The King Charles breeders did not take these classes very seriously. The following is a quotation taken from CruftвЂ™s catalogue: 'As shown in the pictures of King Charles IIвЂ™s time, long face, no stop flat skull, not inclined to be domed and with the spot in the centre of the skull.' He immediately set about trying to right this by offering prizes at Crufts for three years (it was later extended to five years) вЂ“ ВЈ25 for the best dog and best bitch, for dogs of the variety seen in King Charles IIвЂ™s time. Then Mr Roswell Eldridge, an American and a great lover of Toy Spaniels, came over to England and was unpleasantly surprised to find that there were none of the little nosey spaniels left.

This type is still popular and a very lovely breed. There were a lot of very able breeders at that stage, and they were successful in breeding dogs of the highest quality, with flat faces, high dome, and with very long ears set low. This brought a new fashion dogs with a shorter face gradually evolving the flat face of the modern King Charles Spaniels. In Queen VictoriaвЂ™s reign breeders started to hold shows and enthusiasts began to breed dogs seriously, and to a desired type. With little transport available, breeding was carried out in a haphazard fashion. In the early days there were no dog shows, and no recognised standard of points, so type and size were very varied. At that time the special strain of red and white Toy Spaniels bred at Blenheim Palace by the Dukes of Marlborough were well known for their sporting qualities, as well as for their claims as ladiesвЂ™ companions. We do not hear much about Toy Spaniels again until the 18th and 19th centuries. History tells us that King Charles II was seldom seen without two or three or more at his heels.ДЄs time went by, and with the coming of the Dutch Court of William III, Toy Spaniels went out of fashion, being replaced in popularity by the Pug dog with the little black page in attendance. Toy Spaniels were quite common as pets of the Court ladies in Tudor times but in this country it was under the Stuarts that they were given the Royal title of King Charles Spaniels. The result was a dog that resembled the boyhood pet of the future Charles II of England ('Cavalier King Charles'), hence the name of the breed.The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel of today is the direct descendant of the small Toy Spaniels seen in so many of the pictures of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. So, the breed was developed by selective breeding of short-snouted Spaniels. 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, sometimes called 'the kiss of Buddha,' 'Blenheim Spot,' 'lozenge' or 'Kissing Spot'. 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. The King Charles Spaniel was bred with these dogs, resulting in the similar-shaped head of today's English Toy Spaniel breed.

Over time, the toy spaniels were replaced in popularity by short-snouted, dome-headed dogs of Asian descent, such as the Pug and Japanese Chin. These early spaniels had longer, pointier snouts and thinner-boned limbs than today's.

Such spaniels can be seen in many paintings of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. King Charles II went so far as to issue a decree that the King Charles Spaniel could not be forbidden entrance to any public place, including the Houses of Parliament. 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. Some centuries later, Toy Spaniels became popular as pets, especially as pets of the royal family. For many centuries, small breeds of spaniels have been popular in the United Kingdom.

Blenheim cavalier king charles spaniel