MORE EXTENDED FAMILIES AND NEWS ABOUT RATTLEBRIDGE CAVALIERS 12/22/2010
I am so far behind in posting extended family pictures that I may never catch up. Besides the pictures I have been sent on email, I have a huge folder of pictures that need to be scanned. ANYIONE WANT TO VOLUNTEER TO SCAN?? I have no idea when I will get around to doing this. I am as proud of the Rattlebridge Cavaliers who go to wonderful pet homes as much as the show dogs, therapy dogs, and performance dogs. Cavaliers have no purpose if they do not become the beloved companions they were created to be. Without my Cavaliers, I would not have made it through my husband’s death. Our extended families of owners of our Cavaliers keep begging me to not quit breeding because of the splendid dogs we breed.
There is so much heartache in breeding dogs, but so much joy also. A few weeks ago, I lost Ch. Rattlebridge Arch Rival to congestive heart failure. Archie finished his championship at ten months and shortly after our cardiologist, Dr. Linda Lehmkuhl found a click in his heart which was not there as a puppy. Further testing revealed that Archie had the beginning of mitral valve disease. He was a beautiful Cavalier that could have had a career as a show dog, but we never bred him and had him neutered so that there would be no accidents with our girls. He lived a good life though not into his teens like most of our dogs. He was one of my husband’s very favorites, but Archie loved me with his soul. I picture Al scooping Archie up at the Rainbow bridge with Al’s Katie, Sammy, and Tia wagging their tails.
Ch. Rattlebridge Arch Rival at ten months. He had such a sweet face!!!
I would like to introduce Rattlebridge Cyber Dawn who went to his first shows a few weeks ago to lovely wins in the three shows in which he was entered. I have not shown a dog in three years; I have never been a great or even decent handler on some days, but handled my untrained boy very bravely as I was almost gimping around the ring with a sprained ankle on one leg and fifteen stitches in the other. Oh, the will to win against all odds!!! Anyway, Cyber took winners dog and then best of breed over champions all three days even garnering a Group IV. Not bad for a 13 month old puppy that had never been to a show and was in my own unique style “ half assed trained.” Now I am giving away my total ineptness on filling out forms online when I tell you that I had registered Cyber online and thought it went through, then entered him with his litter number which a couple of my doggy friends told me I could do. NOT!!! He was not registered as I must have hit a glitch on the online registering process and his three majors were taken away. Oh, well, we will just have to start over and have more fun and he is so much fun to show with his effervescent attitude! His brother Rattlebridge The Dawnald who like his siblings was co bred and co owned by my friend and partner in crime, Sherri Meyer, and his sister, the wicked Rattlebridge Dawnatella lives with me; she chewed up a rosary tonight and could get me in real trouble with the Blessed Mother just before Christmas. She, in the true sense if the word, is a little bitch and gets away with it due to her beauty and adorability (my newest coined word—don’t you love it?). She and her brother, The Dawnald, already have points toward their championship.
Rattlebridge Cyber Dawn
AND NOW TO THE NEWEST EXTENDED FAMILY COLLAGES: