Guide to buying a cavalier puppy

[Karlin]

Buying a cavalier puppy

Aim for a healthy puppy. Cavaliers unfortunately have several major genetic breed health issues. Reputable, health focused breeders will welcome, not avoid, a lengthy discussion of their lines and breeding practice, and be proud to be able to show health clearances, pedigrees with verified ages, and openly discuss potential problems they have had in the past and how they have worked to address them. If a breeder becomes irritable or evasive when asked, that's a major red flag. Walk away.

What can I do to help cavaliers?
You purchase of a pet puppy is what enables breeders to go on breeding and supports their hobby of showing and breeding dogs. Very few breeders can continue without your support. For the responsible, health focused breeder who is doing the testing that helps a sound breeding programme to emerge and continue, the financial support they get from their puppy buyers is essential. Choose your breeder wisely, to support a healthy future for the breed.

How do I find a good breeder?
Take your time. Start with the puppy contact in your regional or national CKCS breed club and be very cautious about online sellers, especially if they do not show their dogs (which means they put their dogs forward for public scrutiny). Seek out advice from people who have cavaliers, and don't just check websites for statements about testing, or accept a breeder's assurances that they 'test' (this often means 'my vet checks over my dogs once a year' -- NOT good enough!). Look for proof: cardiologist certificates for hearts, MRI grades for syringomyelia, eye tests, hip scores, DNA testing for conditions such as episodic falling syndrome. And check dates of birth for breeding dogs (they should be at least 2.5 years).

Here are some basic guides to read before starting your breeder search:

• start with this primer from our friends at Cavalier Matters on the main health issues in the breed
• next, learn about finding a good breeder of cavaliers

The two key issues you will want to ask about is the breeder's approach to MVD (mitral valve disease) and SM (syringomyelia), but there are several other conditions, many of them preventable through proper testing and breeding choices.

MVD
In a nutshell:

• you want parents to each be at least 2.5 years old, and heart clear (no murmurs as verified by a cardiologist, NOT a vet)
• you want grandparents to be at least 5 and also cardiologist heart cleared up to age 5, and ideally beyond

How do you do this?

• you can learn about MVD and see what an actual cardiologist cert looks like HERE
• you can verify ages by seeing the dog's registration papers or, if you have the name of the parents, often can find them and their birthdates yourself in one of the online pedigree databases
• you can check some dogs' breeding coefficients (COIs). This tells you how inbred the dog is. Generally you want the least amount of inbreeding and the LOWEST coefficient. Unfortunately, research indicates the 'official' national breed club COIs can be way off when compared with genetic testing, which has shown that COIs may be many multiples higher than the club statistics.
• you can check at what age the breeder breeds their dogs more generally by using the online databases to look at 'reverse pedigrees' for any breeder's dog. This shows their offspring. Subtract 8 weeks from a dog's birthdate to find when the parents were bred, and check that against their ages.

SM
In a nutshell:

• a breeder should be open about answering questions on SM
• as with MVD and murmurs, simply having asymptomatic dogs doesn't reveal whether they have SM. They must be MRId (learn how to understand a cavalier MRI HERE
• if the breeder doesn't MRI, they cannot know the status of their breeding dogs
• if they MRI, they should have grading certs and you can ask to see these.

How do you do this?

• be sure you understand what is known about SM and the breeding guidelines, and about what grading certs look like. Understand that some dogs with syrinxes (SM) can be bred under these recommendations (otherwise genetic diversity will be further lost, and new problems intorduced). Also understand that the genes for SM are believed to now be in every line and that 85-90% of CKCS have the skull malformation. No clear lines have been found yet. The issue is not whether a breeder has produced SM offspring, as many very good breeders have, but what they did about it. Responsible breeders do NOT continue to breed dogs that are producing SM puppies.
• avoid breeders who argue that SM is a 'crap shoot'. Under older SM terminology, while an AxA mating can always produce a puppy with SM (this is high school genetics) the fact is there is strong evidence that while AxA matings rarely produce SM offspring and produces the highest number of A offspring, matings between D, E and F dogs have produced NO A offspring so far and MOSTLY D and F offspring.

Things to be wary of:

• breeders who claim that their skull shapes mean less chance of SM. There is now good evidence that skull shapes and to some degree, nose length, are implicated in SM incidence in a given dog. But head shapes are actually difficult for non-experts to see correctly (as some studies have shown, breeders and show judges are not adept at this at all!). Also, beware anyone claiming head shape alone as the sole basis of their breeding programme. Unless they have MRId their cavalier they have no idea whether the dog has SM or the malformation simply looking at the outward shape. All cavaliers have a steep downslope at the back of the skull and looking at the outside of a skull is not an adequate way to determine internal measurements -- even neurologist researchers have had a very hard time taking internal measurements. A dog's colouring can make a skull appear wider, narrower, steeper or shorter. If a breeder is working on skull shape in cavalier lines in conjunction with an active MRI programme and many years of breeding experience with show grade cavaliers, that is a different issue -- discuss the breeder's theories with them to see if you prefer this approach
• breeders who say MRIs make no difference. Right now they are the only adequate diagnostic tool for SM. No health-focused breeder would mate two cavaliers with heart murmurs simply because they are not affecting the dog, but this happens regularly right now with SM because breeders have no idea of their dogs' status.
• breeders who are breeding cavalier crosses as a 'healthier option'. There is some evidence that first generation crosses are somewhat healthier -- but the overall breed line health of parents is at least as important as whether a dog is a first generation cross. Any genetic problem from either side can be passed to the offspring. Using crossbreeding to achieve any gain in health is complex, takes many careful generations and is not to be taken lightly. Rescue a crossbreed, and save a life, if a cross is what you want !
• breeders who say they 'test' but cannot show you the actual certificates you wish to see. As casual breeders become more aware of what tests should be done in cavaliers, they make vague references on their websites to dupe buyers they trust not to ask for proof. Ask!
• starting to think that just getting any old cavalier puppy is suitable since 'all breeders are causing problems in the breed'. This attitude will ensure suffering and the decline of the breed to serious health problems; at worst you also will be supporting the hell of puppy farm/mill breeding. Take the time to find that health focused breeder. They are out there. They are often the smaller, club-registered breeders.

There usually isn't going to be the instant gratification of an immediately available puppy. But remember: a dog will live with you for at least a decade. They are costly to care for even before you have to deal with any potential health issues. As with any valuable purchase you care about, put your work in BEFORE to best ensure happiness AFTER.

There's also lots of information on the Dog Breeding Reform Group website: http://www.cavaliercampaign.com/buying-puppy.htm