Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Breed Profile
The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a small spaniel classed as a toy dog by The Kennel Club and the American Kennel Club. Since 2000, it has grown in popularity in the United States. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the English Toy Spaniel is often mistaken for one another. In the United Kingdom, the English Toy Spaniel is called the King Charles Spaniel while in the United States, one of the colours of the Toy Spaniel is known as King Charles. The two breeds share a similar history and parted ways only about 100 years ago.
Temperament
The Cav display a lot of affection and is playful, extremely patient and eager to please. As such, dogs of this breed are good mates to children and other dogs. Cavaliers are not known to be shy about socialising with much larger dogs. They are flexible and will quickly adapt to almost any environment, family, and location and suit city and country life. Their ability to connect with larger and smaller dogs makes them perfect additions in homes with more than one breed of dog, provided that the other dog is trained.
Color & Coat
Coat: It has a silky, smooth coat and commonly a smooth tail.
Color: The breed standard recognises four colours: Blenheim (chestnut and white), Tricolour (black/white/tan), Black and Tan, and Ruby
Health
Cavaliers are known to be prone to mitral valve disease, which leads to heart failure. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in many Cavaliers, who ultimately succumb to the disease. Some serious genetic health problems, including early-onset mitral valve disease (MVD), the potentially severely painful syringomyelia (SM), hip dysplasia, luxating patellas, and certain vision and hearing disorders represent serious health issues for this breed.