Cantata Cavaliers
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Spring is here!....(Mostly!)

5/3/2022

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With the cold weather on the way out, Mark and I are happy to get back into our outdoor activities with the dogs. We are hopeful for several dog shows this summer but also some agility trials with Hemingway and  Cami.  

We traveled over Easter with Cami and Indy for their MRI and are happy to continue with them both in our program. It was a whirlwind trip over just a couple of days with lots of trips to some fun places like a local park and our favorite pet store, Ren's! Cami and Indy did some shopping for new toys and treats. We are happy to report that they decided to share all their goodies with their friends too! 

The puppies are doing well at ten weeks and will soon go to their new homes.  It has been a joy and honor to raise them into the confident and funny puppies they are today. We are so pleased with this litter and look forward to watching their adventures with their new families.  Our involvement and commitment to our families doesn't end with the day they go home - indeed, the fun has only just begun. 
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Spring is Coming!

3/31/2022

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Cantata Cavaliers

Mark and I have been incredibly busy since Christmas with a precious new litter of puppies who are now nearly six weeks old. We are excited and thrilled to watch them grow every day. 

This year has been a busy year so far, as we knew it would be. We continue to respond to emails and phone calls but often times we must remind people that puppies are not typically ever going to readily available. The wait time for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that has been health tested is lengthy even without using a formal wait list.  A breeding program such as ours is founded upon dogs that are healthy first anf foremost. 

We began health screening Cami and Indy in the fall with heart and eye tests and most recently patellas. We are pleased they have done well so far and will undergo an MRI as well.  Zara too has begun her health testing with her eyes and patellas. We are hopeful to do her heart and MRI this year as well. 

Breeding responsibly takes a long time-most of that time happens far before puppies are ever on the ground. It is a long road of health testing, titles and of course waiting for puppies to be born and then raised so they can live happy and healthy lives. 


On that note we are excited to attend a dog show this weekend and compete with Zara and Indy. Zara has already obtained her Canadian Championship and will now work on her Grand Championship.  Indy too is working on  his own championship.  There are definetly some exciting things happening here and if anything is for sure, life with our crew is never boring! 

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Merry Christmas from Cantata!

12/25/2021

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! We hope all our friends are doing well.

As I receive more requests for puppies, I feel I must remind everyone of the importance of asking any breeder you contact for proof of their health testing. While there are perhaps many people who will have a puppy for you, I strongly advise everyone to ask for registration and proof of testing instead of taking their word for it. This will help you differentiate the backyard and less than reputable breeders from the reputable ones.  You also should be willing to wait for a puppy as many of the reputable breeders will not have puppies readily available for you. 

   As for us, we've been busy enriching our dogs and adding titles to their names.  Titles are one way to show that a dog has, for example, the traits of their breed. It is something you can also ask a potential breeder about as many of the reputable ones will be working towards titles. A Conformation (dog show) championship, for example, can indicate that the dog has met the criteria as outlined in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Standard.  Other titles can show their trainability, willingness to work and more. It really depends on the title as there are many available outside of Conformation, including Agility, Rally Obedience, Obedience, Lure Chasing, Barn Hunting, Trick Dog and more. 

As for us? Two of our dogs also completed their next classes in agility with Zara completing Foundations and Cami completing Level 2 at the Newfoundland Athletic Dog Association. We are hopeful to trial Cami this summer in some fun trials or a CKC agility trial as this girl loves to work and have fun. With any luck she will compete along with her father, Hemingway as he works towards an agility title. 


We also competed at the dog shows hosted by the Newfoundland All Breed Kennel Club in November. We are happy to say both Hemingway and Zara have finished their championships (pending CKC approval).   To say we are proud of these two dogs is an understatement as we couldn't have asked for more from them that weekend than they gave us.   We are excited for more shows in 2022 pending COVID-19. 

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Cantata Summer 2021 Update

7/15/2021

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Things have picked up at Cantata as everything has begun opening up. Most notably we have  been busy getting the dogs back into their regular activities. Hemingway has competed in a fun agility event with two more slated for this summer. We are hopeful to achieve an agility title with our littlest feller in the future. 

Zara and Cami are also in their agility classes and having lots of fun! While all our dogs like to laze around on the couch, we feel lucky that they also love to work and have a job.  Many people will label the CKCS as a couch potato and while they do love to snuggle, they are spaniels and can be as active as any other dog (and should be encouraged to be active). 

On July 9-11th we competed with Indy, Lexi and Zara at the Newfoundland All Breed Kennel Club dog show in Flatrock. We did well there with Lexi achieving four additional points to her Grand Championship and Zara achieving 7 of the ten points needed for her Canadian championship in just one weekend! We are now looking forward to competing again later this summer. 

So why are these events so important to us? Titles show our dogs are worthy of being in a breeding program, that they meet breed standard and more. However, this, for us, is just a small part of the reason we do it. Classes and dog sports build relationships and these are valued by us immensely.

In the words of one Conformation judge, Patricia Trotter "We love all dogs as dog lovers. Mixed breeds and purebreds. They're all pets. Now, every pet may not be a show dog, but be assured, every show dog is a pet." Our dogs lead the same lives, rest assured, as most other pets save for these competitions. They get dirty, roll in dirt, go for walks and hikes, swimming etc with no restrictions at all. There is simply the added fun of an event together.  While we both enjoy these dog sports and the titles they bring, we are most happy with the relationships these events foster with our dogs. 

I've said it a hundred times that there's nothing like the relationship between oneself and a dog when you are working as a team. I think its my favorite part of having them with us at all. I know I've never been more proud to walk in a ring with one of our dogs and know we are a team - pre-competition pep talk and all! We know we both have a job to do and nothing is more satisfying knowing they want to do their part and even  more importantly, have fun.




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Cantata Update

4/13/2021

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 While Covid has been putting a damper on getting out to dog shows (our usual hobby), we have been busy at home working towards our trick dog titles. While these are new titles for us, we're having lots of fun teaching everyone new tricks. 

To date, Lexi, Cami and Hugo earned their Novice Trick Dog title and Hemingway has learned his Intermediate Trick Dog title. Hemingway will soon go for his Advanced and Hugo for his Intermediate. 

We recommend these titles for anyone whose stuck at home with no classes happening given the situation with COVID 19.   They can be done at home and videod for an evaluator. Can't get much easier than that! 
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Why does it take so long to get a Cavalier puppy?

1/27/2021

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Purebreds in general that come from reputable and ethical breeders do take a long time to produce and an equally long time to get especially in breeds that do not have especially large litters. You may feel like a year or two is a long time but it isn't, not really. While we all want a puppy when puppy fever hits, it doesn't mean that a hastily acquired puppy is the right choice. Especially with the onset of COVID 19, the demand for puppies has sky rocketed and many puppy mills and backyard breeders have taken the opportunity to produce dogs without much consideration for breed specific health testing, temperament, conformation or any other important decision.  Many breeders I know, including myself, are receiving multiple requests a day.

An ethical breeder will take the time to study their pedigree, health test and weigh out their best options before breeding their female to any male. They have to wait for the female to be of breeding age and to have passed all their health clearances so that you can have the very best chance at having a healthy puppy. 

So, what is the process, really? Especially at Cantata?  In a nut shell?  After finding the right female for a breeding program, we clear all health testing - that means waiting until over the age of two, passing all clearances, being conformationally sound enough to produce sound puppies, sound in temperament, and they have to be capable of whelping puppies. We also have to find the right male for our female because we always want to improve upon what we have so we can protect and preserve the breed.  For some programs it might mean travel to another province, country or even importing in semen from elsewhere. This takes an incredible amount of time and patience.

Then you must then raise puppies, if they're conceived, and  make sure they are healthy too before they go home. From time of breeding to puppies going home can be several months  and that's assuming a breeder is contacted right at the start of a female's heat and that there is a puppy available at all. Keep in mind that others, aside from yourself, have no doubt been contacting that breeder.  Then, according to a breeder's decision, they may skip a heat or breed again and all of that depends on the health of the female.  Maybe a pregnancy doesn't happen. Always possible. A reputable breeder won't jeopardize the health of their female so it can take awhile.   

Maybe the puppies born are not suitable for your home. That doesn't mean that you would make a terrible home for a puppy. It means that we want to set you and our puppies up for success and so if we don't feel the suitability is there, we want you to wait for the right one. The wait will always be worth it.

The reality is that reputable breeders who care about their dogs aren't having dozens of puppies all the time.   It is an exhausting task and while we take great pride in our puppies, there is a lot of background work to get a litter on the ground, raised and ready for new families.  While we would love to be able to provide a puppy to every excellent home that contacts us, it is a difficult task to accomplish especially when we know we have found a truly incredible home for a puppy. However, ultimately, our responsibility is to the puppy in our home that is relying on us to choose correctly and that, as I'm sure you can imagine, is a difficult task!  



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The Importance of Socializing Puppies

10/19/2020

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While many people want a dog that is friendly, outgoing and confident, it is important to understand that many puppies need proper socialization in order to achieve this over their lifetime. As a puppy owner you have to committ to helping your dog develop skills they will need over their course of their entire life.

  The first three months of a puppy’s life are incredibly important to their socialization process. At Cantata, puppies here are exposed to various stimuli including noises like hair dryers and vacuums. They are introduced to crate training, leashes and baths as well as various types of flooring, bedding, food bowls and toys. We also introduce them to various other dogs, travel crates/airline bags and car rides as well as have people over to handle them.  We strive to do our best to provide you with a puppy that has had various positive life experiences. 


However, the work we’ve done must continue once the puppy goes home with you. While many people, for example, prefer not to crate train their puppies, we strongly emphasize the importance of this skill for a puppy and adult dog. While you may intend to have your puppy with you all of the time, there will no doubt be times in their life where they will be in a crate. For example, an airport, in the car on the highway or a veterinary office.  Wouldn't it just be better if they'd been taught that the crate wasn't a big bad thing that they're in and that it isn't a punishment? It doesn't mean your dog isn't engaged and living life with you but you are preparing them for something that will likely happen at some point in its life and therefore it has no reason to be afraid.  Make sense?

We emphasize the importance of puppy obedience classes but also introducing positive life experiences.  You need to acclimate a puppy to noises, sights and sounds. One of th
e most fundamental parts this summer for us was being able to bring dogs to the Water Street Pedestrian Mall where there were tons of people willing to give treats and praise, lots of noise and smells, and really just lots to explore. For a puppy this was a lot to take in but we also continued our socialization with our grown up dogs who worked on their obedience training in an environment which was a whole lot more distracting than a backyard!


Well socializing your puppy could save its life and save you money in the long run in hiring trainers to work with you and your puppy.   The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior states that “ “Behavioral issues, not infectious diseases, are the number one cause of death for dogs under three years of age.”  As a puppy owner, you have to be committed to providing good opportunities to socialize your puppy. 
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But how? 

You can do this by providing positive experiences with dogs of all sizes. Make sure you choose dogs that are good with other dogs. Don’t be afraid to go out in public with your puppy once they have received some vaccines and let them explore their world. Do not coddle or protect your puppy from every stimulus it sees and might be afraid of, instead, encourage them gently without forcing the issue. Reward with a treat and praise when they interact positively but never force them to go any further than they're comfortable with on their own. If you pick a puppy up repeatedly, you risk teaching that there’s a reason to be afraid or nervous. Finally, don’t do too much too quickly.  If your puppy is apprehensive around a couple of dogs, don’t put them in a situation where they are now surrounded by a dozen of them. If they’re worried about lots of loud noises, take the exposure slowly and make it fun too. 

Doing this will only help you encourage your puppy to be what you’ve wanted. 
Some resources to help socialize your puppy are:


https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/puppy-socialization/

https://www.petmd.com/dog/puppycenter/communication/evr_dg_why_is_puppy_socialization_important

https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Puppy_Socialization_Position_Statement_Download_-_10-3-14.pdf

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/puppies/pre_puppy_prep/properly-socializing-your-puppy/

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Why the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel at Cantata?

9/26/2020

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I am often asked why we chose the Cavalier as our breed of choice. I grew up with Yorkshire Terriers, my family has had Poodles (Toy and Standard), mixed breeds and all kinds of other animals too.  We met our first Cavalier King Charles at a block party. By then I had already decided I was getting a Yorkie-just like what I had grown up with but this sweetest Blenheim approached me and befriended me all night and I was hooked. I went home claiming to Mark that I wanted "whatever kind of dog that was."

I spent a year or more researching the breed before I acquired Hugo and the story begins there.  Mark and I have become entirely obsessed with the breed and promoting its beauty while striving to preserve it.  We adore its temperament and sweet disposition but also the ease in which a Cavalier can suit many homes. Ours are quite happy to go for a hike with us but also equally pleased to binge watch Netflix too. They are truly a versatile, sporty but sweet companion dog.

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Welcome

7/30/2020

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Welcome to our blog. 

I hope in time that this will be a source of information as to the happenings in the lives of the Cantata Cavaliers. Stay tuned for more!
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All images are copyright Cantata Cavaliers. They are not for replication elsewhere, virtual or otherwise, without explicit permission from Lesleigh Von Borziskowski. 
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  • Home
    • About Us
  • Our Dogs
    • Hugo
    • Hemingway
    • Indy
    • Lexi
    • Cami
    • Zara
  • Our Blog
  • Puppies
    • Puppy Availability
    • FAQ
  • About the Breed
    • The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
    • Health