The war of words must end. It’s time to act on health issues before it is too late for Cavaliers
The ruling of a Norwegian court stopping the breeding of Cavaliers on cruelty grounds has sent shockwaves around the dog world. Yet, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. This isn’t the first shockwave to hit Cavaliers.
The first came in 2008 with the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which revealed not only the degree of hereditary health problems in these much-loved small spaniels but also a culture of denial among many influential show breeders and breed club officials.
Perhaps the real shock should be that so little has changed in nearly 14 years. The impact of Pedigree Dogs Exposed was seismic for Cavaliers but, for the most part, not in a way that has benefited the breed.
Rather than accepting the problem, denial and blame was and continues to be the response of too many. Barricades went up, the battleground set out. A war of words has raged ever since in a highly polarized and fractious Cavalier world.
Social media is yet again awash with renewed defiance, calls to arms and requests for people to post pictures of long-lived and healthy Cavaliers to prove the breed’s good health and make liars of those who would claim otherwise.
Everyone wants to see these adorable dogs enjoy long and pain-free lives. And yes, of course, some Cavaliers thrive into their teens with good health but far too many don’t. It simply isn’t true that it is a healthy breed, and championing exceptional examples to deny an unpalatable reality does nothing to help Cavaliers.
The science and research is unequivocal: Cavaliers suffer in huge numbers from life-limiting and painful hereditary conditions, most notably mitral valve disease (MVD), and syringomyelia and chiari-like malformation of the skull (SM/CM). (See previous blogs for more on this and stats on prevalence). Not only this, they are afflicted more than other breeds.
The 2014 Breed Health Survey found average life expectancy for Kennel Club (KC) registered Cavaliers to be just 10 years old. This contradicts the lifespan of “over 12 years” stated on the KC’s website. Perhaps, two points are more telling. Firstly, there appears not to have been a Breed Health Survey published since 2014 and, crucially, these are KC-registered Cavaliers.
A popular scapegoat for the breed’s health woes is puppy farming. While the practice is abhorrent, puppy farmers are not the ones to blame for failing to accept and address the crisis facing Cavaliers.
When it comes to health, the foxes would appear to be in charge of the hen coop
At the time of writing, the Cavalier King Charles Club’s homepage features a statement on the Norwegian court ruling. “This does not reflect the efforts and progress made by many dedicated to the breed all over the world and could in fact worsen the ongoing issues of irresponsible breeding and illegal puppy smuggling.”
Later it continues: “The Club will always support all who breed with a paramount interest in the health and welfare of the dog and encourage the use of important health screening available for the breed.”
It is absolutely right that around the globe efforts have been made; many countries have instituted health reforms and even mandatory health testing before breeding for Cavaliers. But not in the UK; the Cavalier’s home nation.
The Cavalier Club excels at talking the talk but far too few of its members and, crucially, the influential breeders at the top, actually walk the walk when it comes to health.
Our own research revealed nearly 40% of litters bred by Cavalier Club committee members and puppy coordinators (those who advise the puppy-buying public) were not compliant with breeding guidelines. When it comes to health, the foxes would appear to be in charge of the Cavalier hen coop.
More recently, Cassandra Smith published a detailed study of 2020 Kennel Club breed records revealing only 0.28% of litters passed the breeding guidelines. Further, 89.9% of litters had no publicly available evidence of either parent having been MRI screened for SM/CM and that only 0.01% of parents had been screened under the official screening scheme. Undeniably, some scanning does occur but outside of the official scheme and the results are not in the public domain.
The same is true of hearts. For years, the Cavalier Club has run a heart-screening scheme but research published in 2017 by Simon Swift revealed “negligible” progress had been achieved and that “compliance was poor”.
In 2016 the Kennel Club announced with great fanfare it was to launch a new heart scheme for Cavaliers, based on the Danish model that had seen MVD in Cavaliers plummet by 73%. One thing the press releases failed to mention was that the Danish scheme is mandatory. The UK scheme is not. Nearly six years later, there is no data in the public domain despite requests from researchers and welfare charities.
The same is true of the Cavalier Breed Health and Conservation Plan.
Walls need to come down. Nothing is to be gained by secrecy and not accepting Cavaliers have a problem. Cavaliers are very special little dogs and nobody wants to see a ban on breeding them but everyone needs to work together, accept mistakes have been made and move forward if this breed can be saved.
Attacking those who call out bad practice, those who fundraise, work as veterinary clinicians and researchers does not help Cavaliers. Nor does blaming the puppy-buying public, puppy farmers, Covid or even Brexit.
This Norwegian ruling only came about because there are undeniable welfare issues with breeding dogs that have such a high chance of suffering with painful conditions. It is time to invest as much energy into accepting these issues exist and tackling them as currently appears to go into denials and paying occasional lip service to health.
Some Cavaliers thrive into their teens with good health but far too many don’t. Championing exceptional examples to
deny an unpalatable reality does nothing to help Cavaliers
The Kennel Club has huge influence and it was a great disappointment to us that it chose to ignore over 70,000 dog lovers who signed our online petition asking it to make health testing before breeding mandatory. However, one must not forget that the KC is, above all, a registration business and its biggest and most important customers are not everyday dog owners but breeders.
It is a choice to breed dogs. It is also a choice how to breed them. Only breeders can really make a difference.
Yes, if people only bought puppies from breeders who health tested thoroughly and complied with guidelines (not just claimed to), this would have a huge positive impact. However, there simply are not enough puppies being produced in such a way. Step number one is for breeders, in particular the highly influential show breeders and breed club committee members, to set an example and lead the way.
The time has come for radical change, for the sake of the dogs. This might come in many forms including adversaries on opposing sides of the “Cavalier war” choosing to bury the hatchet, mandatory testing and publishing all test results.
Some believe the only future for Cavaliers is outcrossing. For many, this is unthinkable but we’d like to end on a really positive note and the success, albeit on a small scale, of the Companion Spaniel Project. It aims to produce healthy spaniels with an improved head shape and no early-onset MVD. This is being done by very carefully crossing Cavaliers with working cockers.
These images are of second generation litters that are three quarters Cavalier and a quarter working cocker. We think they are fabulous. While we don’t want to encourage a commercially motivated boom in breeding “cockaliers”, isn’t it time the Kennel Club and breed clubs also get on board with this?
Cavaliers should have a future but it must be a healthy one.