Archive for the ‘News’ Category

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I cannot believe that it has been almost two months since I have posted any news. Thank you to all who have sent Christmas greetings and pictures of our Cavaliers. We will soon update our family gallery section. OHIO STATE RECEIVES SYRINGOMYELIA GRANT! The Ohio State Universtiy Veterinary College has received a grant of over $50,000 for a study of Syringomyelia centering around our extended family of dogs. SM is a problem in our breed and is very widespread genetically. We are very grateful to the American Kennel Club Health Foundation and the American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club Charitable Trust for giving matching funds for this grant. Dr. Carley Abramson and Dr. Phil March, neurologists at Ohio State, Clare Rusbridge in England, and I will be working to find ways to eradicate or stop progression of this disease. Thank you to my friends who gave so generously (over $20,000) to begin the study before we received the grant: Mr. Gilbert Kahn, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Tschetter, Mrs Tami Byroads, Mrs. Betsy Skae, and Mrs. Jeanie Geiger We have had a good Christmas. My husband is recovering from surgery on both of his knees, but we are grateful he did not need total knee replacement at this point. Because of my own back problems, I have taken time off from traveling and judging to seek treatment for my back, but will begin judging again in April and look forward to judging the American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club National in May. I have been very involved with the local Humane Society which with a skeletal crew trys to meet the needs of the animals of our county. If you can do anything to support your local humane society, please do. The need is great. We have not shown much these past few months. Our little girl, Rattlebridge Hit the Spot “Pepsi” has done very well for herself in the puppy classes and is just a couple of points away from finishing her championship. Her picture will soon be featured on our website. Rattlebridge Rock ‘n’ Roll and Rattlebridge Saranade are just a few points from finishing their championship. We wil soon be introducing our new show puppies: Rattlebridge Sienna Shimmer, a lovely ruby girl; Rattlebridge Nite ‘n’ Gale, a black and tan called Florence, and our older girl, Rattlebridge Jeannette. We will also be introducing our wonderful imports from the famous Harana kennel in England: Harana Spencer Tracy, black and tan, and Harana Star Appeal, a lovely ruby girl. Despite the fact that it looks like we are becoming a wholecolor kennel, we do have blenheim and tricolor breedings planned!!!!!! Once agin–Happy New Year!!!!

This last weekend, I had one of the worst experiences of my life. A group of us, including representatives from Lucky Star Rescue, attended a dog auction at the Amish Fleamarket in Millersburg, Ohio. Amid all the booths for furniture, crafts, toys, baked goods, and so forth, was the dog auction hall. Thank God I had not eaten breakfast as I surely would have lost it. My friends Steve and Margaret and I had prepared ourselves and promised each other that we would not break down at seeing the Cavaliers–we would go to the car if we could not take it. There were many breeds represented, fifteen of them Cavaliers, some AKC registered, some with other registries, and some just “Grade” like in horses. Older stud dogs, puppies, and a pregant bitch that Lucky Star could not get out as she sold for $4900.00. I checked the AKC numbers in the catalog when I got home; all of them were bogus. I know that buying dogs from auctions, pet stores, or puppymills just keep financing such horrors. However, it is really difficult to stick to one’s guns with faced with dear little Cavaliers who will spend the majority of their lives in wire crates being bred. Please be careful when purchasing your Cavalier; there are so many brokers, dealers, puppymillers, and huge commercial breeders out there. The AKC website features a new classified advertisement section for litters of puppies. Please be careful as not all the breeders listed may be reputable; to my knowledge AKC is accepting all ads without knowing who is reputable and who is not. Best to check with our parent club site first for breeder listings. Please pray for the mother of my dear friend and fellow Cavalier breeder, Roxy Hayes of Roxians and CavaliersOnLine. She is very, very ill and not expected to live.

I would like to annouce that our Roses are Red who is doing so well in Europe just won the the bitch CC at the German Bundesseiger show, which is Germany’s biggest show. She is now Internationaler Champion FCI (BID ERF) Rattlebridge Roses Are Red with the following titles: Luxenburgischer Junior Ch. Europa Junior Winner German Champion ( VK) German Champion VDH Bundessieger Austria 2004 German Bundessieger 2004 We are proud!!! Congratulations to her owners Klaus and Markus from Bonitos Campaneros of Germany.

September 29, 2004 For those of you who have visited us and met Maxine Price, our kennel manager, I have very sad news. Maxine’s husband Don passed away very unexpectedly this past Monday morning of a massive heart attack leaving Maxine and two teenaged daughters, Sarah and Stacy. It is a very sad situation as Don had no insurance leaving Maxine in some financial difficulty and very unsure of future plans. Don’s labrador, Dreamer, will not leave the side of his truck, just waiting for Don to get out of it. So sad. Al and I are helping as much as possible. The kennel work, of course, falls totally on me. I would like to sell a few puppies that I was running on to see if they would be show dogs. I have decided to let them go as pets as I must cut down right now. Let me know if you are interested. Life can change in the blink of an eye!! Take care of yourselves and your precious Cavaliers!! Meredith

September 25, 2004 Thank you to all who sent get well cards and messages after my recent knee surgery. Am on the mend. The new health section on our website is complete and up. We have addressed health concerns in the Cavalier in more depth than previously. Please tell us what you think of the new section. There are a few new websites addressing Cavalier health and not all of them are helpful. Do not believe everything you read. A good site for correct information (besides ours of course!) is: www.aboutcavalierhealth.com Remember to stay in touch and keep us posted on your Rattlebridge Cavalier! Meredith

My knee surgery went well although I am still hobbling around. Between bad knees and a bad lower back, not to mention the bad shoulder courtesy of a diagreement with one of our horses, I am truly feeling elderly. However, good news always perks me up. German Ch. Rattlebridge Roses are Red just went Best in Show at the German Toy Dog Show! Rosie is on her way to being a European International Champion which will make two for us, the other being Am., Dutch, and International Ch. Rattlebridge Jacob. Not to be undone, Rattlebridge Harle-Quinn just completed his CD! His owner Lu Ann Rogers writes: “Quinn finished his CD yesterday at the Mahoning County trial! Do now it’s Rattlebridge Harle-Quinn Man NA NAJ CD. He spent 4-1/2 hours with me at the hospital today, starring in a program that we hold to introduce first year medical students to pet therapy. On Saturday we marched along with our (Love on a Leash) float in the Ravenna Balloon A-Fair parade. You would be very proud of him.” We am very proud of Quinn and of Lu Ann who is a marvelous trainer! LuAnn now has a black and tan puppy Rattlebridge Request the Best who hopefully will be shown in conformation. We are proud of all our dogs!

Meredith is going to be home for awhile for knee surgery and recuperation. She will also have to attend to a few lower back problems. She welcomes the time at home and the halt to a crazy schedule–time to recharge and enjoy the Cavaliers!!! She is working on revitalizing website section on health issues in the Cavalier with new information about mitral valve disease and syringomyelia or SM. We have several exciting puppies coming along as well as a few cuties who will need new homes. Congratulations to Bob and Judy Tschetter for finishing Ch. Rattlebridge Targee’ in good order. Congratulations to Penny Freberg for putting two back to back five point majors, first two times shown, on Rattlebridge Saranade. Congratulations to Tami Byroads for showing Rattlebridge Costume Party to several Bests of Breed and a group placement in very tough California competition. Way to go Tami and Party!! Congratulations to Lu Ann Rogers and her Quinn on his first two legs on his CD and agility titles! We welcome from England two new additions to Rattlebridge: the lovely ruby girl Harana Star Appeal and our own little Japinese Chin from the famous Homerbrent kennel. Yes, a Japanese Chin!! We are excited to show this little guy! Our friends Leanne Bertani and Sherri Meyer co own the Chin and Sherri will show him. Sherri is also co owning the very lovely blenheim girl, Rattlebridge Hit the Spot! (Pepsi)

I will be in England from June 10 through the 25th. I am judging Three Counties championship show. We are expecting puppies. If interested please contach me after June 25th. Meredith

Spring has hit at Rattlebridge. The flowers are blooming and the yard work is fast becoming all consuming. Cavaliers love to dig and ruin the flowers, but we are trickier than they!!!! Little by little, we have moved everything that can be vandalized by our Cavalier contingent to OUTSIDE the fenced in lawn areas. We have two new champions, our third black and tan champion, Ch. Rattlebridge Prada and Ch. Royal Companion Olympia, our lovely Dutch import. We have not yet updated our website to show their championships, but they and Ch. Rattlebridge Black Lace are now fully recognized as AKC champions. Black Lace has been bred to Harana Spencer Tracy, our exciting new import from England and Ch. Rattlebridge Prada has been bred to Ch. Fairoaks Navagator, co owned with his breeder my close friend, Chris Meager, and standing at stud at Rattlebridge for the next year. We look forward to wonderful puppies who can carry the Rattlebridge banner in the show ring, and most importantly as beloved pets. The American Cavalier National will be in Seattle this year and of course we will be represented with a few of our dogs in the show ring. Dr. Gene Stine, DVM, and Meredith will be making a presentation about the neurological disease, syringohydromelia being found in Cavaliers and other toy breeds. Meredith has been instrumental in getting the Ohio State University Veterinary Hospital to embark on a study of this disorder funded by donations from friends. After the National, Meredith will be traveling to England to judge Cavaliers and will be meeting with one of the top researchers of syringohydromelia while in England. Meanwhile, the very beautiful, Ch. Rattlebridge Adagio continues to win in the show ring and is presently number 1 all systems, just as he was for 2003. We are so proud of him and his young co owner, Sunni Dunn, for winning the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel of Greater Atlanta Spring Specialty for the second year in a row.

I am leaving to judge two Cavalierspecialties in New Zealand tomorrow (September 9/2003) and will not return until September 26, 2003. I will try to check email while I am gone, but it is difficult to keep up when traveling. I then leave on October 2 to judge in Bogata, Columbia, and will return on October 7. I will be jet lagging big time. Will miss my Cavaliers (husband also!!!).