I can see why some may be not for outcrossing with another breed or have that opinion. I don't understand if a cavalier is tested clear or of good "health" genes, why would it matter where it came from? Those cavaliers just might be the saving grace or true gems.
Help me understand that please
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Hello Anne,
Cavaliers were recreated in the 1920s by using the flat faced King Charles Spaniels ( known as English Toy Spaniels in USA )
'Charlies' that produced undesirable longer nosed offspring were the founders of the cavaliers.
Along the way it is known for sure that Cocker spaniels were added in and it is suspected that the dog that was used when the breed standard ( the detailed description of what all cavaliers should ideally look like ) was written was half papillon.
So we have a breed created from the rejects of another breed and some genes from other breeds.
Cavaliers are a dog that was created for showing. The incentive to breed a toy spaniel with an obvious nose came from a large ( for the time ) cash prize offered at Crufts by an American disaappointed that there were no longer any spaniels that looked like the small 'comforters' featured in old time paintings.
The desire to breed successful winning cavaliers has led show breeders to consider only show bred cavaliers are of value when breeding programmes are planned.
Show bred spaniels are closely line bred. The top sire at one given time is often the son of a former top sire, but over the years, especially after a cavalier won Crufts back in the 1970s the cavalier also became a popular family pet.
Puppy farmers found it worth while to start selling cavaliers and separate breeding programmes were developed.
These cavaliers, that now have very few recent ancestors in common with show bred cavaliers, may possess different 'good' genes that could help this breed.
If the alternative is to outcross to another breed, I would have thought it was at least worth exploring.
These dogs may come from puppy farm lines, there may be suspicions about some of the puppy farm pedigrees ( but the recent use of DNA testing in the USA has shown that even show breeders pedigrees are not always to be trusted ) but for the purists who do not want a drop of alien blood to spoil their breed, they are still cavaliers.
The crux of the matter is that most show breeders will not want to bring in any fresh blood, whether it is non-show cavalier or a different breed. The results of such breeding may have healthier genes but are not likely to be the show clone they aim for in their breeding.
They do not want to breed unhealthy cavaliers but their priority is to produce dogs that will be shown.The majority of puppies may go as family pets but they are a by-product of their breeding programmes, not the reason that they breed.
Until the KC makes health as important as beauty in the show ring, breeders will drag their feet and this breed will suffer.