My trip to judge the Cook Inlet Kennel Club in Palmer, Alaska, was absolutely marvelous. Tbe show was very enjoyable; the venue was lovely with mountains towering over the show grounds. The club members saw to every need of the judging panel. Members fished and judges ate halibut and salmon for every lunch. Delicious! I enjoyed meeting the Cavalier exhibitors and renewing my acqaintance of Janet Klinger of Maryne Cavaliers. Most of the other exhibitors are new to Cavaliers but so eager to learn about the breed. After the shows, I took the Gold Star train from Wasilla to Denali Park. The scenery was magnificent along the train. What beautiful country! I stayed in Denali for two days, took my first CALM rafting trip down the river. Next day, Jim and Ann Sims took the following photos while we were on our bus tour into the heart of Denali Park while on our backcountry tour. We left from our hotel at 6:00 am and returned after 7:00 pm. I still have not developed the film for the pictures I took and have yet to figure out how to download the digital photos from the other camera that I borrowed. Thank you Jim and Ann for sharing. The bears pictured below came straight down the road toward our bus. Denali Park is so beautiful. I so enjoyed meeting some of the workers who come from all over the world to work at Denali during the summers. Denali closes during the winters when sunlight is limited to only a few hours and the park rangers get around by snowshoe and dog sleds.

From Denali Park, I took the train once again to Fairbanks–another lovely scenic train ride. While in Fairbanks, I took the paddle wheeler up the river. We visited the dog kennels of the Iditarod winning Susan Butcher who recently died. Her dogs were still at her place where her husband and daughter still live. To learn more about Susan Butcher: http://Iditarod.com One of the interesting facts about Alaskan sled dogs is that they are not pure bred Alaskan Malamute or Siberian Huskies which would be expected. Sled dogs are called Alaskan Huskies and are a mixture of breeds; they are not registered just chosen for their speed, stamina, and willingness to work as a team.

Our riverboat stopped at a replica of an Alaskan Native Village where we saw the early way of life reenacted. To be in Alaska in the early days of the Gold Rush would have been very hard living as hard living as the days of the building of the Alaskan oil pipe line.

In two days, I am off to Houston to visit my good friend Hazel Arnold of Red Oak Cavaliers. Hazel is suffering from ovarian cancer and is having a really tough time. I am going to attend the first specialty put on by the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of Houston. I come home on the August 29th and will stay home until I judge in California the end of the month with also a short visit to my friends Tami and Jeff Byroads in San Diego.

When I get back, I will be whelping a litter of wholecolors and talking to those interested in Rattlebridge puppies. Right now, we have a darling four month old black and tan boy and a lovely eight month old blenheim boy available.

Many thanks to my friend and webmaster, Roxy Hayes, for making my news page into a blog that even I can manage.

We love to breed and show dogs, but are just as proud of our dogs that are great family members, obedience or performance dogs, or therapy dogs. The following is a note I received from Jackie Kurlich who has two of our dogs. I am so proud of what Jackie and Candle are dong to cheer up hospital patients!!! From Jackie Kurlich: “I wanted to share a story about one of your girls. Just to refresh your memory, Candle came from Lucy and Freddie and is turning 2 this March. I know a lot of emphasis is put on the show dogs but I think the true hero’s are the working dogs like Candle that are touching lives. She visits our local hospital each Thursday and we will soon be going into the school system and alternative schools to help at-risk kids. She wins “Best of Breed” in my eyes! I have to tell you about our Therapy Dog visit to the hospital today. Let me start by saying that lately I have been wondering about the “quality”, I guess you could say, of our visits lately. It just seemed like there wasn’t any substance to them. Yeah, everyone was thrilled to see and pet Candle. The nurses adored her. Everyone wanted to take her home with them and she gave all the patients a change from their boring hospital stay. I can’t say that there was anyone that didn’t want to see her, but I just kept thinking there must be more to this therapy dog stuff. It just didn’t seem like we were helping anyone Then I visited the 4th floor of the hospital today where patients were recovering from major surgery. As we entered the floor we got the usual reception from the nurses on the floor wanting to pet her. Then a lady came up and asked if we could visit her dad. I followed her to room 409 and there was this very ill, very weak man in the bed turned on his side with his eyes closed. She told her dad that he had a visitor and I picked Candle up and put her beside him on the bed and he got this complete look of joy in his eyes, wrapped his arms around her and kept saying “She’s such a baby”, “She’s such a baby” over and over. Whenever I put Candle on a hospital bed she just seems to know to be calm. With this gentleman she put her head on his chest and lay down and the only thing you could hear was him whispering to her and her tail thumping away on the bedJ. Normally we only stay in each room a couple of minutes. We stayed with this gentleman for about a half hour. As we were leaving the room his daughter told me that this was the first time in a long time she had seen her dad smile and that she had had a dream about a Therapy Dog coming to visit the night before. I’ll never think of our visits in the same way again. There’s always that one person we are meant to visit. If anyone is thinking about going into a Therapy Dog program, I strongly encourage it. Your cavalier could make a big difference in someone’s day…quite possibly at the end of their life…..” Thank you, Jackie and Candle. I will try harder to get to the local nursing homes for visits with our dogs. It is one of the things I keep putting off. We used to do it before life got so busy and I began to deal with my aging orthopedics!!! On another note, I am very involved in the local Humane Society as the vice president and public relations director. We live in a very poor county with lots of animal neglect and/or abuse. The Humane Society does our best to help save animals. Last week we were told that someone had moved out of their house leaving behind dogs, chickens, and of all things–emus. Yes, emus! The birds and dogs were starving; some of the chickens were frozen to the ground. We rescued all we could. Rattlebridge Farm is now the home to a flock of chickens and two rather tall big birds who do not share one brain cell between them. My husband has named the emus Imogene and Emil. I do so hope that naming does not mean that they will be staying!!!!

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