Feeling sickened

I was looking for pics of the fluffy Cavalier toys (people toys, not dog toys!!) mentioned on another thread, and ended up on one of the generic sites for selling pups.

...and I'm left wondering how people can be taken in. There's 'Cav' pups there that I could swear are actually English Cockers with Cav style markings - definite Cocker heads, muzzles and ear sets. But the ones that really break my heart are the tiny undersized ones. Like Karlin says, they're not simply miniature - it's obvious that there's something very wrong there, and I hate to think of the health issues that will face the new owners. The head shape is... just not right. I'm almost wondering if someone has managed to cross a Cav and a Chi, cos those head shapes... Just surely, if a prospective Cav owner does ANY research at all, surely they can see that some of these pups just do not look right!

It shows the difference between a Cavalier who happens to be small (both my own pair are very much on the small side of the standard), and one that is deliberately bred as a tiny Cav. Dreadful. It has been a salutary experience looking at the lists, and seeing the terms and they ways the pups are photographed and marketed. I think everyone should do it, actually, though I'm sure most people here already have.

It is sickening isn't it? I have to keep off those sites or all my family would hear is me :swear: most of the pups look scared to death in the pics and you can understand in a way how people are seduced into buying them just to get them out of their current situation!
And that is where the trouble lies really, every time one of those unfortunate pups is homed, the seller then starts yet another breeding cycle with yet another bitch and yet more puppies end up on those sites, a horrendous, vicious downward spiral!

I'd say those ignoramus breeders may well cross in smaller breeds to try toget dogs as small as possible. On the other hand tiny cavaliers are often litter runts and runts are often runts because they have some physical problem. So you are not doing much for a puppy's outlook nor the breed's when you start crossing abnormally small dogs. Needless to say the type of people doing such crosses will not be spending a cent on any other health testing and you can be sure, don't follow the MVD protocol.

The other one that got me was the pics of little bitch puppies all dolled up with tiaras and whatnot. As Cathryn says, they look terrified. And that's so wrong too - they're selling the pups as if they were toys or baby dolls, but they're not, they're living creatures and GRRRR!