I thought it was unacceptable to cut any hair on a show Cavalier at all (other than the bottoms of their feet). Why would that show breeder cut her ears off all the time? Wouldn't that be admitting to breaking the rules? And woudn't ultra-long ears be a plus in the show ring? Seems weird.
I love Daisy's long hair and would never, ever have any length cut off anywhere. I literally had trouble sleeping the night before the one time I took her for a bath and spot-trim (bottom of feet and a clean up of the sanitary area), for fear they would cut her hair or feathers at all. I was so serious and so specific with the groomer that she definitely got the point and only trimmed those areas and nowhere else.
The only reason I brought her to be groomed in the first place was to see if a pro would get her shinier, softer or fluffier than I did after a bath. She really looked just like she does when I do her, so I won't bring her to a groomer again unless I'm in a big time crunch before taking her on a trip or something. Plus it was $48!!!! Yikes.
Not being required to have a dog professionally groomed was one benefit I thought about with having a Cavalier in the first place. I grew up with toy poodles who were groomed every 6 weeks, and I always felt bad bringing them in and trusting the groomer to be kind. You could tell they hated being brought in to the groomer's, so that really bothered me. Plus, every once in a while, the job would be botched and they would look absolutely terrible for 2 months. FeFe, our last poodle, had a trim job like that a couple of weeks before she died, and it always bothered me that her last days on this earth were spent looking like that. It was bad enough losing a beautiful dog who was my best friend for the past 13 years, but to see her looking like that was like adding insult to injury. She was extremely beautiful, with the best poodle coat you have ever seen. She could have been a show dog, at least coat-wise ( I don't know too much about the poodle conformation standard). Those idiots that groomed her last shaved her straight down her legs and didn't leave any sort of length around her ankles. It was pitiful. I know that when I see her again, she will have her beautiful coat again, but still, it hurt me. Sorry, I think I have to go and get a Kleenex -- sorry to get off topic.