Cavalier King Charles vs Shih Tzu

[FinallyFreeFromItAll]

Cavalier King Charles vs Shih Tzu.
I want a puppy that will ultimately be:
A) good natured with my DC - 1yr and 4yrs old
B) a proper lap dog for me - so small and affectionate.
C) not too hard to train - I've not owned a dog before.
D) not need loads of walking (KC says both of these breeds need up to an hour a day - so that's fine)

Everything I read says Cavs are brilliant for all of the above. However they obviously shed which is a downside I could live with.

On the other hand Shih Tzus don't moult (bonus) but opinion seems really divided on whether they'd meet my other wants.

So anyone who owns/owned these breeds have any opinions for me?

BTW - For both breeds, I have found 2 KC Assured Breeders, who I am happy with. The Cavalier ones have had the parents heart, eye and DNA tested and have 4 generations of their cavaliers at home.

I will also be following the puppy socialisation plan and enrolling into puppy classes as soon as pup is covered by vaccinations.

The head tilt is due to his perennially confused expression. He's a bit of a blonde bimbo, bless him!

We have a shih tzu x Lhasa also and he's a sweetheart. He was fine to toilet train but so far is proving impossible to train in other ways. He barks a lot, and is a bit snappy with big dogs (we're working on it) but is a total teddy bear with the kids. He came
To is when our littlest was one and he has been accidentally hit, grabbed and manhandled by her, all without fuss. I'm not a dog person at all but he's won us over with his little ways.

Well, his difficult ways must come from his Lhasa side I wasn't even this biased with my own human kids

Lol. Who knows. He's not too bad though. Just means that you can't let him off the lead and he flat out refuses to sit, stay or anything in that area. But he does love to sit with his head on you, even if it's just your foot. He has to be touching you.

Shihtzus all the way they are so loving and funny, I have three the only downside is that they are a bastard to housetrain, took about a year for the boy and 9 months for the girl.

This one is Steve

I had 3x ship tzus and I do think they're lovely dogs. Small, very good natured, none of mine ever snapped even when dd was a toddler. Very good family dogs. Affectionate, lazy, happy snoozing on the sofa, happy to miss a walk if it's raining all day. They all had minor/mid heart murmurs in middle aged that by the age of 7-9 required frusimide. But all lived to 11-14yo. Main downside I can think of is requires a lot of grooming. If you get one my advice is t buy clippers and learn to clip and do the dog yourself and keep short.

I currently have a CKCS x bichon. Who again would tick all boxes. Doesn't shed.

Next door have CKCS, dunno what health tests the parents had but the dogs are healthy.

I've come back to a cute overload! Pics are so gorgeous. Squee.

Right so this morning I decided to go and visit a breeder of Cavalier King Charles, just to make sure I liked him in person (had spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago). He was one of the assured breeders I'd found and has 4 generations of adults plus current puppy generation at home. He heart, eye and DNA checks all his dogs and bitches. Most have also had MRI checks too. Anyway I digress I've come away having reserved a puppy!!! I'm so excited. Pup was too young to be properly seen (days old so we had a peak in the room) but I really liked breeder and met many of his other dogs - all so sweet. He said he prefers to match pups personality to the right home so we don't pick which individual, he does. We are going back in 4.5weeks to see the puppies properly. Did I mention I'm excited!

That's wonderful news, and I hope your pup has a long, healthy and happy life x

Yay! Team CKC wins

I graciously admit defeat! CKCs do seem like adorable dogs and let's face it, nothing on this earth can take so long to toilet train as a Shih Tzu!

I still felt torn on the Shih tzu. In fact I'm keeping the details of the breeder I liked most for Shih Tzus so that if 4-5yrs or so down the I decide I want a second dog I'll get a Shih Tzu too.

Haven't read thread but I had both growing up, both lovely family pets, cuddly and affectionate. Hands down if you were limiting yourself to two choices it would be the spaniel, no cons except CHF which she died from at 13, the other was a bugger to groom even though kept short and was impervious to training. I recently a new pup and was dead set on a King Charles but thought actually the high chance of heart problems put me off....went with a different type of spaniel and she's a dream

Good idea to get the Shih Tzu second. I may have neglected to mention that they often suffer from separation anxiety , so another dog as company is probably a pretty optimal set-up.