If you remember Bob aka Bobby you have been following my blog a fair while. Back in 2011 I re-homed him after buying him in tas a pup to hopefully be a stud to our girls, but he was not overly interested in being a stud. So we looked to re-home him.
Angela came and saw him and took him in April 2011. She phoned me a few days ago to let me know he had passed away and ask if I know of anyone who might be wanting to re-home an older Cavalier or Cavalier cross. Unfortunately, I could not be of any help at this time, but it was lovely to hear what a wonderful life Bob had had with Angela and her husband Robin. Angela was happy to let me share the news of Bob's passing, sending me some photos of Bob as well.

A lovely kind message from Janet, who has Coco. Thanks for all the kind messages I have received, it has not been an easy year. 
Coco is from ​​Ernest and Blottie's litter of ten again

"Dear Jane
I was so sorry to read your latest blog about Billy. You have had such a sad year losing Millie, Smudge and then Teagol; I can see why now having to say goodbye to Billy might feel like the last straw. I just wanted you to know how much all your work to breed healthy energetic little spaniels is appreciated by those of us lucky enough to have one of your puppies in our lives.
Coco is now 11 months old. We are working towards our Bronze Good Citizenship award and accreditation as Pets as Therapy and we are also doing agility. She loves to learn although we do have a lot of work to do to improve her recall which was solid until about 7 months but then went to pieces. She has the softest velvet mouth and at 7.8kg is quite petite but with a big character. Everyone in the village knows her and says hello and she is convinced they are all her best friends! She spends everyday at daycare playing in the woods while I am working. Evening is my favourite time when she dozes off on my knee. I can’t imagine being without her and I am so grateful to all your knowledge and expertise that went into breeding what even my vet calls my perfect puppy! 
I just wanted to say thank you, and that I am thinking of you and your family. 
Best wishes
Janet"

Just over a week ago Billy left us to start his life with Mo and Martin the other side of Torrington, so not far away. They came and took him out and to their home several times before he finally left to stay with them permanently. Lovely to see him excited to see them and up in the car waiting to be harnessed in to leave with them. 
Mo and Martin have already let me know things are going well as he settles in with them. 

Helen who is a vet and was very careful in checking over her pup Hope (who she had from us), when her second teeth came through unfortunately she developed very unexpectedly an undershot jaw. Helen has been very pragmatic about her developing an undershot jaw. The beginning of October she sent me an update about her how things are developing.
Hope is from  Ernest and Rosie's litter of eleven pups. ​

"Hi Jane,
I took some photos of Hope's mouth to send to a friend of mine who's training to be a dental specialist.  Her upper deciduous canines haven't come out yet but the others are emerging and I wanted to double-check what the current recommendations are with that, and also with the jaw.  I thought you might be interested in the photos and what she said

"I think it's really likely that her maxillary canines are going to erupt further soI'd wait a bit longer until they are fully erupted (6-7 months) and I suspect she will exfoliate the deciduous ones in due course. If they are still present by 8 or 9 months then I'd consider extraction at that point (particularly if the permanents have been completely erupted for a couple of months). We think that shedding of the deciduous teeth is related to eruption of the permanents so if you have erupted deciduous and permanent side by side they are unlikely to be naturally exfoliated and the resultant malocclusion/overcrowding causes early onset periodontitis. It looks like the max 1st and 2nd incisors bilaterally traumatically occlude onto the mandibular teeth so they are likely to need extracting (101,102,201,202). The maxillary 3rd incisors might also need extracting if they are doing a similar thing but a bit difficult to tell from the photos. The problem with this type of malocclusion is that the resultant tooth on tooth trauma causes concussion injury (normally to the maxillary incisors) which results in non-vital teeth and periapical pathology."

She is otherwise doing very well, she's such a good puppy.  It's lovely to hear about how all her siblings are getting on too.  Thank you for all the hard work you put in and I hope all goes well with Blottie as you prepare for her final litter.
Kind regards,
Helen"

WARNING: The study and video linked below show images of dog dissection.

Since we got over Covid 19 and not so many tourists around, we have been getting out on ​The Tarka Trail each week with one of the dogs and our new folding bikes, which means bringing bikes with us is easier. Lottie, Rosie easily do a trot from Barnstaple to Instow and back, which is around 13.4 miles. We took Blottie out with the bikes for the first time this week. I thought Rosie impressive, the pace she could easily maintain, until I took Blottie out, at six and a half years old she still has a lot of stamina.

Around three weeks ago we had Billy (now 19 months old and the KC reg Cavalier, I bought in last year as a pup) heart examined. No murmur was heard on auscultation, but when his heart was scanned. He was found to have a Mitral-Valve Prolapse Grade 2. The cardiologist comments were "Mild intermittent mitral regurgitation noted. No other defects." 
This could be congenital, never get much worse (who are we trying to kid), it could be the start of fast onset Mitral-Valve Disease MVD or it could be slow onset MVD. The history of the breed I would think it more likely that it is the beginning of MVD and we can only hope that it is slow not fast onset.
Devastating news, more for Billy than me. 
A few days before his examination, I was contacted by a lovely couple locally looking for a pup or would be interested in an older dog. I contacted them about Billy and his predicament and them knowing all about MVD, having had a Cavalier with it. They are prepared to take him on. 
He has been out with them three times now, the last time jumping in the car ready for the off without any prompting. He has been to their home twice to chillout with them. I had Billy castrated last Wednesday and they are now just waiting on him being healed from the operation. He is going to have a super home.
Devastating as this is to me and has made me question breeding anymore with the year we have had with the dogs. I don't need any pity because, ultimately, it is the dogs that suffer more than any dog breeder ever does.