Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

[BleuButterfly]

Anyone have any personal experience with them? I have Papillons, and Cavaliers are so similar I am drawn to them too. I would LOVE to have a Cavalier one day, but.. all the health problems keep me away.. Though, I don't want to forget about owning a Cavalier all together. (And, yes the dog shows this past weekend made me love them even more. )

So, I am wondering which breeders and lines have healthier dogs, that have history of living long lives. Any specific guidelines when picking a suitable Cavalier breeder? Also, what is the oldest Cavalier on record, and which line did it come from? Info on required health testing? Info on the major health problems?

Also, another question for Cavaliers, is it better to have an outcrossed pedigree? Where there are two lines that aren't related are bred together. Or is it better to linebreed on a healthy dog?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. ^^

Thanks!

[MicksMom]

I've only met a couple, but they sure are charming little things! We have one in our Rally class (the woman has two), and one of the obedience instructors at the training school has a couple. The breeder of the one in our class is Conventry. I think the woman said the breeder is in Virginia.

[jess2416]

The Major health problems in the breed are MVD, and SM

this forum Cavalier Talk: CKCS Discussion Board & Forum - Powered by vBulletin has lots of resources and discussions about those two major health issues... (its full of people mainly in the UK, but they are a very friendly bunch )

[Zoom]

You CAN find healthy Cavs, it just takes some doing. I was lucky enough to find a breeder back in KS that had very healthy lines, seemed to be mostly free of the heart issues and many of their dogs were at least 12 years old. Their oldest guy was 14, not of their lines, but was a nice example that you can have a long-lived Cav.

Look at Cav forums, start emailing various breeders, I"ll see if I can find the address to the people I talked to as well. Go to shows, all that jazz.

[animalcraker]

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of USA website is a great place to start finding out more on Cavaliers. From there you can look for breeders who are members in good standing with the club.

[BostonBanker]

Where are you located? I have friends met through agility who breed Cavs, and their dogs are making me fall in love with a breed that never appealed to me before. I've been very impressed with both their dogs and their thoughts behind breeding and the health issues. I refuse to post any breeder's site here, since the board seems to take great delight in tearing breeders apart , but if you are relatively local, I can always PM you the site.

[BleuButterfly]

Thanks for the info everyone. Oh, and I did "all that jazz", going to shows, researching breeders and pedigrees, health testing info, etc, when I got my show Papillon. It took me two years to find River. The wait was soo worth it.