Is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Right For You?

Many web sites will inform you of the history of their conformation and health issues. Most good breeders will make sure their line doesn't carry the gene for mitral valve heart disease, eye problems, or patellar luxation (when the knee cap slips out of its natural position). To get information on these conditions and check information available on sires and dams go to www.offa.org. I will elaborate on my experience with their personality!

Cavaliers love people and they love to be loved by people. The term lap-dog is an understatement.They do enjoy playing and taking walks. But sometimes their feelings are hurt if people don't stop to tell them how cute they are.

They love to sleep on you and with you (in your bed). They snore! But it's endearing and comforting too. And they are extremely affectionate, they will kiss your ears every day.

Cavaliers are fairly easy to train because they love being rewarded especially with food/dog treats. Once I ran out of liver chiplets and rolled canned green beans in the left over powder at the bottom of my treat jar. They were in heaven!

A Few Minor Concerns

You should be aware that Cavaliers do snort! ( watch your face! ) And they do a backwards snort that if you didn’t know it was normal you’d think they were having an asthma attack. There is a simple remedy for backwards snorting: you put your fingers over their nose to make them breathe through their mouth for a few seconds. Then they are fine. The backwards snort is common in the shorter snouted (puggier faced) varieties of small dogs. I wouldn’t let it be a deterrent to getting one as it is NOT really a health concern as far as I can tell.

Cavaliers do shed. A daily brushing does help and the earlier you get them in the habit of being brushed (even though your puppy will be short haired when you bring it home) the easier it will be when they do get tangles in those beautiful long ears. Again rewarding them with a treat after you brush or during brushing will overcome resistance to being groomed.

Also your vet will want you the clean the inside of their ears. I find if you warm the cleansing solution in the microwave for 10 seconds until it is warm (but not hot) and dip a cotton ball into the mixture they are much more tolerant of your sticking the cotton ball in their ears than if the solution is cold. Again treats after each ear go a long way to encouraging your Cavalier to cooperate.

Finally, my cavaliers are notorious for chewing on material, bed sheets, etc. This is a major concern as eating material can lead to a blockage that may be life threatening and most definitely will require surgery. The easiest way to handle this problem is the give something to them that is appropriate to chew like a bully stick. Anytime you catch them starting to chew on something inappropriate you can say no sternly and then substitute the appropriate chew toy. Be sure to tell them this is what you chew on and praise them a lot for chewing on the appropriate toy.

Epilogue

I find the love you receive from a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel far outweighs the minor annoyances I have mentioned here. Cavaliers want to please you! You are their person! The more time you can spend with them the happier they are, but mine will let me leave them alone for about 4 hours so I let them have free reign of the house. Upon returning they are so happy to see me, each one wants to kiss me before we go outside for a bathroom run. It is important that you find a dog that fits within your lifestyle because all dogs are born with certain innate behaviors unique to that breed. For example it wouldn’t be fair to keep an Australian Shepherd or a Border Collie in an apartment because they are herding dogs. Cavaliers are people dogs so leaving them alone all day would probably not go over well.