Hiya to all my fellow cav' lovers.....

Well i'm kim, very proud and smitten owner of Bleanpennal Misha Madonna....Bleanpennal = breeders name ....Misha = we found on a dog names website and fell in love with and then Madonna = secretly seeking susan was on tv at the time of finalising her name we had Misha for nearly 2wks before naming her and the more we got to know her the more it suited.

She is now 14mths and grown into a beautiful, loving companion. Everyone in the family are smitten with her, definatly made a big impact on all our lifes. So much so we are very keen to have another cav to add to our family.

The biggest question is how we get that pup....
Do we buy and new pup???
Or let Misha have a litter of puppies and keep one??
I'm leaning to the 2nd and letting Misha have a litter of pups, so researching and reading every thing i can find.
All advice welcome....

Well thats a bit about us, Misha is stirring by my side so must be tea time.
Chat again soon xx

While I know it may on surface appear an easy and fun way to get a puppy, breeding a dog should never EVER be done unless you are working with a professional breeder who first, has had your dog scanned (MRId) by a neurologist AFTER age 2.5 to see whether she has syringomyelia, and if you know her parents and grandparents were cardiologist tested and heart murmur free at age 5 -- and also if a professional breeder can confirm she has genes that are worth conserving and passing along -- very few dogs qualify. And if you know her full five generation pedigree and the health histories of her previous lines. This is absolutely crucial in this breed.

This breed is being devastated by people backyard breeding for fun and to get 'free' puppies -- right now the lifespan is reduvced by a third on average because of backyard and mass breeding for the pet market which had made MVD so widespread in cavaliers that nearly all cavaliers will die from it and half will have a murmur by age 5.

In addition research is showing nearly all cavaliers now have a skull malformation that in at list one in three, leads to syringomyelia.

Both of these problems are extremely widesperad and both lead to painful, compromising, life shortening conditions that cause suffering for both the dog and the family that owns it. I like many others here have cavaliers with either MVD or SM and this is NOT something you want to pass along.

In addition there is a significant life risk to your bitch in breeding her. Giving birth for a dog is a higher death risk than say, cancer over its lifetime!

Please read the informationin the library on breeding and breeding cavaliers and finding a breeder and puppy.

I also need you to go read the Getting Started section before posting further to the board as it clearly outlines there that posts about breeding your dog are never allowed on the site. You are very welcome to be here and I hope will find out much that will be helpful about this breed and finding a breeder. But no one except those who understand the very complex genetic health issues in the breed should ever even remotely consider breeding a cavalier. Too many already suffer and die at young ages because of backyard breeding.

PS Did you see the BBC documentary Pedigree DOgs Exposed? If you had I am sure you would understand why no one should breed cavaliers without a clear understanding of genetics and health issues and the problems the breed has and a dedication to breeding only for health -- which is costly.