Lakeville Cavaliers

A Rising Superstar!

Susie

My mentor/breeding partner Dorothy and I love themes for litters. When I decided I wanted to buy a foundation bitch and get serious about breeding under my Lakeville affix, I asked Dorothy if she would sell me a girl from an upcoming litter. We had already decided to breed her bitch Evie (GCH CH Meadowlake Happy Trails) to our co-bred dog Scotty (GCH CH Meadowlake Beam Me Up) and of course we were hopeful that we would get some great puppies, but you never know. As I always say, you never bat 1.000 in breeding, and anyone who claims otherwise is lying, delusional, or both. Lucky for me, they had a lovely litter of pretty Blenheims.

A little background on how we choose potential breeding dogs...at about nine to ten weeks of age, Dorothy and I - sometimes along with our breeder friends Robyn Futcher and Anetrius Wallace - set up a grooming table, and one of us places each puppy one by one in various positions for photos (usually Dorothy or Anetrius are the photographers): front, rear, show side stack (standing with the left side of the body visible to the camera), non-show side stack (standing with right side of the body visible to the camera, head shot, and profile head shot. We then download the photos onto a laptop/desktop and so we can see them on a big screen and evaluate the puppies' structure. While I am the first person to admit that Cavaliers change over time and their bodies do not fully fill out until around age 3 or so, even at this young age there are signs we look for that indicate whether a dog will be a good show and breeding prospect.

I remember well the day Anetrius and I went to Dorothy's house to photograph Susie's litter. I positioned the puppies while Dorothy and Anetrius took the photos. I knew I wanted a foundation bitch from these puppies, but I was torn between two girls. They both had classic Cavalier faces with wide white blazes between dark brown eyes, typey structure, good angulation, and silky, straight, well broken coats. After I studied the photos though, I realized my eye kept being drawn to Susie's show side stack shot. She had a pretty layback of shoulders that transitioned beautifully into a perfectly level topline and excellent proportions - not too tall, not too short, not too long, not too wide. What sealed the deal for me ironically was something that many other breeders would not have tolerated in a show dog: she has a small brown freckle on her nose (we call it a "kiss") which exactly matched her father's kiss. But I knew from showing and stewarding that the vast majority of judges only notice markings if they distract from the dog's overall look, and I also knew that Susie would not have that problem. Her huge eyes, soft expression, sound structure, and gorgeous side gait would command far more attention than her Marilyn Monroe beauty mark.

Our themes are typically matrilineal, that is, passing down through the mothers instead of the fathers, although not always. Since Susie is Lakeville's foundation Blenheim bitch, I decided to part from tradition and continue Dorothy's celestial theme attached to her father, Scotty. As a child I dreamed of being an astronaut for years, until I realized that my talents lie elsewhere. We always research names before we register them with the AKC (since it is impossible to change a registered name once a dog has earned any wins or titles), and we want to avoid names belonging to real people or that have negative connotations or undesirable associations. For example, before I knew better, I thought Midnight Express (call name: Speedy or Midi) would be a cute name for a black and tan Cavalier. Then I discovered that the movie Midnight Express - which I had never watched - actually depicted a drug dealer's escape from prison! Needless to say, I will NEVER use that name for any dog! We also avoid descriptive names that could invite unnecessary scrutiny of our dogs' structure or temperament. So we never choose names like Long Tall Sally, Street Fighter, Double Decker Bus, Angry Young Man, etc. for our dogs.

I liked Supernova for her registered name because supernovas are the brightest stars in the galaxy. Of course because I did my research I knew that supernovas are so bright because they are dying stars, which is arguably not the greatest connotation. However, I prefer to think of her name as a poignant reference of the sad reality that dogs do not live as long as humans. My dogs have truly been the lights of my lives, but eventually they too must pass away. Like supernovas, they brighten my life amazingly but not for a long time. Hence, I christened my first Blenheim girl Meadowlake Supernova at Lakeville. I chose Susie as her call name just because I thought it was cute for a little girl and it played off the "super" in supernova.