Cards Out of Chaos: Cavalier Corner

Our first Christmas with a pup.

Almost five years ago I convinced my husband we needed a dog. It took a lot of convincing but I was persistent. Since I was ten years old I'd had a dog on and off. Growing up, I was the child in my family of five children, who asked for, begged/borrowed pets; a steady variety of dogs, cats, and twice, guinea pigs. I've heard it said that people were given three things to make life better, hope, jokes and dogs, but the greatest of these gifts is dogs. I agree.


Shiloh, gone now and missed!

After giving in to me, against his better judgement, my husband tried to steer me towards a small dog that didn't shed. We discussed poodles and poodle mixes, doodles I think they were called. Then we visited my sister in California and met her pup, Shiloh. He was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Dewey fell in love. They had gotten their dog years ago from a breeder in the UK. We found one in Illinois.

Sophie meets me for the first time. She's not sure...

Our pup, a tri-colored Cavalier we named Sophie, arrived in late October. She is a sweet pup who loves me as much as her little heart can love. I've always had this connection with dogs but only three in my life have been this connected and loyal. Of the three Sophie has the most loving heart. We soon came to call her our "love sponge". When I'm home she's always somewhere near me. When either one of us is not feeling well a simple touch from the other will make us feel better.

Ruby meets me for the first time.
She's checking out my nose to see if I'll pass the pet parent test.

No longer feeling excluded. Success!

Dewey felt just a bit excluded. A year later we got a pup for him, a Blenheim (chestnut and white colored) Cavalier, which we named Ruby. Ruby has some quirks. She has never really barked, but can she ever whine or whimper to get her message across. She snores louder than a chain saw. She eats like there's no tomorrow and like the food might disappear in mid gulp. She also has a thing about noses. She needs to lick them. This is how she tells you she loves you. She has a thing for small tennis balls and although she can jump into the car to go for a ride, or climb up on the table to eat your unguarded food, she can not, to save her life, go up or down our basement stairs.

Sophie has located the ball, time for Ruby to do her thing.

I'd never had two pups at the same time before. These two, from the same breeder and similar gene pool, still have some huge differences. Sophie has taken on the duty of keeping our yard safe from the evil of squirrels. She will chase them barking ferociously, and I'm sure if she ever catches one she won't know what to do with it. Ruby chases Sophie, not ever quite understanding what all the squirrel fuss is about, but happy to join in the excitement. Also, we have learned, that it takes two Cavaliers to retrieve a ball. One, Sophie, to be the tennis ball locator, pointing out where the ball has stopped, and the other, Ruby, to be the ball retriever, faithfully bringing the ball back to us. Unless she gets distracted by thoughts of food. They have their duties all figured out. They walk at weirdly different speeds, with
Ruby dragging behind me fearful of my feet and wanting be carried. Sophie plows ahead, straining at the end of the leash and dashing from side to side in search of the evil squirrels. What they do agree on is eating gum left on the walk by previous walkers. They become bottom feeders on a walk.

Keeping high and dry

Although spaniels are known to be water dogs these two dogs do not like water, not anywhere, not any kind. Just the drinking kind! They were cats in another life. Sophie once waited to do her thing outside on a rainy day for over twelve hours. She will wa
lk along the side of the house in rain to be under the eaves. On rainy days they are sad and miserable. In the lake they are terrified. They hate their baths and Sophie has gotten pretty good at hiding when Ruby gets her bath first. They are sorry sad sights when wet.

Our constant companions.

So we try to keep them dry, snuggled and fed. It's a tough job but whatever would we do without our little pups! They keep us company and entertain us. Our lives would be so empty without them.