Cunliffe Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59378-877-3
Verlag: CompanionHouse Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 160 Seiten

Reihe: Comprehensive Owner's Guide

With the confidence and personality of a dog many times his size, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is one of the world's most beloved toy breeds, continuing to rank as the most popular toy breed in his land of origin, 'that sceptered isle,' England. Author Juliette Cunliffe, a British dog specialist, well describes this charming and elegant purebred dog in this Comprehensive Owner's Guide, beginning with the breed's history and development in the U.K. and tracing the Cav to the U.S., where it has become a favorite choice as a purebred pet. The chapter on characteristics includes a discussion of the breed's physical traits, IQ, health considerations, and personality. New owners will welcome the well-prepared chapter on finding a reputable breeder and selecting a healthy, sound puppy. Chapters on puppy-proofing the home and yard, purchasing the right supplies for the puppy as well as house-training, feeding, and grooming are illustrated with photographs of handsome adults and puppies. In all, there are over 135 full-color photographs in this useful and reliable volume. The author's advice on obedience training will help the reader better mold and train into the most well-mannered dog in the neighborhood. The extensive and lavishly illustrated chapter on healthcare provides up-to-date detailed information on selecting a qualified veterinarian, vaccinations, preventing and dealing with parasites, infectious diseases, and more. Sidebars throughout the text offer helpful hints, covering topics as diverse as historical dogs, breeders, or kennels, toxic plants, first aid, crate training, carsickness, fussy eaters, and parasite control. Fully indexed.

Juliette Cunliffe has owned sight hounds for 30 years. She judges competitions around the world and is a Kennel Club Accredited Trainer of Judges. Shw is the author of many successful dog books and lives in Shropshire, England.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cunliffe, Juliette

Leseproben

The charming Cavalier King Charles Spaniel can trace his ancestors back to the small toy spaniels that are found in many paintings of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Such dogs were favorites of royalty and nobles of the day and because of this many were depicted with their owners and with children, making for some delightful family groups. The first portrait in England that depicts the breed is one of Queen Mary I with her husband, Philip of Spain, accompanied by a pair of small spaniels lying at their feet. It was painted in 1554 by Antonio Moro. Well-respected artists such as Titian, Van Dyck, Stubbs, Gainsborough and Reynolds all showed similar small dogs with flat heads, high-set ears and slightly pointed noses.

The devotion of the Cavalier is legendary as it was a little black and white toy spaniel that hid beneath the skirts of Mary Queen of Scots at her execution in 1587. Even after her death, it would not leave its dead mistress for it was recorded, “Then one of the executioners, pulling off her garters, espied her little dogg which was crept under her clothes which could not be gotten forth but by force, yet afterwards would not depart from the dead corpse, but came and lay between her head and her shoulders…”

Sir Edwin Landseer was the artist of choice for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, for whom he painted a series of portraits depicting court life at Windsor. From 1845, this famous Landseer painting is entitled .

During Tudor times (1485–1603) these small spaniels were highly popular as ladies’ pets and under the House of Stuart (1603–1714) they were actually given the name King Charles Spaniels. King Charles I was accompanied by a small spaniel when he was a fugitive at Carisbrook Castle. After he had been executed, his dog, Rogue, was paraded around the city by a Roundhead, though the fate of the little dog is not known. But it was really thanks to King Charles II that the breed took its name.

A great lover of these dogs, Charles II was almost always seen with some of his small canine friends at his heels. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys made many references to them, showing dismay that the King played all the while with his dogs rather than minding business affairs. The King even decreed that these spaniels were to be allowed in any public place, including the Houses of Parliament.

James II was another king reputed to be fond of the breed, and there is record of him giving orders during a bad sea storm that the men were to “save the dogs! … and the Duke of Monmouth!” One can only wonder if there was any significance in his mentioning the dogs before the Duke! Undoubtedly spaniels of this kind were much in favor in many of the European courts, but although the red and white variety bred at Blenheim Palace retained its popularity, the others seemed to go somewhat out of fashion. This was thanks largely to the accession to the throne of William and Mary, who highly favored Pugs.

SPANISH ORIGINS

Some people believe that all spaniels originated in Spain and that they actually took their name from the word “espagñol,” which means Spanish. It is also believed that the black Truffle Dog may lie behind black and tan colored Cavaliers.

The merry toy spaniels that had scampered about the palaces and had appeared on numerous state occasions were, it might be said, demoted by the House of Orange. The Pugs smugly took their place. Some believe that it was because of the newfound popularity of the Pug that some enthusiasts of King Charles Spaniels decided that a certain change in the breed’s features would perhaps be an improvement.

During the early years of the 19th century, the small spaniel once again rose in the popularity stakes for the Duke of Marlborough used small spaniels as shooting companions. These were a little larger than the Cavaliers known today. In 1820 his dogs were described as “very small or carpet spaniels.” They were red and white, with very long ears, short noses and black eyes. Still today, what is known as the lozenge spot on the head of some Cavalier King Charles Spaniels is highly prized, and there is a delightful story as to how this came about. The Duchess of Marlborough had one of these spaniels as a much-loved pet which kept her company while her husband was away at war. At anxious times she had the habit of pressing her thumb on her dog’s head while awaiting news of her husband. When the bitch produced a litter of puppies the head of each was marked with her thumbprint.

The ever-popular red and white Cavalier, called the Blenheim, received its name from the Blenheim Palace where the dogs were bred.

Hitherto these spaniels had been brown and white, black and white or tricolor. In the past there were black spaniels but they were known as Gredin, although they were very much like today’s black and tans, with tan eyebrows, muzzles, throats and legs, known as “fire-marks.” It was not until the reign of Queen Victoria that ruby-colored spaniels appeared. In her youth, Queen Victoria owned a small spaniel called Dash, a tricolor. So fond was she of Dash that after her Coronation in 1838 she was said to have rushed home to give her dog his usual bath. Dash was a familiar little figure and appeared on many pieces of needlework sewn by Victorian women. The first known painting of a ruby is one in which the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland were pictured walking with such a dog. A gentleman by the name of Mr. Risum is reputed to have owned the first known ruby and this won second prize at the Alexandra Palace Show in 1875.

Once known as Gredin, the black Cavalier of yesterday much resembles the variety we know as Black and Tan.

MALTESE FOUNDER

Although the true origin of today’s Cavalier is not really known, the breed may originally have developed from a red and white spaniel of Malta or Italy, this having been crossed in the 13th century with a type of spaniel from the Far East.

Undoubtedly in the early years both size and type varied within the breed, so it may be surmized that at that time breeding was carried out in something of a haphazard way. However, as the 19th century moved on in Britain, dog showing was starting to become a popular pastime and the breed saw a new fashion emerge. Soon enough the so-called “old type” had begun to disappear: the longer nosed, flat-headed dogs having been replaced by a much shorter faced, dome-headed dog now known as the King Charles Spaniel. In the US, the breed became known as the English Toy Spaniel. It was believed that the Pug may have been used in breeding programs in order to help bring about this significant change. In 1886 the Toy Spaniel Club was founded, but in 1902 the organization changed its name to the King Charles Spaniel Club, even though initially the English Kennel Club was opposed to this change of name. Once again royal interest worked in favor of the breed and Edward VII intervened, subsequent to which the new name was approved.

The ruby colored Cavalier has been known since the late 19th century. It has never been as popular as the other three varieties.

The First World War had a disastrous effect on King Charles Spaniels, as indeed it did on so many breeds of dog. An American gentleman by the name of Roswell Eldridge had been to Britain to search for a pair of these dogs and dearly wanted to re-kindle interest in the breed.

In the Crufts show schedule for 1926, King Charles Spaniel enthusiasts were startled by an announcement that this same Mr. Roswell Eldridge of New York was offering two prizes of £25 each for “Blenheim spaniels of the old type as shown in Charles II’s time: long face, no stop, flat skull not inclined to be domed, with spot in centre of skull.” This was a far cry from the King Charles being shown at that time. Interestingly the suggested models to comply with this stipulation were those shown in Landseer’s painting, despite the fact that these did have a slight indentation between the eyes, known as a stop. Although this was shallow, the request for no stop was probably rather confusing for exhibitors, especially those who had already spent many years actually developing a more “squashed-in” nose, with a more accentuated stop and a domed skull.

To begin with, there were few competitors for the special prizes on offer, but a handful of breeders decided to re-develop the toy spaniels according to Mr. Eldridge’s description. Two years later, in 1928, a special club was formed for this particular type, although there were then still very few of them. The selection of a name caused much heart-searching for breeders did not want to lose the name “King Charles.” Eventually the name “Cavalier King Charles Spaniel” was selected. A standard of points was drawn up for the breed, using Ann’s Son, an early winner of Mr. Eldridge’s prize, as the dog on which the standard was based. In fact it is Ann’s Son and five other dogs that formed the foundation of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel we know today.

However, things could not progress as quickly as may have been wished. There were still only few dogs in number and the English Kennel Club was not prepared to grant the breed separate status, indeed not for the next 17 years! Meanwhile these dogs were known as King Charles Spaniels (old type) and were shown in the same classes as the King Charles.

In 1945 the English Kennel Club thought it right to grant separate...