A Little History of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel cavalier puppies

A little history... Cavalier King Charles Spaniels ancestors can trace back to the small toy spaniels that are found in many paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.  Done by well respected artists such as Tital, Van Dyck, Stubs, Gainsborough and Reynolds.  Cavaliers were royalty favorites and therefore were in many paintings with their families.  It was King Charles II that Cavaliers got their name from.  He was a true lover of the breed and could almost always be seen with several spaniels at his heels.  When King Charles II died in 1685 at age 54, 12 toy spaniels mourned at the side of his bed.  The Blenheim Cavalier (red and white) got its name from the Blenheim Palace where the dogs were bred.  An interesting story can be told of how the "lozenge spot", on the head of some Blenheim and Tri Cavaliers, came about.  It was from the duchess of Marlborough, whom had a much loved spaniel that kept her company while her husband was at war.  At anxious times she would press her thumb on her spaniels head while waiting news of her husband.  Wen the spaniel had a litter of puppies, on the head of each puppy was marked with her thumbprint.  This thumbprint, or more known as the lozenge spot, is still desirable today in the Blenheim Cavalier.  The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was first recognized in England in 1945, and to this day Cavaliers are the number one toy dogs in England.  In the 1940's the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel began to appear in America, but wasn't well known until 1952 when Mary Forwood sent a black and tan pup as a gift for a friend.  It wasn't until January 1st 1996 that the breed was recognized by the AKC, becoming AKC's 140th recognized breed. cavalier puppies are forever friends.