The first installment of "Alfie in the moor." looking at the photos, maybe "Alfie in the muck" might be a more appropriate title.  Alfie is Bertie Boy's litter sibling, and also celebrates his  2nd Birthday today.

"Hello Joan and Colin,

your first installment of "Alfie in the moor" or should we call it "Alfie in the muck." A really good initiative by the sheep farmer. Unfortunately a lot of people cannot believe that their lovely family dog could possible chase sheep, until they go on their first country walk. Go in to a field of sheep, and the sheep spook and their normally docile family pet, turns in to a wolf. I've heard people say, "They did not hurt the sheep though. They just chased them around a bit. I think the sheep enjoyed it." I can bet they did not, and if in lamb, a few days later the farmer will be paying for the dogs fun, with ewes aborting, or the worse scenario for the dog, you have a dead dog. Shot by the farmer for worrying stock, which they have every right to do by law in the UK. I remember a case a while ago of an Akita being shot for worrying sheep, and the owner would not believe the dog wondering on it's own could possible be capable of chasing sheep, because he was such a loving family dog. People just don't seem to understand dogs. This farmer has realized that educating the public is the best way forward. Dog attacks on stock have rocketed in recent years, due partly to an increase of dog ownership, as population also grows, and unfortunately a lot of dogs owners don't understand much about the instinctual predatory nature of a domestic dog to still chase prey animals such as sheep and cattle. Good to hear Alfie got the hang pretty quickly of giving the sheep a wide berth.

Glad to hear things are going well on the moor, and "Happy 2nd Birthday to Alfie." 

Love from us all at Poundlane

Jane x"

A "Happy 2nd Birthday Hudges" update has arrived for Bertie Boy, who was named Mushroom for a while, and I must admit I had a pretty big soft spot for. Thankfully Tracey came along to give him a wonderful home. 

"Hi Jane – how are you and the family?

Sorry it’s been so long – time just flies by! Bertie is two today and we thought we share a pic with you. He really is the sweetest dog and has finally learnt how to come back on a walk!

He’s at his happiest in the fields and woodland where we live and loves a ramble to the pub. People are always bringing their children to see him which he loves, especially when they cuddle him. I’m sure his start with you made him so very friendly to children.

We hope his brothers and sisters are all enjoying their birthdays and I’ll keep a lookout on your website for any other pics!

Warmest wishes

Tracey George"

"Hello Tracey,

lovely to here from you, and that Bertie has learnt to come back. Seems he's taken after his parents in the temperament department. 

Great to hear how popular he is with children. He certainly got a lot of attention from ours, when he was with us. He was such a loving puppy. 

Love from us all at Poundlane

Jane x"

It's hard to believe that Smudge and Henry's nine little Hudges were born two years ago today. It only seems like yesterday that The Hudges reached one year old. We kept two girls from the litter Bumble and Blottie, and we wish their litter siblings Alfie, Beasley, the two Berties, Harry, Daisy and Tilly a "Happy 2nd Birthday!"
​I hope you are all well, and maybe, I might hear from a few of you today. I've already seen one greeting in the email inbox. Have a wonderful day!

Ysobel showing us that on her 10th Birthday, she still has a spring in her step.

Blottie resting, almost failing asleep half way on a chair. Her Dad Henry does this. 

Ysobel hits 10 years old today. She has a slight heart murmur, and she has lost a few teeth along the way, but other than that she seems in good health for her 10 years, still having a spring in her step. She is the Mum to our Primrose and Belle, and Grandmother to Sasha and Bertha. 

She had four litters of pups, being a fast and easy bitch to whelp, and an exceptionally good mother. I hope all her offspring children and grandchildren are well, as she clocks up 10 years herself.

​And lastly a blast from the past of Ysobel with her Cavalier litter of pups back in 2010, which her daughter Primrose came from. "Long live the Ysobel!"

Lily is from our 3/4 cavalier, 1/4 Poodle litter we bred last year, and is just over one year old.

Blottie is one of our Brittany cross Cavalier girls, who will be two years old in a couple days time.

I got dared to ride on the children's homemade swing this morning. Not one to walk away from a dare, especially when it gives you an excuse to do something you enjoy doing. Although with the dogs planting themselves around the swing, as I had a go. It nearly turned in to dog skittles.

A follow on from the blog Changing faces that I done a couple days ago, images of our first Brittany cross Cavalier girls we bred in April 2015 Smudge has nine little Hudges 
You can see improvement in the skull shape. A lot of people think the problem with flat faced dogs or dogs with shorter muzzles such as the Cavalier, the problems are just caused by the shortening of the nose. Hence why many do not understand why Cavaliers are classed as brachycephalic, having the disease Brachycephaly. This is because of confusion with the Craniofacial ratio (CFR) and the Cephalic index as I discussed on the blog Heads and heartache. The CPR includes the measuring of the muzzle, but the Cephalic index is the ratio between the width (side to side) and length (front to back) of its cranium (skull), not including the muzzle. So this is why Cavaliers, although they have a bit of muzzle, are in the extreme brachycephalic catergory, because the length of the cranium is shorter than the width, giving the top and sides of the cranium a round shape, often referred to as 'apple-head'. In 2012 a study of Brachycephalic Airway Obstruction Syndrome (BAOS) surgery on 155 Australian dogs, the cavalier was the most common breed (29 dogs, 18.7%). The researchers found: "All CKCS had an elongated soft palate and accounted for 41% of the laryngeal collapse ​cases." Cavaliers are with no doubt extreme brachycephalics, don't let the length of the nose fool you.  
David Sargan who heads the BOAS Research Group - University of Cambridge Veterinary School tells us in a comment on the CRUFFA Public Group | Facebook page, why CFR is not used, as the problems with BOAS are more likely to be caused by the shortening of the cranium. "If you look at the sites within the airway where we know there may be obstructions within the brachycephalic breeds, the nostrils and alar folds are within the face; but the turbinates and soft palate are almost completely under the cranium; the larynx is more or less under the back of the head, and the trachea is really behind the head. Considering the internal anatomy meant that that several of these structures will actually be more cramped when the cranium is shorter, (and for a given facial length, shortening the cranium will of course increase the ratio of face to cranial length). So we were not too surprised when our measurements on over 600 dogs suggested that CFR is unlikely to be a useful guide in the three breeds we looked at."
He then goes on to make this comment, "If BOAS is genetic but it is caused by genes that also cause the short skull then getting rid of the short skull will reduce or eliminate BOAS. Even though single genes code (in general terms) for single proteins, changes to them do not often have only single consequences. For example genes that when mutated reduce the production of strong cartilage or increase its conversion to bone can show their effects on skull or spine shape or by producing soft collapsing tracheas, or more likely show both effects. Breeding away from the short skull might then also breed a dog with a stronger trachea by reducing the frequency of these mutations." Let's hope they can proof this to the blind brachy breeders sooner rather than later.
I understood a long time ago that the key to the Cavaliers head problems are the not only to lengthen the nose, but the skull needs to be lengthened. Just look at x-rays of a dog with extreme brachycephaly compared to one without. Look how the brain and everything else is squashed up, due to the lack of length in the cranium. The skull has been distorted to such an extent, the x-rays almost look like two different species of animal. 

So we are trying to improve not only nose length, but more importantly, cranium length. The Brittany crossed with the Cavalier does both of these things, and in 2018, we hope to breed our next generation on from our first cross Brittany/Cavaliers with our F1b 3/4 Cavalier, 1/4 Poodle Ernest. This we hope will produce a nice lap sized family spaniel, still capable of days in the field.

Which concludes, that a Cavalier bred by a breeder that is not a Cavalier Breed Club member is more likely being bred from both parents being at least 2.5 years old before being bred from, as the MVD breeding protocols recommends. So breeders not in the club, are following breeding guidelines better than club members.
Nearly all breeders that are club members are saying they health test and follow guidelines, but the statistics do not show this. The majority are not following the MVD breeding protocol, and hardly any of them use the BVA/KC  CM / SM scheme as you can see on the Breakdown of breeds submitted to the Scheme only 298 Cavaliers have been MRI scanned on the scheme since being set up in 2012, a fraction of the Cavaliers being used for breeding over that time.
​Why are they not using the BVA/KC CM/SM scheme? Because it was showing all Cavaliers to have CM, and they think it is a conspiracy by the BVA to automatically say all Cavaliers have CM, without even looking at the scan. I heard this on a Cavalier breeder forum a couple years ago. This is yet again another form of "Breed blindness." Breeders only like health tests, that tell them what they want to hear. A good example of breeders being fed what they want to hear, not what they should be hearing, is the video that the KC has put up on YouTube, which makes breeders think they can breed healthy dogs with Brachycephaly, and they are all raving about it. Especially the one Pug, who can breath without a constricted airway still at seven years old, that features in the video. Surely it should not be a bloody miracle that a dog can breath without constricted airways at 7 years old, but in Pug world apparently it's equal to the second coming, and surely the breeder must be looking at maybe a Knighthood or even some sort of Noble Prize, the way they are cooing over one Pug being able to breath without a restricted airway at 7 years old. 

Just starting to get my head in to gear for the next stage of our breeding, and it is good to be reflective. So I've tried to get some profile photos of what we have done so far in trying to improve head morphology. First what we can see happening using the Poodle first cross, and then seeing what the offspring of that union produces, when put back to the Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Amazingly, we managed to keep a lot of the good the first cross did. Not to much doming, the skull length is longer than the width and a really good nose length with teeth all looking in good order and well spaced. Ernest will be MRI scanned in the summertime, and I will be tightly crossing my fingers, hoping for an improvement in Chiari Malformation (CM) grade. His Mum is SM free, but we still had CM 2 grade. Realistically though, I'm not sure we will see an improvement of CM grade though at this stage, but I think the changing in skull shape will mean that like his Mum Treacle, he will be less predisposed to prolapsing of the brain at the back of the skull and developing Syringomyelia (SM). 
I would suspect the biggest changes will be seen with CM in the Brittany/Cavalier crosses we have done, and when we bring the Brittany/Cavalier lines together with the Poodle/Cavalier line. 

Below are photos showing the result of a first cross Brittany with a Cavalier. Note how much length of nose and cranium that has been achieved in one cross. This though makes for a bigger spaniel on the small/medium dog size, and we hope that using them with Ernest our F1b Cavapoo will reduce size a bit (as Ernest is smaller than his Cavalier Dad), but keep the improvements in the head shape. Our two oldest (Now 2 years old) Brittany/Cavalier girls will be MRI scanned along with Ernest later this year. It would be great to see a CM 0 grade for this cross, but again I must be realistic, and the real change I feel will come when the two lines come together producing a 5/8 Cavalier, 2/8 Brittany and 1/8 Poodle offspring, or with the Brittany being a spaniel type, you could look at the offspring as 7/8 spaniel, 1/8 Poodle. So I'm just waiting for Bumble (One of our two year old Brittany/Cavalier crosses) to come off heat, and I will look to book Ernest, Blottie and her in for MRI scanning at Bristol, and after MRI scanning it will be getting them booked in for their cardiologist vet heart examinations. Our other two Brittany/Cavalier girls Sasha and Bertha, we will get MRI scanned next year, when around two years old, to hopefully breed from in 2019. All going well with our first Brittany/Poodle/Cavalier litters we hope to breed in 2018.

Photos by Thomas

The video is me this morning rumbling with the Reggie. Reggie Rumble will be seven years old the end of this year. 

She got her oldest big brother Bert, home for the weekend.