Today’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are descended from the small Toy Spaniels seen in so many of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century paintings by Titian, Van Dyck, Lely, Stubbs, Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Romney. During Tudor times, Toy Spaniels were quite common as ladies' companion pets, but it was under the Stuarts that they were given the royal title of King Charles Spaniels.
In addition to being a fine companion, one of the jobs the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was originally bred to do was to warm laps in drafty castles and on chilly carriage rides (the other job was to attract fleas & thereby spare their masters in the days of the Plague). While so many other breeds of dog no longer perform the tasks for which they were bred (pulling milk carts, herding sheep, hunting lions, for example), Cavaliers still take their responsibility quite seriously. A prescription written in Olde English for the Queen of England directs her to keep a "comforte dog" (now known as the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) on her lap to treat a cold. It is almost as if the breed's motto is "so many laps, so little time." Cavaliers take cuddling so seriously that "If you want your pillow you must get there first" is often heard when Cavalier owners gather.
According to history, King Charles II (1630-1685) was seldom seen without two or three spaniels at his heels. Because King Charles II was so fond of his little dogs, he wrote a decree that the King Charles Spaniel should be accepted in any public place, even in the Houses of Parliament where animals were not usually allowed. This decree is still in existence today in England. As time went by, and with the coming of the Dutch Court, Toy Spaniels went out of fashion and were replaced in popularity by the Pug. One exception was the strain of red and white Toy Spaniels that was bred at Blenheim Palace by various Dukes of Marlborough.
In the early days, there were no dog shows and no recognized breed standard, so both type and size varied. With little transport available, breeding was carried out in a most haphazard way. By the mid-nineteenth century, England took up dog breeding and dog showing seriously. Many breeds were developed and others altered. This brought a new fashion to the Toy Spaniel - dogs with the completely flat face, undershot jaw, domed skull with long, low set ears and large, round frontal eyes of the modern King Charles Spaniel (known in the United States today as the English Toy Spaniel). As a result of this new fashion, the King Charles Spaniel seen in the early paintings became almost extinct.
In the 1920's an American, Roswell Eldridge, began to search in England for foundation stock for the ToySpaniels that had resembled those in the old paintings. He offered prize money during five years of Cruft's Dog Shows in London, to any person exhibiting King Charles Spaniels with long noses. He was lookingfor dogs similar to those appearing in Van Dyck's paintings of King Charles II and his spaniels. No one among the King Charles breeders took thischallenge very seriously, as they had worked hard for years to do away with the long nose. Gradually, as the big prizes came to an end, only people really interested in reviving the dogs asthey once had been were left to carry on the breeding experiment.
At the end of five years little had been achieved, and the Kennel Club was of the opinion that the dogs werenot in sufficient numbers, nor of a single type, to merit a breed registration separate from the King Charles Spaniels. Finally, in 1928 a dog owned by Miss Mostyn Walker, was awarded the prize. (Unfortunately, RoswellEldridge died in 1928 at age 70, only a month before the Cruft’s Dog Show, sohe never saw the results of his challenge prizes). It was in the same year that a breedclub was founded. The dogs were classified as a separate breed andwere given the prefix Cavalier,to differentiate them from their forebearsand the name Cavalier KingCharles Spaniel was chosen.
At the first meeting of the club, held the second day of Cruft’s in 1928, the standard of the breed was drawn up; it was practically the same as it is today. Miss Walker’s dog was placed on the table as the live example, and club members brought all the picture reproductions of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries they could muster. As this was a new and tremendous opportunity to achieve a really worthwhile breed, it was agreed that as far as possible, the Cavalier should be guarded from fashion, and there was to be no trimming. A perfectly natural dog was desired and was not to be spoiled to suit individual tastes, or as the saying goes, "carved into shape." Kennel Club recognition was still withheld, and progress was slow, but gradually people became aware that the movement toward the "old type" King Charles Spaniel had come to stay. In 1945 the Kennel Club granted separate registration and awarded Challenge Certificates to allow the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to gain their championships. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a delightfully affectionate, playful, intelligent little dog that repays his owner's care and attention with an endearing devotion. They are considered a toy breedand have a natural coat, which needs no trimming, long silky ears, andlarge soulful eyes.
