Once the favorite breed of King Charles II
of England, the small sporting spaniel was
first dubbed the King Charles Spaniel. Then
oriental breeds came into fashion and
breeders began crossbreeding the spaniels to
achieve a more snub-nosed, round-headed
look. In 1926, a wealthy American visited
England in search of the small spaniels so
often seen in portraits of King Charles. But
there were none. So he offered monetary
prizes to be awarded at the famed Crufts Dog
Show for the male and female most closely
resembling the original King Charles
Spaniel. British breeders rose to the
occasion and by 1945, the recreated breed
had arrived. To avoid confusion with the
now-snub-nosed King Charles Spaniels, the
breed was named the Cavalier King Charles
Spaniel since Charles was known as the
Cavalier King.
The Cavalier breed was developed by
selective breeding of long-snouted King
Charles Spaniels (also known as English Toy
Spaniels). The development of the Cavalier
King Charles Spaniel was partly due to a
desire to produce a long-nosed toy spaniel,
as are seen in the paintings of the great
masters. Long-snouted toy spaniels no longer
existed at the beginning of the 20th
century, due to crosses between long-snouted
toy spaniels and short-snouted breeds such
as the Pug or Japanese Chin in the 18th-19th
century.
