Any advice on cavalier king Charles ?

[two2many]

Hi , we are thinking of getting a cavalier pup in may , just wondering if anyone here might have some experience with this breed ? Are they good around young children etc ? TIA x

Rescue greyhound (didn't suggest due to size!) or rescue/ mongrel of sorts predictable response I know lol

traitor lol now ill never hear the end of mongrels , ha , Shep was a mongrel , half husky & half German Shepard , gorgeous fluffy coat but size of a German Shepard & i just could not Handel him on a lead , he walked me

seashells - thanks i reckon we might go to the local pound on Saturday morning & have a look around , What would you look for in picking a pup ? When we rescued Shep he kind of chose us lol kept following us until i picked him up , he was only 6weeks old & kept tripping over his paws

Not the most dominant, not the shy one in the corner but the one that give best cuddles, looks healthy. Don't fall for the one with the traumatic story or that's been through a number of homes- with a child in the house you can't risk it.

Give them a check over- just that things look normal. As you say, they tend to pick you! Take ds and see how they respnd to him...

... And remember you only want ONE

thanks yep cant trust myself i will want to bring them all home with me breaks my heart to think of them all in cages & lonely . dh wants to get two pups so that they are company for each other , i reckon one pup will be enough of a handful lol . thanks again . i will update this thread & put pictures of the new family member when we get him/her .

ive got 2. both beautiful with fantastic temperaments. never had any health issues at all with either, one from a breeder and one from a rescue but (i did know who the breeder was.) my little man is 8 and my girl is 5.

fabby little dogs. mine are well trained, lovely, never any problems with house training or anything either. i love them to bits.

Ummm, all 3 of your examples screaming eagle do not sound like the type of pet I'd want. Just steroids? Haveyou read the data sheet on steroids, their side effects etc? Is that really ok, really acceptable? And that was with careful research into the breeders? 2 with heart conditions, one so severe it was life shortening, the other ith hearing problems due to a deformed skull? Ummmm...

I would love to see the research for your other claims. So would the pharmaceutical and vet profession, who seem to have missed it.

I'm not knocking behaviour or personality, but reread your post with a subjective eye.

Erm- I'm also a vet, and I have never heard the idea that vaccination puts strain on the heart, tbh. We follow the latest vaccine guidelines for ALL dogs, which means they now only get the leptospirosis vaccine every year and the others every 3rd year. I have cardiology as an interest, and I've neevr heard any of the cardiologists whose lectures I have attended mentioned any risk from vaccination, so I am a bit sceptical about that.

AFAIK the degeneration of the mitral valve is an insidious pre-determined genetic process, and it's rate of progression should not be affected by external factors at all. The problem with rooting MVD out of the breed is that often presenting signs (or even the murmur)don't appear until age 4-5 or later, by which time a bredding dog/ bitch will possibly already have bred. Newer DNA testing for these kind of conditions is looking more promising as a means of trying to breed the condition out. Unfortunately the CKCs is also a very popular breed, which makes it a favourite of unscrupulous breeders and puppy farmers

They are lovely natured dogs, as ageneral rule, but you definitely get more hybrid vigour with a cross-breed.

I have 2 beagles, and they are great with kids but vERY hard to train- don't get one unless you want a good dose of chaos in your life!

Jooly, of course vacc put more physiological pressure on the heart than say, running or swimming, or getting excited for a treat or.... Oh I forgot, it's in dogs today so all your cpd was wasted

I don't see why I bothered getting 2 degrees, should have read dogs today and bred dogs instead

dammit! All those lost hours...

ScreaminEagle- I'm not trying to be argumentative or dismissive, it's just that vets come up against a lot of "facts" from breeders, generally things that are apparently unique to their breed, and I have to say I take a lot of it with a pinch of salt, as there are rarely (if ever) proper studies done to back them up. The fact is that anyone can set themselves up as a breeder. After they have bred dogs (well or badly) for any period of time they then consider themselves "experts". as for the vet backing them up, well, sorry if it sounds cynical, but a blood test for immunity will generate more money for the practice than a routine vaccination, and some vets do like to keep their local breeders sweet, so will agree with them and do exactly what they want.

sadly all the "Expert" breeders out there have led us to the sad sad situation we have with many breeds of pedigree dogs today, with their many many genetic problems and deformities. If ever vets have tried to speak out about the policies etc employed by the KC they round on us, tell us they know best and publish an article in Dogs Today. Lot of love lost between vets and breeders, I'm afraid. Shame, as we should really be working together to protect the future health of pedigree dogs.

I'm not having a go at you, just at breeders who give people this type of information based on nothing more than "in their experience" Sorry if it sounded like I was being arsey

Well, we do change our vaccine protocol every time a good, peer-reviewed study proves that it is right to do so- we have changed it twice in the last 5 years. I doubt most of clients would be prepared to pay the extra for the blood test, tbh, and then pay for the vaccine on top of that. I can honestly say in 15 years of practice I have only seen a handful of very minor vaccination reactions in dogs. But I HAVE seen at least 20 deaths from parvovirus, nd it is a horrible death

there WAS a study done on nosodes (the homeopathic form of vaccination) in America a couple of years ago- none of the vaccinated dogs exposed to parvo developed the disease, and almost ALL the nosode-vaccinated dogs did. The experiment has never been repeated as it was considered too inhumane given the evidence already garnered. It's possible your mum's breeder's dogs were fortunate that they never encountered a parvo challenge. I'm relieved your parents investigated it further- they sound very responsible in that department

ScreamingEagle- that's very sad

I cried watching that panorama programme, especially as the Kennel Club have been sweeping these things under the carpet for so long. I have log railed against irresponsible breeding (eg bulldogs) but vets really don't have much influence at all historically with the KC. look at tail-docking: vets were banned from doing it by the RCVS years ago, with a few exceptions. Had the kennel club supportied the ban and made it a rule that dogs born after the ban could NOT be shown without a tail, the breeders would have moaned, but would have had to swallow it. As it is, it is virtually unheard of for an undocked dog of a traditionally docked breed to be placed at a show, and so breeders continue to dock- by using retired vets, quacks or even DIY it with a pair of nail-clippers (I kid you not)Now I'm not trying to start a big debate about tail- docking (I do think there are other more pressing cruelty issues in the doggy world, truth be told), but it goes to show how little regard the KC has for veterinary advice/ input. Of course, since the pedigree dogs show was aired, it's now all vets fault for "facilitating" breeding- by that I'm assuming they mean doing a C-section on a bulldog or it's like, who is full of puppies that she can't have naturally. As a vet, we could not just let that bitch die, so apparently we are as much to blame as the people who set out to get her pregnant in the first place

Sorry- will get off soapbox now!

Yeah, still legal for genuine working dogs (very few of which are going to be pitching up at crufts!)

The poor bulldogs have been bred almost literally to death. As you say, short muzzles AND stenotic nares (narrowed nostrils) AND hypoplastic tracheas (narrowed main airway) AND over-elongated soft palate. it's a miracle they can breathe at all! Attended a lecture once on respiratory surgery and was to see the extensive surgery many of these guys require in order to breathe easily- that's pretty unacceptable to me. I'm glad there are some responsible breeders out there, but at £1000+ for a pup, many just crack on with it, with pound signs in their eyes!