Close your eyes and conjure up a mental picture of what you
consider to be the perfect Cavalier. Envision the dog's profile. Do
you see a toy spaniel built like a sporting dog with a level,
straight topline? Does it have enough muzzle to differentiate it
from the English Toy Spaniel? Does it have a lushly plumed,
ever-wagging tail? Hopefully, you are nodding in agreement.
What sort of coat do you envision on the dog? I see long, silky
ears that are not bobbed or sprayed into silly bell-bottomed balloon
shapes. I see a lovely bib of coat on the dog's forechest, and that
beautiful tail. I see a very moderate amount of furnishings on the
legs and underline, and proper toe feathering. I see a natural
blanket of silky, flat-lying coat on the neck and upper body, and
shorter silky hair on the front of the legs. In envisioning the
ideal Cavalier - keeping in mind that the picture you see should be
your goal in breeding - what kind of coat do you see?
This mental exercise was prompted by the number of recent puppy
and stud service inquiries that expressed desire for coat, coat and
more coat. This is dangerous ground for a breed such as ours. Like
it or not, the Cavalier is historically, purposefully, and by its
written standard, an untrimmed breed.
Some years ago, a well-known dog breeder who was also an artist
drew a series of sketches depicting what one popular breed might
look like in following decades if a then-current trend of "the
hairier and more exaggerated, the better" continued. The last
drawing showed a too-thick-backed, too-small dog, propped up in the
middle of a ridiculously trimmed, haystacked coat. This caricature
presented a sad commentary on the phrase "Be careful what you wish
for."
At our breed's infancy in AKC competition, must the Cavalier
experience a similar trend ? If we, as breeders, ignore the
standard, then we have no right to expect more from judges. What we
present to them will influence their mental picture of the ideal
Cavalier.
The next time we evaluate puppies or potential breeding stock,
suppose we select for excellent hindquarters, eyes or temperament,
rather than for amount of coat? The Brittany standard goes so far as
to state that given a choice for more or less coat, it is better to
err on the side of less. We might be wise to follow this example, at
least for a while.
If we are going to be sticklers about natural presentation, we
must then strive to produce dogs that lend themselves to such. Many
a fluffball pup of 8 weeks has been shown to me with its owner
proudly proclaiming, "Look at all this coat!" (My answer to such a
remark usually is "We can only hope it will all shed out when he
blows his puppy coat.")
As has been evidenced in other breeds that have weathered fads
for excess coat, coat texture changes with increased abundance.
Coats that should be silky are cottony or woolly when overly
profuse. Such coats easily mat and collect dirt and stains, and are
difficult to maintain on a pet Cavalier, let alone a show dog. Coat
color differs as well when coat is overabundant: Blenheims are more
orange, and the black coloring on tris and black and tans loses its
luster and becomes rusty looking. The white hairs of over-coated
dogs lose the ability to reflect light and are a flat white rather
than the required pearly, silvery white.
I do not intend to disparage proper presentation of good coat.
Show dogs must look the part; to do so, they must have sufficient
coat that is impeccably and naturally prepared. To accomplish this,
you must start with coat of the correct amount, of proper texture
and growing in the right places. We do not have the option of
growing hair allover the dog and then sculpting it into a Cavalier .
The dog must be correct naturally; it must be bred that way.
When we groan about trimmed, sculpted, stripped and plucked dogs,
let us also ponder our selection standards over the whelping box and
when breeding our bitches. Breeding and choosing for more coat is no
different than aiming for shorter noses or longer backs. It changes
the appearance of our breed, and no good can come of it.
If necessary, go back and modify your mental image of the ideal
Cavalier. Envision it with just enough coat to reveal the lines of a
beautifully made little spaniel standing before you. Perhaps judges
will eventually modify their image of the ideal Cavalier in a
similar way. Think about it.
