Greetings and Welcome to the official web site for the American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, Inc., an AKC Member Club and the AKC Parent Club for the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in the United States of America. We hope you find this site enjoyable and informative. Please visit often as new features are added on a regular basis.

 

THE CALENDARS ARE HERE!

Once again, we have beautiful calendars available! All procedes from this calendar will go to support the ACKCSC Charitable Trust and the ACKCS Rescue Trust. Please consider buying one of the beautiful Calendars for yourself and maybe a few for your friends. Click on the picture below to take you to the Store!

2024calendar

 

 

AMERICAN CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL CLUB'S POSITION

RECENT NORWAY LEGISLATION 

Early last week, a District Court in Oslo, Norway composed of only a judge and two co-judges (one a veterinarian and the other a geneticist) decided that it was contrary to Section 25 of the country's Animal Welfare Act  to breed Bulldogs and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels due to claims the breeds have major health challenges that should not be perpetuated.

The American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club (ACKCSC) is not in favor of anti-breeder legislation or courts that interfere with breeders' initiatives to preserve the traits laid out in our Standard and improve the health of our Cavaliers.

The ACKCSC believes that breeding our Cavaliers should be done responsibly keeping in mind our highest priority, the health and welfare of our dogs.    Always mindful of the traits that make Cavaliers who they are, preservation breeders strive to educate themselves about health issues and ways to combat them without sacrificing breed type.  ACKCSC members are held to our  Ethical Guidelines, which includes recommended health testing and avoiding using any dogs for breeding which have inheritable or potentially disabling defects.  We strongly recommend that when searching for a Cavalier, people use only breeders that adhere to our standard and health testing recommendations.  Additional information and Breeder Referral can be  found at www.ackcsc.org.

We have seen great strides in Cavalier health and longevity in the past 20 years.  Cavaliers are living longer and our members continue to keep up-to-date with the latest health information, utilizing new health testing, as it becomes available.   We participate in the OFA/CHIC program, the OFA/DNA Database and subsidize breed specific DNA testing.  Our partner organizations, the Charitable Health Trust and the Rescue Trust both work diligently to fund health research and rescue the most vulnerable  of our Cavaliers. Our Charitable Health Trust has funded almost half a million dollars in Cavalier Health research independently and through the AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF). For more information on Health Research, visit our Health Trust Website at ackcscharitabletrust.org.

The ACKCSC provides to its members and non-members ongoing education through our website, publications,  health surveys, health clinics, seminars geared towards Health, Judges Ed, Breeder's Ed and our  new Cavalier Academy.  Our committee members  also attend  seminars throughout the year, (i.e.:  AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF), National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA), Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (VHUP), VetVine).   

The decision by the Oslo court in Norway is very shortsighted.  It will  basically end its ability to collaborate on breeding healthier, longer lived dogs and will set a very dangerous precedent of destroying and causing the demise of the Bulldog, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and many other breeds!

The ACKCSC continues to monitor the current situation in Norway and globally, as well as, being in constant communication with the AKC, as we strive to protect the rights of ethical breeders and insure the health and welfare of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.