Cavaliers: A Crap Breed That Will Stay That Way

Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are a crap breed.

The dog is designed for nothing but pretension, has a sad and pathetic history (it was created at Crufts from a breeding pool of one), and is a monument to ill health with more than 80 percent of the dogs having heart defects, and half the dogs dying from these heart problems.

And I have not even gotten to painful Syringomyelia.

As I said in a post a while back:

In my opinion, only a fool or an ignorant would own such a dog.... in a world in which dogs are routinely killed for no other reason than they are no longer puppies, we still have people flocking to Cavalier King Charles Spaniels despite the fact that it is nearly impossible to get a truly health dog. Who are these people, and have they lost their minds?

Have I changed my opinion?

Not a whit.

In fact, I believe it now more than ever thanks to the latest bit of news, which is that the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, USA has decided to reject a simple plan to put the dog back on the slow road to recovery, in order to crank out more puppies in pain and ill health.

As the terrific web site Cavalierhealth.org notes:

Taking a giant step backwards from its May 1998 decision endorsing the MVD [heart valve defect] breeding protocol, the board of directors of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, USA rejected that protocol at its April 2010 meeting. Instead, its board approved a watered down, proven worthless "recommended guideline", calling for the breeding pair to have MVD-murmur-clear hearts at only 24 months.

Yes, weaken the health standards, that's the right idea.

Of course, it's far quicker and less cruel to smash a brick into the head of one of these dogs, or put three or four of them in a sack and toss them into the river to drown.

Next time a Cavalier owner tells you a story of woe about "their breed," ask them what the hell were they thinking?

And remind them of this simple fact: It's never too late to put the dog down and find another healthy breed.

"Here's a brick, here's a sack, here's the phone number of a vet. You know what do to do. Pick one."

The harsh truth is that this is a breed that cannot be saved, and we might as well stop acting as if it can.

• Related Links:
  ** Basketcase: The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
  ** Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are a Mess
  ** Pimping for Pain at Penn Vet School

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