What were Cavalier King Charles Spaniels bred for?

Part 1

The short answer: companionship in royal laps

These small spaniels took on the roles of companion, lap warmer, and foot warmer. Under the Tudors they were popular pets for ladies, and the Stuarts later gave them the royal title of King Charles Spaniel. Red and white spaniels bred at Blenheim Palace were also used for hunting by the Duke of Marlborough. Your dog's ancestors, though, were valued mainly for being close and comforting rather than for finding game.

Part 2

From hunting spaniels to lapdogs: the split in purpose

During the early eighteenth century, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, kept red and white King Charles type spaniels that could keep up with a trotting horse while hunting. Because of this, the red and white variety became known as the Blenheim. Some litters produced both toy-like lapdogs and sturdier dogs still taken into the field to flush woodcock. King Charles II helped fix the companionable role at court: he was rarely seen without two or three spaniels at his heels, and he even decreed that the King Charles Spaniel could go anywhere in public, including the Houses of Parliament. If your dog could trace its own family tree, it would likely land somewhere in this royal household rather than a hunting kennel.

Part 3

Why the flat-faced 'King Charles Spaniel' emerged

After Charles II died in 1685, his spaniels' descendants began to change in looks, and by the 1800s the change was dramatic. A fashion for flat-faced Asian breeds such as the Pug and the Japanese Chin created a taste for shorter muzzles and domed skulls, and breeders crossed these traits into the toy spaniels. The result was a smaller dog with a dome-shaped head, low-set ears, and a short, pushed-up nose, later known as the King Charles Spaniel or English Toy Spaniel. The longer-muzzled dogs seen in earlier court paintings all but disappeared.

Part 4

The 20th-century revival of the older type

In 1926, an American named Roswell Eldridge offered a cash prize at the Crufts dog show for spaniels that matched the long-faced, flat-skulled type shown in paintings from Charles II's time. British breeders had spent years breeding away from that look, so the response was slow, and some breeders mocked the contest. In 1928, a dog named Ann's Son won the prize and became the model for a new breed standard, and that same year a group of breeders founded a club for the reborn type, adding the word Cavalier to the name so people would not confuse it with the shorter-faced King Charles Spaniel. The Kennel Club in Britain recognized the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel as its own breed in 1945. The American Kennel Club followed decades later, admitting the Cavalier as its 140th recognized breed in 1996.

1. 1660: Charles II is crowned king and keeps toy spaniels close at court.
2. 1926: Roswell Eldridge offers a prize at Crufts for the older, long-faced type of spaniel.
3. 1928: Breeders found the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club and set the first breed standard.
4. 1945: The Kennel Club in Britain recognizes the Cavalier as a separate breed.
5. 1996: The American Kennel Club recognizes the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel as its 140th breed.

Part 5

What the breed's original purpose means for owners today

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is described as combining a toy dog's gentle attentiveness with some of the spirit of a sporting spaniel. Adults typically weigh between about 12 and 18 pounds and stand around 12 to 13 inches tall. Knowing that your dog was shaped for companionship, rather than for retrieving or flushing game, can help you set fair expectations for how it behaves day to day.