The fact that I already had (at the time, two) cats was actually the main influence on my decision to get a cavalier. The cats were here first and I didn't want to stress them out with a breed prone to chasing cats especially as the cats are indoor cats! I spent a long time researching various breeds and thinking about a mix from a rescue group.
I grew up with a giant breed (Great Pyrenees) and would love one again, but that was not possible in my house with no garden! So I was looking at small breeds, which I really knew nothing about at all. I didn't want a yappy small dog nor one that is mostly an inactive house dog. I also ended up deciding that getting a purebred was better for predictability of behaviour with cats as well as adult size, barking and so on. My mother had met someone on a train trip in Mexico who had pics of her cavaliers in her wallet so actually it was my mother who first told me about this breed I'd never heard of -- even though they are so popular in Ireland and the UK. I read up on them and other possible breeds in a couple of dog encyclopedias and on the web and weighed and weighed what to do. My mother really liked how they looked so she was voting for a cavalier once I narrowed down a shortlist of breeds. No one I knew had one.
Once I started researching cavaliers, MVD really worried me though and hence I started reading a lot about health issues and quickly discovered the added problems with puppy farm and backyard bred cavaliers and also discovered that Irish cavaliers had a terrible reputation as so many are imported into other countries from puppy farms or BYBs here. It was a real eye opener, the more I read and researched... and the things I began to discover about Irish cavaliers as I looked for a breeder, became the basis of the first puppy farm piece I wrote for the Irish Times
http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=366
and also the basis of a submission to the government's working group on puppy farms.
I really fell for the breed once I had a cavalier. Jaspar was everything I ever wanted in a dog (a lap dog ready for a 3 mile hike, a swim, or agility) and also of course was great with the cats -- and that led me to get Leo and now Lily. And at the same time, I couldn't believe how people could exploit this lovely breed and was horrified at the knock-on health problems due to casual breeding.
I never ever expected to soon after, be so involved online and offline with cavaliers...
I'd still like to get a pyrenees eventually but that will involve a larger house and a garden at some later point in my life. Between cats and cavaliers I have plenty to manage. :lol: I can't imagine ever not having a cavalier now.
I grew up with a giant breed (Great Pyrenees) and would love one again, but that was not possible in my house with no garden! So I was looking at small breeds, which I really knew nothing about at all. I didn't want a yappy small dog nor one that is mostly an inactive house dog. I also ended up deciding that getting a purebred was better for predictability of behaviour with cats as well as adult size, barking and so on. My mother had met someone on a train trip in Mexico who had pics of her cavaliers in her wallet so actually it was my mother who first told me about this breed I'd never heard of -- even though they are so popular in Ireland and the UK. I read up on them and other possible breeds in a couple of dog encyclopedias and on the web and weighed and weighed what to do. My mother really liked how they looked so she was voting for a cavalier once I narrowed down a shortlist of breeds. No one I knew had one.
Once I started researching cavaliers, MVD really worried me though and hence I started reading a lot about health issues and quickly discovered the added problems with puppy farm and backyard bred cavaliers and also discovered that Irish cavaliers had a terrible reputation as so many are imported into other countries from puppy farms or BYBs here. It was a real eye opener, the more I read and researched... and the things I began to discover about Irish cavaliers as I looked for a breeder, became the basis of the first puppy farm piece I wrote for the Irish Times
http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=366
and also the basis of a submission to the government's working group on puppy farms.
I really fell for the breed once I had a cavalier. Jaspar was everything I ever wanted in a dog (a lap dog ready for a 3 mile hike, a swim, or agility) and also of course was great with the cats -- and that led me to get Leo and now Lily. And at the same time, I couldn't believe how people could exploit this lovely breed and was horrified at the knock-on health problems due to casual breeding.
I never ever expected to soon after, be so involved online and offline with cavaliers...
I'd still like to get a pyrenees eventually but that will involve a larger house and a garden at some later point in my life. Between cats and cavaliers I have plenty to manage. :lol: I can't imagine ever not having a cavalier now.