian dogs, the cavalier was the most common breed." Which indicates that it is not just nose length causing problems and not only should breeders be breeding for longer muzzles to stop dogs suffering with BOAS, but they should also be looking to lengthen the cranium, to not only tackle Syringomyelia, but to reduce the occurrence of  BOAS. So basically they should stop breeding dogs with  Brachycephaly. 

Bumble's out of shutdown this morning, as she is now off heat. So she's back in the pack again.

Photos taken by Thomas

Just been out to shut the chickens in, and just had Henry with me. He was curious of the egg in my hand, that I had found in one of the laying boxes, but as you will see "Henry don't like eggs. I decided to have a little fun, and do a bit of heel work, as I can't remember the last time I'd intentionally done some with him, although he pretty well follows me around best part of the time in a heel position around our home. He gets distracted at one point, as there was someone doing some fencing across the road from our gate, but we snatch it back, just. I nearly clipped the last bit off, but it does show that our dogs have little aggression issues around food. That is 16 dogs, and one egg, and not one growl. 

Just got 5th Birthday greetings from Alsion who has Millie, who is Ollie's litter sibling. She is from Smudge and Reggie's litter of  Nine pups born in 2012.

"Hello Alison,

great to hear from you on Millie's 5th Birthday. Yes, it is really 5 years ago Millie and her 8 litter siblings came in the world. 

I'm looking forward to our breeding adventures next year. It's nice to take a break this year from pups, but I must admit, I'm starting to get a little bit broody.

Hope your family and you are all well. Give Millie a big cuddle from us all.

Love from us all at Poundlane

Jane x"

Got these two lovely photos of Jessica and brother Toby. Jessica is still coping really well with just three legs after the accident in April 2014, which ended with her having to have her left back leg amputated Jessica is home

Just had a sandwich for lunch, and decided to sit and watch the news on television. Toby decided to snuggle up on my feet, and along came his son Ernest. To the left of them is Toby's sister Jessica, with Smudge just back to the left of me, and old Ysobel's head can be seen, as she lies below the television. 

Just found this 5th Birthday greeting email and photo for Ollie, who is 5 years old today, from Sharon. Ollie is from Smudge's first ever litter, which was with our Reggie. Ollie was one of Nine pups, so a big "Happy 5th Birthday" to Ollie, Archie, Crumble, Millie, Hunny, Dougle, Lola, Tiggy and Darcy. Hope you and your families are all well, and are having a lovely day. 

Our Cavalier boy Toby last night, with his 3/4 Cavalier, 1/4 Poodle son Ernest using him as a cushion, whilst asleep together.

Ysobel was 10 years old a few days ago, and my daughter Molly took these photos of her this morning. Ysobel was watching me, as I was talking about something,. By the way she yawned, it must of been, not that interesting.

Cell Reports the whole study and amazing graphics Genomic Analyses Reveal the Influence of Geographic Origin, Migration, and Hybridization on Modern Dog Breed Development

"Hello Jane,

I hope you and all the family are well?  I’m still enjoying reading your blog and all the updates on your Poundlane pups.  I thought I’d send an overdue one for my pup!  It’s hard to believe that Harley is 9mths old now.  It’s frightening how quickly it’s gone and also how much he’s changed.  Heather has now finished two absolutely stunning paintings of Harley at 9wks and 16wks old (see attached photo) – the difference when you see them side by side is astonishing.  He seems to have slowed up growing now and currently weighs just over 13kg.  He’s a lovely dog – but very, very excitable, especially when we go to new places.  I have had tips on how to tackle this though and he seems to be getting better.  It’s been lovely being in touch with Heather as Albey is obviously a few months older than Harley, so Heather gives me reassurance that it’ll all be OK in the end!

​Gundog training is going well.  Harley seems to really enjoy it – it’s one of the places he gets super excited to get too, which I take as a good sign.  We passed our Foundation course with a Merit, which I was very proud of.  We’re now doing the Bronze course which is working more on retrieves and off lead handling.  Harley isn’t too keen on retrieving, he prefers to pick it up, lie down and chew it!  But after a one to one lesson with our lovely trainer, this is improving.  As part of this weeks lesson, we finished with a bit of a team relay race, incorporating elements of obedience and a couple of tiny agility jumps – we both really enjoyed it, so perhaps agility is something else to look at in the future? ​

Harley & I are off on holiday to Derbyshire in June with my parents, so I’m hoping he’ll get on OK with that.  It’ll be interesting to see how things go, I’ve got my fingers crossed it won’t be too stressful.  Hopefully he’ll be coming to the end of the “teenage” stage by then and will be a little calmer, we’ll see!

All the best to you, the family and the dogs (hoping Dolly is still doing well?)

Hope you like the attached photos,

Sarah & Harley (who we occasionally still call Harley Jim Bob!)"

"Hello Sarah,

we are all well, thanks. Sasha and Bertha can both have moments of being very excited. It is the best part their age. You can really see the Cavalier in him, and I find it funny when people think they are a pure Cavalier, Not many people know of the Brittany spaniel. 

I think the nose down and selective hearing is just generally a spaniel thing, although Brittany Dad Henry and his Cavalier Mum Primrose have both always been very good at recall. Alfie's Mum though is our Cavalier Smudge, and she does suffer with selective hearing, and the two sisters we have of Alfie's Bumble and Blottie, Bumble takes after their Brittany Dad with a spot on recall, but Blottie has been a lot more work, as she has a lot more drive to hunt than Bumble. At two now though, I can't remember the last time I spent frantically calling for her, so I'm hoping we have nailed it finally. 

Heather's Munchkinmay paintings are very good, and a lovely memory for you to have of Harley growing up. Good to hear that he is enriching your life, and yes, dogs are a lot smarter than most people realize.

Dolly is really well at the moment, and I hope your family are all well. The photos are lovely, thanks. Wishing Harley and you a lovely holiday in June with your parents.

Love from us all at Poundlane

Jane x "

Another "Happy 2nd Birthday Hudges" update has arrived, for Tilly.

"Dear Jane

I hope you and your family are well. I can't believe that Tilly is 2 years old; the time had gone so quickly but I really can't imagine not having her our life.

She continually makes us laugh and still sticks her head out of the cat flap! She loves her walks on the common as we we do too particularly now the evenings are becoming lighter. Her recall is still amazing but we've noticed she doesn't seem to like water so has never ventured into the pond and will actively avoid puddles! 

Unfortunately Tilly was unwell last month with D&V,  she will eat pretty much anything so I think she must have eaten something rotten on the common. We saw our vet who gave her an antiemetic but I must say she was probably off colour for 2 weeks.  

Tilly is such lovely company and she is never far from my side. She has found her way to sleep upstairs which I really don't mind.

A big happy birthday to all the other Poundland pups!

Much love

Karen x"

"Hello Karen,

sorry to here that she had a pretty bad stomach upset by the sounds of it. Sometimes it can take a week or two for them to get over a nasty stomach upset. 

Tilly's Mum and Dad love water, all our dogs willingly go in water, and I wonder if it is something that if they see the others doing it, they see it as part of what they do. They will still avoid puddles though, unless the puddle is exceptionally mucky, and then they often will trundle right through the middle of them.  If you want her to go in water, you will need to go in first or find a doggy friend who loves water, and gives her a lead. If she loves to retrieve, often throwing a stick or ball in to shallow water, will encourage them to take the plunge. Years ago I went to Saunton beach late on a summer evening, and at the time I had three Cavaliers with me. Thinking they would be happy to wait at the shoreline whilst I swam out a bit. I looked back to see a trail of Cavaliers swimming behind me. 

I can see her Grandmother Millie in her, she loves being, always in cuddle range. Great to hear from you on Tilly's 2nd birthday, and that Tilly is such a lovely companion. 

Love from us all at Poundlane

Jane x"

​"Hi Jane,

I have to admit to being a very bad dog mummy today as I forgot it was their birthday! We had my father-in-law's 70th at the weekend and that overshadowed Daisy and Harry reaching the big 2-years-old. They celebrated in their own way by digging up the bedding plants I put in at the weekend and treading muddy paw prints through the house. I will endeavour to make an extra fuss of them to make up for forgetting. 

Happy birthday to all the Hudges!

Laura"

​"Hello Laura,

not to worry, I'm pretty sure Daisy and Harry are not worried, and are just waiting for the next bunch of bedding plants to dig up. I keep our potted plants under tight security (photo attached) until established. Dogs just can't resist freshly dug soil. 

Give Harry and Daisy a hug from us all at Poundlane.

Jane x"

A few years back if asked about electric collars, I would of been one of those to be concerned about using one, but that would of been me making an uninformed judgement. So the last few years, I have watched a lot of training videos of trainers who endorse the use of electric collars, and I've read a lot of the frankly dodgy research against the use of them. You only have look at what the Kennel Club use as a reason to ban them Electric Shock Collars • The Kennel Club:  
"Key Statistics from Research into Electric Shock Collars

• 1 in 4 dogs showed signs of stress compared to less than 5% of dogs in the non-electric shock collar control group (Defra commissioned study AW1402, 2013)
• 1 in 3 dogs yelp at the first use of electric shock collar and 1 in 4 yelp at subsequent uses (Defra commissioned study AW1402, 2013)
• 73% of the public disapprove of the use of electric shock collars on dogs (Kennel Club commissioned survey, 2014)
• 79% of the public agree that positive reinforcement training methods can address behavioural issues in dogs without the need for negative training methods (Kennel Club commissioned survey, 2014)
• 74% of the public would support the government introducing a ban on electric shock collars (Kennel Club commissioned survey, 2014)"

Yet again stats being misused to make an argument. The figures at a first glance look a bit shocking (No pun intended), but scratch beneath this, and we are not being told anything here really of any value to form an opinion on, whether the use of using an electric collar and the discomfort a dog feels momentarily is worth the value they bring to training of a dog that will not recall, which is a really big problem in the world outside the controlled environment of most dog training classes. using just positive training methods. Not everything can be achieved with the lure of a treat or praise, sometimes there has to be a negative consequence to a behaviour to get the message over. Sorry, but what often can at first be perceived as an act of cruelty, in the long term can be an act of kindness. 
Firstly we need to know what level of stress we are looking at when "1 in 4 dogs showed stress, compared to less than 5% of dogs in the non-electric shock collar control group", and we also need to know what level of training was achieved in these groups, so using dogs with training issues would be a good idea. We also need to know exactly how many times any yelps occurred after subsequent uses, as once the dog gets the hang of an electric collar used by someone who understands their use and how to use them, just a low vibration should be enough as a warning to achieve the desired behaviour of the dog. 
The KC survey I would take with a pinch of salt, because the majority of the public, are very ignorant when it comes to methods of training dogs, and is reflected in the rising number of dog attacks we see on farming stock, humans, and dogs attacking other dogs, and the number of dogs in rescue, as one of the reasons for giving up dogs to rescues is often training issues. The general public would not be informed enough on the pros and cons of using electric collars in the toolbox of dog training, to be able to answer the questions asked in the KC survey. A couple years ago, I was not informed enough to give an opinion on electric collars, and I would of aired caution on the use of them, but I know the idea that we can train all dogs with ignoring bad behaviour, and giving them a treat or a pat when we get the desired behaviour is killing dogs, and as this American dog trainer writes, it is A Silent Killer.
​Terrierman's Daily Dose gives an ideal place to start to learn about electric collar aka E collars with a link to the book Everything you need to know about E Collar Training and is a good place to start in learning about this training tool, and to get an informed opinion about using electric collars.