The Cavalier's Brain Doesn't Fit Its Skull

That dog scratching at the air isn't silly. In Cavaliers, it can be a sign that the skull is too small for the brain. This is the story of how the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was made: a king who took his spaniels everywhere, a century of fashion that flattened their faces, and an American who offered prize money in 1926 to bring back the dog from the old paintings. Breeders delivered the face. The inside came with a bill. If you have a Cavalier: none of this is your fault. Watch for the signs and talk to your vet. If you're buying a puppy, ask whether the parents had their heart and brain checked. Every breed has a maker. New breed story every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Chapters 0:00 The scratch that isn't an itch 0:47 The king's dogs 2:11 The face that changed 3:43 The man with the prize money 5:15 Two dogs, one king 6:32 The skull 8:25 The heart, and the price 9:58 If you have a Cavalier Sources American Kennel Club, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel history: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog... American Kennel Club, English Toy Spaniel history: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog... Cavalier Health, Chiari-like malformation and syringomyelia: https://cavalierhealth.org/sm2.htm Cavalier Health, mitral valve disease: https://cavalierhealth.org/mitral_val... PLOS ONE (2017), syringomyelia in Cavaliers: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/art... Rusbridge et al. (2019), JVIM: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1... Wikipedia, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalie... Science Norway, the Cavalier breeding ruling: https://www.sciencenorway.no/animal-k... "Leading cause of death" is based on Swedish insurance data from 1995–2006. Credits Archive images via Wikimedia Commons: "Palace of Westminster London 2023 01" by Julian Herzog, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "Japanese Chin portrait" by LostinTexas (Alex Archambault), CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "English Toy Spaniel - Ch Loujon Thornwood Little Jacob" by Pets Adviser, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Blenheim 1" by Canarian, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "The four colours of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Breed" by CKCSClubGreece, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "Rusty, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel" by Harold Litwiler, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "Shia, King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, at Ocean Park" by Townsley Portraits, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "Cavalier King Charles Spaniel trio" by tanakawho, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) Paintings by Peter Lely, John Michael Wright, John Hayls, Anthony van Dyck, Simon de Vos, Pierre Mignard, Jan Verkolje, Edwin Landseer, William Hogarth, Luke Fildes, Frances C. Fairman, and other archive images: public domain. Stock footage: Pexels. Music: Pixabay (lemonmusiclab, lithop, atlasaudio, echoes_of_lumen). Some illustrations in this video were created with AI. #CavalierKingCharlesSpaniel #DogHistory #DogBreeds