9781422279311

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Beagle Boxer Bulldog Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Chihuahua Cocker Spaniel Dachshund French Bulldog

German Shepherd Golden Retriever Labrador Retriever Miniature Schnauzer Poodle Pug Rottweiler Siberian Husky Shih Tzu Yorkshire Terrier

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

By Lucy Koster

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com © 2018 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3848-6 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-3852-3 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7931-1 First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Cover photograph by Onetouchspark/Dreamstime.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

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Contents

1 Introducing the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.. 6 2 What Should a Cavalier Look Like?. ................. 18 3 What Do You Want from Your Cavalier?............ 26 4 Finding Your Puppy. ......................................... 38 5 Getting Ready.................................................... 46 6 Caring for Your Cavalier. ................................... 70 7 Training Your Cavalier. ..................................... 84 8 Keeping Your Cavalier Busy.............................. 96 9 Health Care....................................................... 102 Find Out More.......................................................................... 126 Series Glossary of Key Terms................................................. 127 Index. ...................................................................................... 128

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Chapter 1 Introducing the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel T he Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is the perfect all-rounder. As a spaniel he is fearless, outgoing, fun, sporting, and ad- venturous, and as a toy breed he is small enough to live in an apartment and make do with a relatively small amount exercise. Most of all, a Cavalier is renowned for his excellent temperament, which makes him an ideal family pet. A dog for just about everyone The Cavalier is one of the most adaptable of breeds, and he will fit in with many different lifestyles. He can be very gentle and care- ful around small children, but he is also fun and playful with older children. He can be a wonderful comfort to anyone on their own, but

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he will also share himself among a family. He will enjoy being active and going for long walks, or he will content himself with shorter outings and puttering around in the yard if his owners are getting on in years. In all my years breeding Cavaliers, I have never known anyone to whom I’ve sold a puppy change from this breed to another. They

may add a second breed, but always stick with a Cavalier no matter what!

Town and country

The Cavalier is a dog you can take anywhere. He will be equally at home in a country mansion or a city apartment, as long as he has a cozy bed—or preferably a sofa—to call his own. His exercise needs de-

pend on your own. It is pos- sible to keep a small dog in a home that has no yard, al- though you will need to be very conscientious about taking your Cavalier out several times a day so that his toileting needs are met. Living with other animals The Cavalier is a sociable little dog and enjoys the company of other dogs, particularly his own kind. This is a breed that is highly collectible, and Cavaliers are perfectly happy to live in mini packs. Although the Cavalier is bred down from sporting spaniels, he does not have a strong hunting instinct. This is probably because

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dogs have been selectively bred, over many generations, to be com- panions rather than working dogs. This means the Cavalier does not have a great desire to chase, so he will live in harmony with cats, as long as interactions are supervised from an early stage. If you keep small animals, such as guinea pigs or hamsters, al- ways err on the side of caution, and never allow a Cavalier unsu- pervised access. Accidents happen in a split second, so it is always better to be safe than sorry. Vive la différence When people are discussing the breed, they sometimes refer to the King Charles Cavalier or simply the King Charles. In fact, there are two distinct breeds of toy spaniels: the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel; and what is known in the United States as the English Toy Spaniel and in Britain as the King Charles Spaniel. They look similar, but there is a big difference: the Cavalier King Charles has a muzzle and the English Toy Spaniel does not. Obvi- ously this is not literally the case; the King Charles has a snub nose, the same as a Pug or a Bulldog,

whereas a Cavalier King Charles has a distinct muzzle, more like a miniature Cocker Spaniel. There are other subtle differences. The English Toy Spaniel is slight-

ly smaller and lighter boned, and has more bulbous eyes than the Cavalier, for ex- ample. But essen- tially, they come from the same basic mold.

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Tracing back in time The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel gets his name from King Charles II (1630-1685) and his courtiers. But it is believed that most toy spaniels (and the ancestors of today’s Cavalier) originated in the Far East as far back as the 12th and 13th centuries. Different types of toy spaniels that could have had an influence on the Cavalier breed were developed all over Europe. But perhaps the one that was most like the present-day Cavalier is believed to have come from either Holland or France. These toy spaniels were favored by the aristocrats of the day, and were especially valued as ladies’ companions. They have always had a strong connection with royalty; Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587) held toy spaniels in high regard, and she is thought to have brought several dogs to Britain from France. When she was executed, a small black and white spaniel was found hiding among her skirts. It was during the reign of Charles II that these little spaniels real- ly became royalty. No public buildings were off limits to the king’s spaniels, and he insisted they accompany him everywhere—even on state occasions. The diarist Samuel Pepys noted, “All I observed, there was the silliness of the King playing with his dog, all the while not minding the business.” William III came to the throne in 1689, and during his reign toy spaniels were usurped in popularity by Pugs he brought over from the Netherlands. However, they were restored to favor largely due to the efforts of John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough. Not only was he a great soldier, he was also an avid dog breeder. He bred a strain of small chestnut and white spaniels who were keen to re- trieve, but equally content to be lapdogs for the ladies in court. One of Churchill’s greatest military successes was the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, which gives rise to one of the most famous stories about the Cavalier. It is said that while Churchill was waging war

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in Germany, his wife, Sarah, sat at home anxiously waiting for news of her husband. At the time, one of his little spaniels was pregnant, and she kept it on her lap for comfort. In her nervous state she kept pressing her thumb down on top of the dog’s head, and when the puppies were born each had a mark on its head shaped like a thumb print. Thus the lozenge, the white hourglass markings between the eyes, came about; it remains a much sought-after breed feature in Cavaliers to this day. On his triumphant return, Queen Anne granted Churchill the ti- tle of Duke of Marlborough and gave him a large estate and a grand palace in Oxfordshire, which became known as Blenheim Palace af- ter his great victory. The spaniels bred by Churchill were called Blen- heim spaniels. Another famous royal associated with toy spaniels was the young Queen Victoria. She was devoted to her small tricolor spaniel Dash, and it is said that although she was very taken with the young Prince

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Albert, it was his warm behavior toward Dash that ultimately won her love. It was during Queen Victoria’s reign that the first organized dog shows were staged in the UK, and this led to the formal recognition of many different breeds. Breeders of the day favored the King Charles with a flat face, dome skull, low-set ears, and prominent eyes—the body of a little spaniel and the face of a Pug. The longer-nosed type was much less popular, and it was not until the early 20th century that we hear of them again. American challenge In the early 1920s an American dog fancier by the name of Ros- well Eldridge traveled to England to attend the Crufts Dog Show. He had seen paintings of the earlier type of King Charles Spaniel,

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including one by the famous painter Sir Edwin Landseer called The Cavalier’s Pets . He thought those dogs appeared more robust—more like the sporting dogs toy spaniels descended from—and was hop- ing to acquire a few in Britain. He was disappointed. So he challenged the King Charles Spaniel breed- ers of the day to produce “Blenheim Spaniels

of the Old Type, as shown in pictures of Charles II’s time, long face, no stop, flat skull, not inclined to be domed and with spot in center of skull.” He offered prizes at Crufts

for the next five years of £25 for the best dog and bitch of that type. At first most breeders were not inter- ested; they had spent too many years breed- ing the longer noses out.

The first year there were only a few entries, but interest soon grew and a small band of determined breeders took up the challenge. In 1928 a Blenheim Spaniel called Ann’s Son, owned by Mostyn Walker, was awarded first prize. The very same day, a breed club was founded for these King Charles Spaniels with a muzzle, and they added the word “cavalier” (a reference to Landseer’s painting) to distinguish the two types. Anne’s Son was placed on a table, and the breed club members brought in all the reproductions of pictures of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries they could find, and they wrote the breed standard. Sadly, Roswell Eldridge died a month before he was due to travel to Crufts, so never saw the results of his challenge prizes. Although Ann’s Son does not look much like the Cavaliers of today, he was just what the breeders of yesteryear were looking for. He won the Eldridge prize three years running, from 1928 to 1930,

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then came out after six years in retirement to win again in 1936 as a sprightly nine-year-old. British breed recognition Progress was somewhat slow, as the Kennel Club refused to rec- ognize this new breed as separate from their short-faced cousins. Since they were not shown in a separate class at dog shows, it didn’t seem worthwhile to breed them. What few Cavaliers there were, were typically long-muzzled throwbacks from short-faced King Charles Spaniel litters. But the pioneers kept promoting their natural toy spaniel, and in 1945, the Kennel Club finally granted them separate recognition. The first Cavalier to attain a championship was Daywell Roger. American breed recognition Although the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was revived as a re-

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