Kelly, Myra speaks volumes for many of us. I hope you will receive Myra's message, others, and this one with the sincere intention it was written and not feel persecuted. This is a good place to learn! If we are not made aware of possible errors and cannot receive constructive criticism than learning is impossible, imho.
Although I waited some 20+ years to be involved with this very breed, I, too, am a newcomer (5 years having Cavaliers) and have learned (often times through the school of hard knocks!) the importance of starting with the very best foundation, health testing, and finding a *qualified* mentor who is willing to help you do right by this breed. Doing right by this breed, is, like Myra said, breeding to improve the breed. Are you breeding for health, temperament, conformation and type? If you don't test, then you run the risk of producing short lived, unhealthy dogs. If you don't show, then how are you sure your Cavaliers are typey? Do you have an experienced person helping you to assess structure? I know, all too well and personally, of specific incidents where breeding is done for profit and I can honestly say, in many of those situations, the people involved do love their Cavaliers, just as you do. Some are into puppy pyramiding to make a profit, others appear to just breed, never show, rarely health test, just make money by selling puppies to the many people who seem to want a Cavalier. I had the good fortune of meeting one of those people a few years ago who made the same kind of proclamations to the list, and he received similar responses as you have <VBG>. He realized, through time and education, that he was producing less than sound Cavaliers and thankfully, is no longer breeding. He was not in a position to start over the right way, so after surrendering his dogs to rescue (who spayed and neutered them all and placed them in loving, forever homes) quit breeding dogs altogether. The person you say you got some of your dogs from in Prior Lake, MN is a known broker and puppymiller. I think it was just last year when he auctioned off many of his dogs at a puppymill auction. He's one of the many real problems in this breed. Many of us on the list are, or have been involved, with rescue. We all get inquiries, often, from the puppymillers looking for intact stock. Unfortunately, our breed is a hot item with the commercial breeders and that's a large part of why we are all very protective of the breed. With displaying puppies available for sale on your website, it reminds me of some of the Irish brokers and puppymillers websites. It is so easy to be conned by some people looking for a "pet" who then want to breed, I'm wondering what you do to screen your pet buyers? In other words, what steps do you take to insure none of your puppies end up spending a lifetime producing in a puppymill? I do hope you will re-think some of the things you are doing. Breeding for profit is not the motivation for someone who truly loves this breed. JMO, Renee Bruns Caryse Cavaliers Oklahoma, USA http://members.cox.net/caryse ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
