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Cavaliers a Toy Breed? I Think Not!

StillPooh

Well-known member
My Clancy can't make up his mind if he's a sight hound, a scent hound, or a herding breed. It kinda depends on the day.

And now baby Oliver, not yet 9 weeks old, is stalking his toys, the cat, and Clancy, going down on his belly and sometimes going on point.

Cavaliers should be reclassified as a sporting or hunting breed! :cool:
 
Well....... I think technically they are classified as a toy breed, but I think they descend from sporting/hunting breeds. Just think of other spaniel-types, such as a springer spaniel and they are classified as sporting or gun dogs, so our sweet little cavaliers are not far off the mark!
I have a few good examples of our cavaliers quirkiness: our Bobby stalks, he looks like a cat when he does it. There's this game he and Belle play, they stand on either end of the garden and Belle looks off in the distance, looking very coy and innocent while Bobby stares at her intently. Then he starts moving toward her very slowly. Then Belle does a twirl with a snort and Bobby takes off and pounces on her. It's hilarious. I love it :luv:
Also, when out walking, the two of them keep their noses to the ground as if looking for something (usually minty gum, lol). And if a leaf blows by, they absolutely must chase it! Cavaliers are a versatile breed indeed.:wggle:
 
Sooooo cute!!! And so true

Gracie is definitely a chaser... anything that is blown about by the wind she wants to pursue it. She prefers having a task to do, even if that means keeping an eye on the bugs outside the window
 
Guinness puts most retrievers fetch abilities to shame. It is his passion.

Thistle is a water dog/ bird chaser. She'd love to flush birds- just don't expect her to fetch, that's her brother's job.
 
Thistle is a water dog/ bird chaser. She'd love to flush birds- just don't expect her to fetch, that's her brother's job.
Spring is murder season around here, with Clancy swiftly dispatching any fledgling who leaves the nest before becoming a strong flier. Shortly after Dillon arrived, he took up the job of transporting the corpses to the back door for me. :yikes
 
Just before Christmas, when the weather was very cold and inches of snow was on the ground, Joe shot out into the garden for his pre-dinner pee, but this was the first time he did not rush straight back to eat his dinner. I looked into the garden and saw him definitely tracking something in the snow, as has been said, looking like a cat.

When the others finished eating and went out to toilet, they saw straight away what Joe was tracking. They immediately formed a circle around it, then suddenly Winston Alexander shot like a bullet into the centre and pounced. He brought his plunder onto the sofa to kill and eat it. I could see from the parts outside of his mouth that it was a bird.

Once I stopped screaming with shock I tried to get the carcass away from him. No chance, so I had to leave him to finish with it. All that was left was bone and a few feathers. Poor little thing, I cried for it.

The point of this gruesome tail is that once I thought things over I realised that Cavaliers are descended from the larger spaniels, who were hunters and retrievers. A dog pup in the first litter I ever bred was taken by someone with a gun on a Norfolk shoot. He told me everyone laughed when he turned up with his little pooch, but they stopped when a year later he won the trophy for the most clean retrieves.

A few years ago a Spannish lady was smoothing my dogs. She told me in broken English that Cavaliers are used in Spain to catch birds. At the time I thought she meant retrieve, now I think not.

Meanwhile, it is Winston's fervent hope that one day he will catch one of the many Magpies that infest the tree in the garden. He can but hope, but if he gets lucky I can now accept that he will be expressing his true nature and that there is nothing I can or should do to stop him.
 
I think there is always a certain amount of tension in Cavaliers between the Toy and the Spaniel. I have a friend who trained her Cavalier to pick up with the guns, and I believe that the toy spaniels kept for a couple of hundred years at Blenheim Palace (hence Blenheim for the red-and-white colour) were also used as gundogs. Oliver's nose is constantly on the ground, and in the open he is often clearly following a scent; and he also air scents. He often sits out in our small garden (in a very urban area) in the morning, listening and sniffing to what is going on around - the canine equivalent of reading the morning paper!

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Our two constantly have their noses to the ground, we used to say last year when Ollie was a tiny pup it was nice to have a dog that was looking up and maybe enjoying the scenery, of course all that has changed now he is older, both try to catch birds if they come into the garden. My friends late cavalier used to eat birds, she never thought that he caught them, it was probably something to do with her next door neighbours cat, she used to say it was no wonder the dog had upset stomachs.
 
When the others finished eating and went out to toilet, they saw straight away what Joe was tracking. They immediately formed a circle around it, then suddenly Winston Alexander shot like a bullet into the centre and pounced. He brought his plunder onto the sofa to kill and eat it. I could see from the parts outside of his mouth that it was a bird.

Once I stopped screaming with shock I tried to get the carcass away from him. No chance, so I had to leave him to finish with it. All that was left was bone and a few feathers.
I am now officially grateful that all Clancy does is kill birds! :yikes
 
Years ago, when I first wanted a dog, but my OH was not at all sure, some friends brought a very small Cavalier to a bird-watching event we had organised. She was such a sweetheart, running here, there, and everywhere, with her nose to the ground, in and out of the hedges, but always coming to heel when called. OH made the fatal mistake of saying "Well, if we had a dog like that I wouldn't mind".....and the rest is history.

Funny thing is that the first 4 Cavs I had were not at all "like that" and it was only when we had Poppy in 2007 that we saw a completely different temperament. Now that she and the Shiddy-monster have joined forces in what I can only describe as an "attack team" in our field, we are seeing the kind of behaviour some of you have been describing, and the poor birds have to keep a sharp eye out. The couple of deaths we have had have been very hard to bear for someone whose life's work has been studying (live) birds, and Poppy and Lucy cannot understand why they are now obliged to patrol their bounds in harness, at least until the end of the breeding season.

StudyingparrotbehaviourwithPoppyEMAIL.jpg
 
What great stories about our big hunting dogs!!

Coco is turning out to be quite the star tracker. She loves finding things and I have taken to teaching her to track and it is absolutely so much fun! Coco is starting to weave just like pro tracking hounds and when she finds the target she will sometimes yip with joy and runs around happy and so full of herself. Cutest thing I have ever seen!
 
:lol: LOL@ Marie Anne's picture, their expressions say it all!

l agree, these stories are great! cl*p
 
Chamberlain always has his nose to the ground during walks but he is easily distracted.

Example:

“Scent, scent, scent….oooo a leaf….leaf, leaf, leaf….oooo a rock, rock , rock….oooo a flower…” On and on lol :lol:
 
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