Our Beginnings --- Bailebrae Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

Our Beginnings

I bought my first Irish Wolfhound in 1970, and eventually established the kennel name BAILEBRAE, which in the old Gaelic dictionaries translated to "a gathering of the finest quality". I started showing IW’s in 1977 and have had them ever since. I have bred over 70 AKC Irish Wolfhound Champions, and am recognized as an AKC Breeder Of Merit in Irish Wolfhounds, as well as Cavaliers. It was through the Irish Wolfhounds that I met my first Cavalier in 1982 when Betty Deemer (Fitzarran I.W.'s and Cavaliers) drove out from Kentucky with her Irish Wolfhound bitch, AKC CH. Eaglescrag Janine (UK Import) to be bred to my stud dog, Multi BISS AKC CH. Solstrand Fenton Of Bailebrae (UK Import). Betty arrived from Kentucky with a Cavalier in the passenger seat which "she never went anywhere without!” She stayed with me for 4 days to get the Irish Wolfhound breedings done and in short order I fell in love with this unknown Toy breed, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel! Up until then, having had Giants, "the King of Hounds and the Hound of Kings", I felt that if I had to bend over to pet it I just wasn't interested. I would walk past the Toy rings at the AKC dog shows with my Wolfhounds never glancing in their direction. Now the Cavalier was not recognized by the AKC at that time so I never saw a Cavalier until Betty pulled into my driveway with her Wolfhound in the back of the station wagon and the little Blenheim beauty in the passenger seat. So you can imagine my surprise at seeing a Cavalier for the first time? I said, "what is this?!" And that's when my education of this wondrous breed began. The idea that a Toy dog was a shivering, yappy, nervous, high strung, nippy, underfoot excuse for a real dog vanished with the meeting of this sweet little Cavalier.

When I went back to Betty's home to pick out a puppy from the subsequent Irish Wolfhound litter I met her many Cavaliers and a litter of puppies, which caused me to comment that "they look like little stuffed toys"... they were so beautiful! She said that I should get into the breed as I would be a good breeder and encouraged me to join The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA www.ckcsc.org, which was, at that time, the only national club representing the Cavalier in the United States and held its own shows and kept the stud book of registrations of all Cavaliers, litters and individual puppies. This is the original Cavalier registration body established in 1954. The American Kennel Club has only had this breed since 1996. All of our Bailebrae Cavaliers are dual registered with the CKCSC-USA and the AKC. We show our Cavaliers in both venues. Our puppies are sold with dual registration in both clubs.

So 29 years ago I decided that I wanted to get into the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed. My "breeder's mindset" kicked in and I knew I would have to study the breed, the different bloodlines, read and visit the CKCSC-USA shows to see what bloodlines were producing what, etc. before I would decide where my foundation stock would come from. As with the Irish Wolfhounds I wanted healthy, long lived, well conformed dogs that I could show, win with and maintain and improve on the breed's quality as well as work on minimizing that breed's major health problems. Betty co-owned one of her Cavaliers with me and sponsored me into the CKCSC-USA club. I was first accepted into The Club in 1982.

Betty and I went to England in 1989 and spent 3 weeks touring the Irish Wolfhound and Cavaliers kennels and the big English shows which gave me a first hand look at where this breed's ancestry and the foundations from which all of our bloodlines originated. What an education that was! The education continues, because if one keeps their mind open one can be in dogs for 100 years and continue to learn something new about any breed with which they are seriously involved.

I bought my first two foundation breeding bitches from Harold and Joan Letterly, of Wyndcrest Cavaliers and we have remained friends for all of these many years. Wyndcrest Madeline At Bailebrae and Wyndcrest Renaissance Guinevere were our foundation Blenheim breeding bitches along with a Tricolor, AKC Ch. Choya Scotch Reel At Bailebrae, who we purchased from Rhonda Banks of Lincolnshire, England on another trip to England that we made with the Letterlys in 1996. "Choya" is still alive at 13 years of age and is still Heart clear by a Cardiologist's exam. Both of her parents are English Champions. CAN/AKC Ch. Bramble The Buccaneer At Bailebrae, wonderfully bred by the late Joy Sims, was acquired to our great fortune when he was approximately 18 months old. He has added his superb conformation and soundness to the beginnings of our foundation bloodlines. Linebreeding back to the great CKCSC-USA BIS CH. Wyndcrest Apollo and judiciously using the occasional outside stud dog has contributed to the Bailebrae breeding program of today.

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	"a gathering of the finest quality" Established 1977 Our Beginnings I bought my first Irish Wolfhound in 1970, and eventually established the kennel name BAILEBRAE, which in the old Gaelic dictionaries translated to "a gathering of the finest quality". I started showing IW’s in 1977 and have had them ever since. I have bred over 70 AKC Irish Wolfhound Champions, and am recognized as an AKC Breeder Of Merit in Irish Wolfhounds, as well as Cavaliers. It was through the Irish Wolfhounds that I met my first Cavalier in 1982 when Betty Deemer (Fitzarran I.W.'s and Cavaliers) drove out from Kentucky with her Irish Wolfhound bitch, AKC CH. Eaglescrag Janine (UK Import) to be bred to my stud dog, Multi BISS AKC CH. Solstrand Fenton Of Bailebrae (UK Import). Betty arrived from Kentucky with a Cavalier in the passenger seat which "she never went anywhere without!” She stayed with me for 4 days to get the Irish Wolfhound breedings done and in short order I fell in love with this unknown Toy breed, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel! Up until then, having had Giants, "the King of Hounds and the Hound of Kings", I felt that if I had to bend over to pet it I just wasn't interested. I would walk past the Toy rings at the AKC dog shows with my Wolfhounds never glancing in their direction. Now the Cavalier was not recognized by the AKC at that time so I never saw a Cavalier until Betty pulled into my driveway with her Wolfhound in the back of the station wagon and the little Blenheim beauty in the passenger seat. So you can imagine my surprise at seeing a Cavalier for the first time? I said, "what is this?!" And that's when my education of this wondrous breed began. The idea that a Toy dog was a shivering, yappy, nervous, high strung, nippy, underfoot excuse for a real dog vanished with the meeting of this sweet little Cavalier. When I went back to Betty's home to pick out a puppy from the subsequent Irish Wolfhound litter I met her many Cavaliers and a litter of puppies, which caused me to comment that "they look like little stuffed toys"... they were so beautiful! She said that I should get into the breed as I would be a good breeder and encouraged me to join The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA www.ckcsc.org, which was, at that time, the only national club representing the Cavalier in the United States and held its own shows and kept the stud book of registrations of all Cavaliers, litters and individual puppies. This is the original Cavalier registration body established in 1954. The American Kennel Club has only had this breed since 1996. All of our Bailebrae Cavaliers are dual registered with the CKCSC-USA and the AKC. We show our Cavaliers in both venues. Our puppies are sold with dual registration in both clubs. So 29 years ago I decided that I wanted to get into the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed. My "breeder's mindset" kicked in and I knew I would have to study the breed, the different bloodlines, read and visit the CKCSC-USA shows to see what bloodlines were producing what, etc. before I would decide where my foundation stock would come from. As with the Irish Wolfhounds I wanted healthy, long lived, well conformed dogs that I could show, win with and maintain and improve on the breed's quality as well as work on minimizing that breed's major health problems. Betty co-owned one of her Cavaliers with me and sponsored me into the CKCSC-USA club. I was first accepted into The Club in 1982. Betty and I went to England in 1989 and spent 3 weeks touring the Irish Wolfhound and Cavaliers kennels and the big English shows which gave me a first hand look at where this breed's ancestry and the foundations from which all of our bloodlines originated. What an education that was! The education continues, because if one keeps their mind open one can be in dogs for 100 years and continue to learn something new about any breed with which they are seriously involved. I bought my first two foundation breeding bitches from Harold and Joan Letterly, of Wyndcrest Cavaliers and we have remained friends for all of these many years. Wyndcrest Madeline At Bailebrae and Wyndcrest Renaissance Guinevere were our foundation Blenheim breeding bitches along with a Tricolor, AKC Ch. Choya Scotch Reel At Bailebrae, who we purchased from Rhonda Banks of Lincolnshire, England on another trip to England that we made with the Letterlys in 1996. "Choya" is still alive at 13 years of age and is still Heart clear by a Cardiologist's exam. Both of her parents are English Champions. CAN/AKC Ch. Bramble The Buccaneer At Bailebrae, wonderfully bred by the late Joy Sims, was acquired to our great fortune when he was approximately 18 months old. He has added his superb conformation and soundness to the beginnings of our foundation bloodlines. Linebreeding back to the great CKCSC-USA BIS CH. Wyndcrest Apollo and judiciously using the occasional outside stud dog has contributed to the Bailebrae breeding program of today.
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