Cavalier King Charles - autism / hayfever

[onedayatatime73]

Hi. We are planning on having a family dog and we’re all very excited.

One of our daughters is autistic and from research this breed seems to be a suitable option (we only want a small dog).

does anyone have experience of how much they affect hayfever which my DH has?

are they noisy dogs?

thank you.

This isn’t true. This would be best suited by the pure breed qualities of a poodle.

I wasn’t meaning to be rude, didn’t know you’ve had dogs before.

I stand by my comment on going to all about dogs shows, finding breeders to discuss requirements to identify the best puppy for your family.

Hay fever is an allergy to pollen - which pollens vary from person to person.

People with allergies may be more likely to develop a dog allergy but on the other hand, anyone can develop an allergy to practically anything at any time. My DM had no allergies until she randomly developed them in her 80s.

I have hay fever, a long list of allergies but thankfully not cats as I have pet cats. However I went from being pony mad to allergic to horses and that was the end of that hobby.

If your DH isn't allergic to dogs now then I don't think him having hayfever should be a barrier to dog ownership. After all, it might not be him that ends up allergic to dogs.

You don't need to bite my head off. I was trying to be helpful. I am also autistic and highly anxious and I have an emotional support dog.

I suffer hayfever and asthma and various allergies. I have a giant breed that is a heavy moulter. During allergy season I can't groom her, my husband has to brush out her undercoat, but aside from that I'm okay with her. I have no experience of Cavaliers.

She mentioned hayfever not an allergy to dogs.
Golden retrievers are also well known for being calm dogs and easy to train. They are often recommend as first time dogs and also regularly used as service dogs.
My girl is petite at 20kg so not all of them are huge.
I have also owned a cavalier King Charles spaniel and have a poochon.
I would never not have a golden in my life now. My girl is the softest and sweetest thing and most definitely doesn’t have any guarding issues. Neither do any of them I’ve met.

Golden's are absolutely not well known for being calm - I would know! 😂

I've been breeding them for over twenty years now and they do, absolutely, have some incredibly difficult inherent issues - including resource guarding, mania and, unfortunately, a tendency to bottle up their stress and then snap. Just because your dog is fine, as I said above, does not mean the breed is fine and without issues. Multiple people in doghouse have had, or have, Goldies with very significant behavioural issues.

Lots of breeders have also stopped selling them to first time owners - at least many of the ones around me. In part due to the increasing behavioural issues we are seeing in the breed.

Are you in the UK or United States?

The UK.

This. Also these types of threads always turn into lots of bossy matter-of-fact replies with disapproving tones but all saying completely different things 🙄

Both myself and my ds have hayfever and never had a problem out of hayfever season with our King Charles Spaniel.

Ignore the holier than thou responses on here, some people are just bloody rude!

I have a cavalier and they are the sweetest most loving breed. I think it will be a great option. They are so good with children.

They are little so cheaper vet and flea treatments, cheaper food and smaller poos to pick up!

She doesn’t bark much unless she sees a large pigeon in the garden, but my friend also has one and barks more.but I think was lack of training when she was little.

overall a lovely breed and me and friends dog are both healthy and happy dogs. Do I think she will live to 16, no, but different dogs have different health problems. And I would rather have the dog that I wanted and give us 10-12 years of happiness than one I wanted less to give me 14-16.

I also had a mutt years ago and loved him to pieces and he died at 10 so there is never a health guarantee with a dog.

Go for it, they are the best! Here is my girl being ‘helpful’ whilst I was decorating and getting paint on her 😂

Hayfever has nothing to do with dogs except when it comes to walking them in allergy season.

Personally I would avoid a cavalier as finding a healthy one is practically impossible these days - they’ve been ruined by overbreeding and puppy farmers.

If you want a small dog I would look at mini poodles, Maltese, mini schnauzers, cairn terriers and yorkies.

Why not think about a mixed breed older dog from a good shelter. If they have a good history of the dog they can tell you all about the temperament, training etc. You might find a suitable "doodle" type that sheds less and may be better for allergies. And you'd be giving a poor ol' mutt a happy home.

Any dog can make hayfever worse because they will carry pollen on their fur from wherever they’ve been. Your husband needs to decide if he’ll accept that before getting a dog. There are far too many stories of people getting rid of a dog due to it, when they knew they had it previously. My partner gets hayfever but wants animals so he takes medication and deals with it. If your husband is not willing to, don’t get a dog.

OP did not bite your head off. You were very rude to her suggesting she should get a cushion instead of a dog.
And then it turns out you don't even have experience of the breed she asked about.

@onedayatatime73 as others upthread have said, Cavaliers are riddled with health problems, it is virtually impossible to find one that doesn't have either mitral valve disease or syringomyelia. Regardless of suitability for autistic kids and allergy sufferers, they really aren't a breed I could recommend to anyone, which is a shame as they are sweet little dogs. I have would spend some time on the KC website looking at the breed pages. You can filter by size, exercise requirements, coat length etc. Build a short list and then look at each breed in more detail, speak to breed societies and find out a bit more about health concerns, temperament etc.

Not hayfever, but I have a mild allergy (itchy skin) to fur so I just take a standard supermarket antihistamine every day. You need to make sure your husband is happy to do something similar.

Agree with rescue as you’ll know the temperament as an adult.

As I say, how important is a dog that is capable of dealing with autism? Good breeders will work with you to use their experience to select the right puppy for you, it will just mean waiting and being patient but it’ll be worth it.

@icantwaitforsummer She is gorgeous and very ‘helpful’ when decorating I’m sure. 😍

@icantwaitforsummer she is very pretty. Gah! Pressed to post too soon! I meant to add, she has a lovely shiny coat as well! 😍

I said nothing about a cushion. That was a completely different poster. So now who is the rude one?
Most people here don't have experience of Cavaliers either, but I do at least have experience of living with autism and allergies.
I shall now bow out and leave all of you "experts" to it.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet didn’t say anything about a cushion - that was @SeaAndStars so you may want to come back and apologise to her.

Agreed.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet agreed with @SeaAndStars that she hadn't been rude. Specifically said it wasn't rude, it was realistic. She agreed that a cushion was a better option.

So you’re not going to apologise then 👍

No, nothing to apologise for. They were both rude. 👍🏻

I said I didn't think it was rude simply because the OP had given almost no information about her level of experience with dogs, or mentioned the age of the child, both of which seemed relevant to asking for advice about choosing a dog.

I did not, however, agree that a cushion was a better option. Please show everybody where I said that.

You are very rude and you are also a liar.

No, C&T wasn't rude.

You, however, were. Also a liar.

Ohhh I cross posted with C&T. Great minds. 😁