chow

Illustration by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

King Charles Spaniel

This is one of the English toys, which name in this country includes the King Charles (named after Charles II, with whom they were favorites), Prince Charles, or tricolor; Ruby, and Blenheim spaniels. They differ from one another only in distribution of color, being identical in conformation.

They are all small, scaling from seven to twelve pounds. The ears are very long and flowing, reaching nearly to the ground, and are heavily furred with long, silky hair. The coat throughout should be long and silky, straight or wavy, but never curly. They all have the bulby head, short muzzle, deep jaw, wide-set bulging eyes, dark and large pupil, showing the white when they look askance, which is much of the time.

Owing to the condensed face, their breathing is often faulty and asthmatic; owing to their surroundings they generally get fat and fussy; owing to their high price, the public is not greatly troubled with them; owing to their physical disabilities and the inherent weaknesses due to long generations of; inbreeding, they are poor reproducers and hard to rear; and owing to their snobbish dispositions, they have never been popular, nor ever will be.

The King Charles is the pure black-and-tar type. The tricolor, or Prince Charles, is black anr tan with a large amount of white. The Ruby is all deep rich red or mahogany bay. The Blenheim is mainly "pearly white." with large, evenly distributed ruby or chestnut markings.

Did you enjoy this article?

Let us know what you think by commenting below. Don't forget to Friend us on facebook and subscribe to our twitter feed to stay updated! Thanks for reading, recommend us to your friends!