Caliver Kings

I have been thinking about getting a Caliver King. They are beautiful dogs,but I do not know much about the breed. Does anyone here own one? What can you tell me about the breed? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

The first thing to learn is the name of the breed.

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

They are beautiful sweet little dogs, but do have some serious health issues to consider, mainly heart valve problems. The heart issues are very prevalent in the breed, even from responsible breeders, so one must be very careful about research before buying.

I would suggest you start here:

American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, Inc.

They are adorable dogs! I considered getting one at one time, but their health problems are rampant that in the end I decided against it. This is what YourPurebredPuppy.com says about the frequency of health problems in cavalier King Charles spaniels:

I have a 5 month old cavalier. Totally amazing little dogs. I couldn't have asked for a better first dog as he is so friendly and very easy to train. They do have their share of health problems but it's not that big of a concern if you do the research carefully and choose a responsible breeder who does all the health testing. This might mean you have to be on a waiting list for some time to get a puppy but it's well worth the wait.

I rescued a Cavalier in 2004. She was in labor at the time, and had three beautiful puppies. Found out later from the owners that she must have bred with their Jack Russell because she wasn't around any other dogs and claim they didn't know she was pregnant.
Anyway, she was around 2 years old at the time. She was the absolute best dog, well behaved, very loyal and loving. I fostered her for over a year before I finally found a good home for her (she was extremely overweight when I rescued her, and it took that long to get her healthy again).
I kept one of her puppies, Sammy. He got his mother's awesome personality. He is a great dog.

Cavalier's are a wonderfull breed, but you have to be comited to getting one from a reputible breeder, no if's and's of but's unless you want to commit yourless to a load of heartake. Cavaliers are prone to an imense amount of genetic disorders that even good breeding doesn't always prevent. You need to make sure your breeder does heath testing on the heart, eyes, knees, and hips. Their dogs should have passed those test with a good/normal rating or better and the breeder should be more than willing to provied you with the proof of those test.

You need to so lots of research and make sure that cavalier fits you lifestyle. I take it since you didn't even know the correct name for the breed you have some more research to do. Getting a Cavalier isn't something that you can just do overnight, you should expect to be spending about 2-3 years finding a good breeder and being on a waitlist. Cavaliers are also one of the more expensive breeds out there, the average price for pet quality is 1200-2000, anything significantly different then that is a huge red flag and a sign to run away fast.

Here's some links to help you along researching the breed and reputable breeders
CKCSC of USA
-The CKCSC of USA is the oldest breed club for the cavalier in america, it's been around since the 50's. It's not affilitated with the AKC and has much stricter guidelines for their breeders to follow. If you're really serious about geting a cavalier this would be the first place I would look to find a breeder.
American CKCSC
-The American CKCSC is the parent club for the breed associated with the AKC. The club was formed shortly after the breeds acceptance to the AKC when the CKSCSUSA club said it wouldn't be the parent club. The site is a good place for information on the breed and explains the main health problems affecting the breed in an easy to understand way.
CavalierTalk
-This is a great forum to meet Cavalier owners, learn about the breed, and share stories about any future pup that you may have.