Hi! My name is Carol Gold and I've been a member of the list for a long time, but I read way more than I post. I've been a dog nut all my life and have shared my life with breeds from 4 different Groups. Mainly, though, for more than 30 years, I have been immersed in Bearded Collies, having been one of the pioneers of the breed in North America. I fell in love with Cavaliers years before I actually got one and watched them in the show ring at every opportunity. When I decided it was time to add a small breed to the household, in preparation for the time when I could no longer meet the high mental and physical needs of Beardies, Cavaliers were first on my list. However, the MVD problem worried me enough that I researched a lot of other breeds before I finally decided that even with the heart risk, I still loved Cavaliers.
Cavalier people I knew introduced me to Norma Moffat, of the Brinklow cavaliers, who not only produces wonderful dogs and is dedicated to health and temperament, but also is generous in sharing her knowledge and her good dogs. And so I was chosen by Daisy, Brinklow's Merrybells ThD, CGC, sister to Norma's terrific winning and producing bitch, Ch. Brinklow's Rosybells. Daisy and I did the show rounds for a while but health problems have kept me from driving much, so we concentrated on other things, like therapy work . Daisy has been my shadow for nearly 7 years. She is part of the Canadian cavalier Club's Heart study program and as of her last check last September was still clear on auscultation and trivial on Doppler. She is also Queen of the household. Lili, my second Cavalier, was a product of serendipity. I'd gone to visit Norma and see her latest litter on the assurance that all were boys. I was cuddling them one at a time when i noticed that the tricolour I was holding lacked male equipment. "Hey!" I said, "I thought you told me there were only boys in this litter" Norma replied that she had meant only boys *available* and I replied, "Oh, good, I'm safe then." "Not really," said Norma with a laugh, adding that the people who had booked the bitch puppy had had to cancel a day or two before because of a sudden work project that wouldn't give them enough time for the puppy. Lili went home with me the next day. Lili and Daisy are very different characters. Where Daisy is a princess, Lili is a tomboy; where Daisy is my shadow, Lili loves to go exploring. Lili has the curiosity and agility of a Beardie. We went to agility classes last year and no one could believe she'd never seen the equipment before. I was just getting ready to show Lili last fall (she is drop-dead gorgeous, in my unbiased opinion), when my foot landed in a sidewalk crack while walking the dogs and my ankle turned over and I landed hard on the sidewalk, smashing my right hand beneath me. I ended up with all four fingers broken, a broken wrist and a broken foot. Complications set in and I've been pretty immobilized since. My right hand (of course that's my dominant hand) is permanently disabled (thank God for spell-check or you'd all see how bad my typing really is <G>) and I'm just now figuring out how to walk all 3 dogs again. My dogs have been my lifeline the past 10 months. No walks, not much playing on my part, a lot of tears and depression (again on my part). But I have never been alone, with my Beardie nearby and the Cavaliers taking turns sitting on my lap or cuddling hard up against me. Not once did any of them so much as bump into my injured hand. Luckily I am a clicker trainer so we all kept amused by learning new tricks -- the cavaliers have quite a repertoire. Lili and Chloe Beardie kept one another exercised by chasing around the back yard -- Daisy played chase the stuffed toy indoors for hours on end. I now have adapted combs and brushes so I can groom them again and am thankful for their easy-care coats. I am also trying out leash couplers and looking for leashes with flexi-like handles that I can slip onto my right hand -- suggestions are welcome. Reading this list and the Beardie list have kept me feeling like part of things. I only wish there could be less bickering on this list. For such a easygoing, loving, adaptable breed to have such argumentative people behind it is strange. So I delete a lot. But the good posts are really good and there's so much great information to be had that it's a great group to be part of. I know some of you and hope to meet more at a Cavalier "do' sometime. there's a CFSO Cavalier picnic in September that I'd love to go to if I could drive -- I'll keep my (left hand) fingers crossed. Sorry to be so long-winded. carol -- Carol Gold (who is owned by Chloe Beardie and Daisy and Lili Cavaliers) Raggmopp Beardies founded 1968 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.raggmopp.com ========================================================= "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.
