I was afraid this might be why you were concerned about the registry and hope you will take on board the concerns of people who truly love this breed but have lived wiuth the horrible afflictions this breed is prone to because of poor breeding, and wish for every breeder to breed the right way. Please do not consider breeding until you have read some of the posts here regarding this issue (if you search on breeding you will produce many past threads on the larger issue of breeding and health -- though note I do NOT allow breeding discussions on individual cases as one reason this board exists is to focus on good health and therefore to strongly *discourage* indiscriminate breeding because it is so damaging to this wonderful , but at-risk breed).
A dog from such a registry as yours should never be bred -- a breeder using these registries, which exist only to give an appearance of legitimacy but mean nothing at all, will never have done even the most basic health tests (hearts, hips, eyes, patellas). To begin with, to breed with any regard for health you should at minimum follow the MVD protocol, which means waiting til your dog is at least 2.5 years old and then ONLY if both your dog's parents were heart clear at age 5 (eg checked by a cardiologist for murmurs, not a vet. Vets miss most early onset murmurs -- but your breeder will very definitely not have done this. If she has, you should be able to find the dire and dam listed on the OFA website and their heart status). If you do not know the heart status of BOTH parents, a cavalier should never be bred before age FIVE, and then only if the dog remains heart-clear at that age. 50% of all cavaliers have early onset murmurs by age 5 so this is extremely important if you do not wish to risk condemning every puppy to a painful early death from heart failure. Many of us here can tell you first hand how painful this is for the dog and how hard it is for the owner to lose a loved dog at only age 5 or 6 because of an uncaring breeder.
In addition you need to understand the serious problem in the breed with syringomyelia and make your breeding decisions accordingly: over 90% of all cavaliers have a skull malformation which means the skull is too small for the brain; in a large percentage of cavaliers this forces the brain out into the spinal cord; in at least half og cavaliers this induces a potentially devastating and painful condition called syringolmyelia. Many of us can tell you first hand how horrific this condition is because we either have euthenised dogs with it, or live with them. No one should even consider breeding this breed without watching these three videos of SM-adffected dogs (the first is my own):
http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/video/videos.html
and understanding the breeding issue:
http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/breeding/breedandpups
Also please read the subforum on MRIing breeding dogs being moderated right now by Cathryn -- the recommendation from neurologists is that this breed should not be bred without MRIing and grading the dog and this is what she will be doing on Tuesday. You can read her reasoning why, as an experienced breeder, she is doing this.
Breeding is a very serious responsibility because you are dealing with the very restricted gene pools of a purebred dog and cavaliers have an especially small gene pool that has these two potentially devastating health issues. Thery are also costly to treat and in the US, the breeder is going to be expected to furnish a contract that indicates a willingness to cover medical expenses for genetic problems that show early. SM can show as early as 12 weeks; an MRI costs anywhere from $800-2,500, the decompression surgery costs about $5,000. So consider those financial responsibilities carefully.
Finally: I am assuming that because you are concerned that your breeder might NOT have performed appropriate testing, that you were definitely going to do all these things yourself and only breed your dog with another dog from a reputable breeder who also has thoroughly health checked her lines, knows genetics, and is familiar with several pedigree generations of the health history of her dogs (as you need to be with your own?). The problem is that any reputable breeder will expect your dog to follow the guidelines of the MVD protocol which means obtaining the dog from a breeder who has all the cardiac certs etc. The only breeders who will be doing all of this the proper way are registered breeders involved with the legit clubs, not the bogus registries. Thus the right way to go about this is to get involved with your local club, learn the ropes, learn about the breed so you understand whether you have a dog that has genes worth passing on... start to show, get a mentor, etc.
I am locking this thread because I do not want further discussions on breeding or this specific case as these are important issues to discuss with a mentor, not on a public discussion board. Also you might want to go back to your breeder and try to find out why she uses the registry she did; whether she can furnish the health certs you need to feel confident in her breeding skills, and if she can't, ask why not and why she didn't discuss thoroughly the breed health issues and show you the health clearances of the parents, before selling you a dog (every reputable breeder will expect to do this). Also, the board is full of information on the key breed health issues, what to look for in a reputable breeder, first hand accounts of living with cavaliers with some of these serious problems (needing patella surgery, SM surgery, heart medications). If you want to read how involved the proper breeding process is, read Bruce's forum on his two litters. You will see proper breeding practice is both expensive and risky -- and not to be taken lightly.
