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Cavalier size

Christin1994

Active member
Good morning all, I just wanted to ask a hypothetical question( I've already asked. Mrs. Karlin this,and yes I'm a teen raised to have respect for her elders) If a cavalier is over a year old ,is shorter (from neck to base of tail) than most cavaliers ( to the point where people think you just brought it home) and still looks like a young puppy (but weighs say,9 or 10 lbs, of just muscle), is this cause for alarm? Also, I have two other less important questions. First, when do cavaliers stop growing length wise and putting on weight...can this take up to three years in some cavaliers? Second, why doesn't the breed standard include the length from neck to tail? Thank You.:eek:



Sent form my Samsung Doubletime using Taptalk

Sent form my Samsung Doubletime using Taptalk
 
First breed standard is just a guideline for show rings. If you are not looking to show, any cavalier within around the standard size would not cause me alarm. Fletcher is on the bigger side of standard but still within....just like every person every cavalier is different sizes. Fletcher weights a perfect for him 19 lbs and he pretty much stopped growing around 10-12 months. Fletcher will be 2 years old on Feb 16 now he just gets flufflier.
 
Cavalier size varies widely, as I'm sure you know already.
As for when they stop growing, Luke did continue to grow after he was a year old. He was 13.5 lbs at one year. He honestly may have stopped growing at that point, if he had not gotten involved in sports. After I started doing Flyball with him, he gained another pound, I think at around 2.5-3 years old. I'm not sure if he gained anything in height or length, but he just sort of filled out a bit more between 1-3 years old. At a year, Luke was on the scrawny side, and looked like he was younger. He's 5 today, and he no longer looks scrawny. He's just on the smaller side of most cavaliers.
 
I've known of cavaliers up at the 40lb mark! It's said that some early breeders may have used larger spaniels in re-establishing the breed, and perhaps that explains why you can get some very big cavaliers (rare, but I've known of a few now that were a healthy weight at that size, and that really is the main guideline-- weight should be appropriate to size and build). :)

I've spoken to quite a few show breeders as well who feel the breed standard is on the small side for a good healthy male of a type they'd wish to use at stud, and many seem to tip the scales into the low 20s. It wouldn't seem judges are overly bothered by the weight element within a few pounds on the larger side if the dog is nicely balanced.

Some researchers into cavalier genetic disease feel a slightly larger dog with a longer nose than is currently the fashion would be a healthier dog, so that's perhaps something that may come to play longer term for this breed.
 
We haven't had Bentley weighed in a few months but at that time he was 26 lbs. I do believe he's gained some this winter and, no wonder! It has been bitterly cold, snowy & icy, much of the time and we're too old to venture out in it. He does run around in the backyard more than usual because he enjoys the cold & snow but his walks have decreased considerably. I believe his nose is longer than most, as well.
 
We haven't had Bentley weighed in a few months but at that time he was 26 lbs.

Bosco is a 26 pounder as well! It is tough getting them out alot this winter -- I hate the freezing cold and slipping on the the ice worries me. He was just at vet though, and weight remains the same. Bentley looks very "slim" in your picture!
 
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