What's going on at Poundlane 2021

A little while ago I blogged that I thought we may be unable to breed any litters this year and if we did it would be going into the Autumn. This was mainly due to  HeartVets (because of Covid !9) feeling unable to offer elective pre-breeding screening examinations. Although I had secretly not totally given up hope of breeding a litter this Spring/Summer and I have rung them ever couple weeks to find out if the HeartVets had changed that decision and up until the beginning of last week it remained the same. 
With any day Rosie due to come on heat, I decided after putting the phone down from speaking with HeartVets to ring my GP vets and see if possible for them to check hearts. There are three levels of heart checking these days to my mind before going ahead with a coupling. "Gold standard" is the auscultation along with the heart being Doppler scanned by a Cardiologist vet. "Silver standard" is just auscultation by a Cardiologist vet and "Bronze standard" is auscultation by a GP vet. To understand Mitral Valve Disease MVD and why so important to be screening Cavaliers even if crossbreeding click Here
My GP vet who is director of the veterinary surgery I use agreed to examining Rosie and Ernest (who I had decided to match her with). Which I thanked him for, as not really deemed as necessary veterinary work at the moment. So Friday, I got them examined and no sound was heard on either of their hearts. At the moment this is the best I can do. With Ernest nearly five himself and up to November 2019 Cardiologist vet checked clear and coming from an exceptional background of  Cavaliers with good heart health and Rosie a first cross Cavalier/Brittany reducing statistically the heart disease burden of the Cavalier, that the "Bronze standard"  heart check risk, I feel is mitigated
. 
Rosie has already been MRI scanned and graded CM 0 and SM 0c.  Ernest has been MRI scanned twice as he has CM 2 and both times been found clear of Syringomyelia grading SM 0b at his last scan in 2019.  To understand the grading you can read about the BVA chiari malformation and syringomyelia scheme Here and their breeding recommendations Here
Ernest's Cavalier side is hereditary clear for EP (Episodic Falling Syndrome) and CC/DE (Curly coat / Dry eye). He is also DNA tested clear for ​Degenerative Myelopathy​   prcd-PRA  and vWD type I (von Willebrand disease). Rosie's Cavalier side is also hereditary clear for EP (Episodic Falling Syndrome) and CC/DE (Curly coat / Dry eye). We are also waiting for results from her DNA swab we sent to Embark a week ago, along with a DNA swab from Polly.
So we have decided to go ahead with this pairing and Rosie came on heat on Wednesday. All going well, we will hopefully have a litter on the ground the end of April beginning of May. ​

Ernest and Rosie

Ernest 

Ernest should really need no introduction. Treacle gave birth on this website in ​April 2016 with his rather cool Dad Toby Orbison ​waiting for his arrival along with Ernest's maternal Granny and Gramps in attendance. From his first paw wave at a few days old, we knew there was ​Something about the Ernest

Ernest at three days old

Ernest has been a joy from working him in the field, to sleeping at my feet as I type this. He is a loyal little spaniel, a sporting little spaniel and above all a loving little chap with exceptional vigour in health and general demeanour. In his nearly five years, he's never seemed to have had an off day. 

His first litter was with ​Blottie (first cross Brittany/Cavalier) producing ten beautiful pups. We kept Teagol back from that litter. He then produced his second litter with Blottie's sister Bumble producing eight beautiful pups. With us keeping ​Lottie back from that litter. His third litter we done with him was with ​Blottie producing ten beautiful pups again. His daughters have both proven themselves on lap and in the field with Teagol giving birth to seven pups August 2020 making Ernest a Granddad. We kept ​little Polly from that litter.

Ernest the proud Dad after his last litter with Blottie

Ernest after a rather dirty digging session center with his Dad Toby to his left and his daughter Teagol to his right

Rosie

Rosie was a lucky find, a first cross Cavalier/Brittany to bring into our lines. ​Introducing Rosie as we travelled home with her in August 2018 when she was coming up nine weeks old.

Rosie on my lap in 2018 as we travelled home with her from Essex at nearly nine weeks old

She has grown into an absolutely stunning healthy bitch, really good structure and has a very very loving nature. Loves bird watching with Ernest and is exceptionally quick, picking up a rat near the stables the other day before the rat new what was happening, shaking it and then very proudly dropping it at my feet. Very excited as to what she has the potential to produce in her offspring especially with Ernest. This litter I will hope to retain a puppy from.

Rosie watching birds on the telephone wire at the front of our home

Rosie in pointing pose as a beautiful structured adult bitch

If interested in this litter "hold your horses" and first read our website page ​Getting A Puppy From Poundlane. If you have patience and understand there is no guarantee of a puppy from Poundlane at this stage and want to know a bit more or just want to make me aware of your interest. You can ring me (Jane) on 01769 560969 in the week around midday is the best time to catch me near the phone.