Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Information & Dog Breed Facts

While the Cavalier King Charles is a relatively new breed, recreated less than a century ago, his prototype is the Toy Spaniel that has existed for centuries. Toy Spaniels were seen in so many paintings from the 16^th-17^th, and 18^th centuries by famous artists such as Van Dyck and Gainsborough. These little spaniels were great favorites of royal and noble families in England. Mary, Queen of Scots had a Toy Spaniel who accompanied her as she walked to her beheading, and her grandson, Charles I, and great-grandson, Charles II. The breed was named after them as they loved the little dogs as well.

Furthermore, it is said that King Charles II, who reigned from 1660 to 1685, never went anywhere without at least two or three of these small spaniels with him. He even ruled that spaniels should be allowed in all official buildings, including the Houses of Parliament. It is claimed that the decree is still in effect today in England, although no one has tested it recently to see if it is true. However, the popularity of King Charles Spaniel decreased after Charles II’s death, and the pugs and other short-faced breeds, that came from Asia, became the new royal favorites. The breed was bred with these dogs and eventually developed many of their features, such as the shorter nose and the domed head.

Moreover, there was one stronghold of the King Charles Spaniels that was of the type that King Charles himself loved so much, and that was at Blenheim Palace, the country estate of the Dukes of Marlborough. Here, a strain of red and white Toy Spaniels continued to be bred, which is why Cavalier King Charles Spaniels with this coloration are called Blenheim today. However, since there was no standard for the breed and no dog shows yet, the type and size of Toy Spaniels bred by the Dukes of Marlborough varied. Although, in the mid-19^th century, English breeders started holding dog shows and trying to refine different dog breeds. By that time, the Toy Spaniel was accepted as having a flat face, undershot jaw, domed skull, and large, round, front-facing eyes. The King Charles Spaniels depicted in paintings from earlier centuries were almost extinct at this point.

However, in the 1920s, breed enthusiasts began to work towards revitalizing the look of the spaniels from King Charles II and the Duke of Malborough’s time, and this led to the development of the breed we know today. An American named Roswell Eldridge started searching in England for toy spaniels that resembled those in the old paintings. He searches for more than five years, even taking this search to the Crufts Dog Show, where he persuaded the Kennel Club to allow him to offer 25 pounds sterling for the best dog and best bitch of the type seen in King Charles II’s reign. He offered this prize for five years. No one among the King Charles Spaniel breeders took this challenge very seriously as they have worked for years to do away with the long nose. Gradually, as the big prizes came to an end, only people were really interested in reviving the dogs as they once have been left to carry on the breeding experiment. After five years, little had been accomplished, and the Kennel Club decided that the dogs did not exist in sufficient number.

Furthermore, in 1928 a dog owned by Miss Mostyn Walker was awarded the prize. Unfortunately, Eldridge dies in 1928, only a month before Crufts, so he never saw the results of his challenge prizes. It was in the same year that a breed club was founded, and the name Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was chosen. It was very critical that the association with the name King Charles Spaniel be preserved as most breeders bred back to the original type by way of the long-faced throwouts from the kennels of the short-faced variety breeders. Some of the stock rapidly reverted to the long-faced variety. Pioneers were sometimes accused of utilizing outcrosses to other acceptable breeds to achieve the long faces, but this was not true, and the club did not promote crossing to other breeds.

The breed standard was drawn up at the club’s first meeting, held on the second day of Crufts in 1928, it was practically the same as today. As this was a new and exciting opportunity to achieve a truly desirable breed, it was decided that the Cavalier should be kept as far away from fashion as possible, with no trimming. A perfectly natural dog was desired and was not to be spoiled to suit individual tastes. Although Kennel Club recognition remained elusive and progress was slow, people gradually became aware that the movement toward the “old-type” King Charles Spaniel was here to stay. In 1945, the Kennel Club granted separate registration and issued Challenge Certificates to the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, allowing them to earn their titles. Moreover, the history of the breed in America is relatively recent. The first recorded Cavalier living in the United States was brought from the UK in 1956 by W. Lyon Brown, together with Elizabeth Spalding and other enthusiasts. She founded the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club USA which continues to the present day. The breed also became fully recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1995.