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Cavalier King Charles Spaniel:

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a small breed of dog of Spaniel type, usually considered one of the toy dog breeds,The Cavalier is quite intelligent and easy to train. For example they seem to be able to learn (and remember) tricks (lay down, roll over, shake, etc.) within a day or two. They can be easily trained to do other things with a good treat

Appearance:
The Cavalier is perhaps one of the largest toy breed: though historically a lap dog, modern day fully-grown adults tend to fill a lap,It is nonetheless quite small for a spaniel, Breed standards call for a height between (12–15inches) with a proportionate weight between (10 and 18 lb). Unlike most other spaniels, the Cavalier has a full-length tail, well-feathered with long hair which is not docked, which is typically carried aloft when walking. The Cavalier's head is nearly flat between the ears and has a well defined nose, its eyes are large and round and this gives the dog its characteristic endearing look. Its neck is strong and is slightly arched and its ears are long and drooping and have plenty of feathering. The body of the Cavalier is small but well balanced, this dog moves with a somewhat elegant and royal gait.

History:
For many centuries, small breeds of spaniels have been popular in the United Kingdom. Some centuries later, Toy Spaniels became popular as pets, especially as pets of the royal family. In fact, the King Charles Spaniel was so named because a Blenheim-coated spaniel was the children's pet in the household of Charles I. Such spaniels can be seen in many paintings of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. These early spaniels had longer, pointier snouts and thinner-boned limbs than today's, the toy spaniels were replaced in popularity by short-snouted, dome-headed dogs of Asian descent, such as the Pug and Japanese Chin. The King Charles Spaniel was bred with these dogs, resulting in the similar-shaped head of today's English Toy Spaniel breed. The King Charles Spaniel remained popular at Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough, where the brown and white version was the most popular - resulting in the name Blenheim for that color combination.

In the 1920s, an American named Roswell Eldrige offered twenty-five pounds as a prize for any King Charles Spaniel "of the old-fashioned type" with a longer nose, flat skull, and a lozenge (spot) in the middle of the crown of the head, called "the Blenheim Spot,Kissing Spot". So, the breed was developed by selective breeding of short-snouted Spaniels. The result was a dog that resembled the boyhood pet of Charles II of England ("Cavalier King Charles"), hence the name of the breed.

Color:
Blenheim (rich chestnut on pearly white background)
Tricolor (black and white with tan markings on cheeks, inside ears, on eyebrows, inside legs, and on underside of tail)
Black and Tan (black with tan markings)
Ruby (rich reddish-brown all over)
Parti-colors are the colours that include white: Blenheim and Tricolour. Whole-colors have no white: Black and Tan, and Ruby. The Blenheim is the most common color.

Coat:
The breed naturally grows a substantial silky coat of moderate length. In adulthood, Cavaliers grow lengthy feathering on their ears, chest, legs, feet and tail; with the feathering on the feet cited as a particularly important feature of the breed.

A Cavalier's coat may be beautiful, but, because it can be long, it is very important to keep it well groomed.Regular brushing is recommended to ensure that the coat does not get matted and that foreign objects, such as grass and sticks, do not become entangled in the feathering. It also should not be bathed more than twice a month otherwise it may cause skin irritation. Fur on the feet and on the hind legs should be trimmed regularly. In hot climates, the ears should be thinned.

Personality
The extremely social nature of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel means that they love companionship from humans or other dogs, able but do not like spending long periods of time on their own. This breed is one of the friendliest of the toy group. It is important for Cavaliers to have a hand-reared puppyhood to ensure security and friendliness. When they greet somebody they tend to lick them on the hand. They connect with their owners almost immediately, but are a little delayed with strangers.

Some Cavaliers have been known to exhibit traits in common with cats, such as perching in high places (the tops of couches, the highest pillow, etc), cleaning their own paws and can also show some birding qualities. Cavaliers have been seen to catch small birds in mid-flight that are flying too close to the ground. Such behavior is a result of their earlier use as a hunting dog, and as such, they can develop habits that predispose them to chase small animals such as chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, birds etc.