Customer Reviews

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, in Fact and Fancy

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This is an absolutely fantastic book. I highly recommend it to anyone even the slightest bit interested in the breed. The photographs alone make it well worth purchasing, but Barbara Garnett-Wilson has also packed decades worth of experience into this volume. She has thoroughly researched the origins and history of the breed and has included spectacular examples of artwork from across the ages. This, coupled with practical information on every aspect of cavalier ownership from breeding to show (how exactly do you keep those long beautiful coats shiny and smelling fresh?...lots of product info and links included) makes it a must have for cavalier owners and potential owners alike.

"The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in Fact and Fiction" is one of the great modern dog books, and certainly it was no surprise when this magnificent work won a Maxwell award for best breed book given by the Dog Writers Association of America at their annual banquet the night before the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. This is the third book by Cavalier-breeder and author Barbara Garnett-Wilson, a long time American breeder of winning Cavalier King Charles Spaniels at "Laughing Cavaliers", including the first Cavalier to win Best of Breed and a Toy Group Placement at the Westminster Kennel Dog Club Show. A well-respected show judge herself, Garnett-Wilson has served and currently is President of the Western Region of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of the USA, where she has tirelessly championed her beloved breed. (Ms Garnett-Wilson's earlier book, The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in North America, is itself one of the best books on the breed.) Yet in this 2007 work Garnett-Wilson outdoes not only her own excellent previous work, but has produced a major lasting book on this happy and charming and most loving companion, the delightful dog that is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Most dog books have their strengths and weaknesses: authors may know their breed backwards and forwards, but lack skills at writing. Some dog books offer well-written text without covering important subjects, or the author's work fails to utilize top quality reproductions. Dog books often use photos as mere window-dressing - a particular problem with such photogenic dogs as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels! And even if requirements for an excellent and helpful book are achieved, there remains certain intangibles, intangibles that mark a superior imaginative presentation. In Garnett-Wilson's work these often missing intagibles are everywhere, they literally can be found in super-abundance. Although on the surface her book seems at first yet another - admittedly glorious - example of a coffee table book, the reality is that this book, like the breed itself, is far more than a pretty face. This is a serious work filled to bursting with deeply informed experience founded on three decades of working closely with these dogs, listening and learning from the top breeders, and promoting the positives of this wonderful dog, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, to many new fans.

One of the many virtues of Garnett-Wilson as author is not only fine writing skills put at the service of her vast experience with the breed, here unfolded in a exquisite series of chapters on all the basics of breeding and raising Cavaliers, but a remarkable generosity shown her fellow Cavalier lovers. Throughout the book are scores and scores of photos and stories highlighting other breeders and owners and their dogs. Rather than pack her book with photos of her own dogs, and she has had hundreds of dogs, and a limitless supply of photos, Garnett-Wilson instead opts to showcase the full range and richness of her beloved Cavaliers through a wide-ranging multitude of dogs and owners.

The book's chapters all offer a balanced match between text and images. Readers should be aware the book's lavish illustrations are not window dressing, but are frequently perfect visual guides for the author's narrative. The chapters on breeding, pregnancy and whelping, the nursery, and grooming couldn't be bettered. Garnett-Wilson also has the most up-to-date news on Cavalier health and wellness.

A list of the chapters goes as follows,

THE WONDER OF CAVALIERS
A HISTORY OF THE CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL
CHOOSING A CAVALIER
THE NEW CAVALIER PUPPY
A GALLERY OF CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIELS
THE VERSATILE CAVALIER
THE CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL IN ART
UNDERSTANDING THE BREED STANDARDS
THE CHALLENGE OF BREEDING
PREGNANCY AND WHELPING
THE CAVALIER NURSERY
GOLDEN OLDIES
TRAINING AND SHOWING THE CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL
GROOMING THE CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL
CAVALIER HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Appendices, contact information, favorite products, artistic credits,
I love my Cavalier contract.
Glossary
Index - a very fine one running to several pages of fine print.


The book is filled with over 300 color photos, including several reproductions also found in the author's book, "The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: A Tribute in Art", published simultaneously. (This other book contains a very high standard of art reproductions - these are easily superior to most of what I see in my field of Art History. This companion work also was nominated for a prestigious Maxwell Award by the Dog Writers Association of America in 2007, an unheard of achievement for one author!)

Any Cavalier owner has to see "The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel In Fact and Fancy"! If you can find one for sale - grab it! You'll have a treasure that does justice to the wonder that is these bouncy adorable heart-throbs with spirit! As the author writes in her preface, "Enjoy your Cavalier. And if this is your first, don't be surprised if she's the first of many. They are a bit like potato chips. You can't, it seems, have just one."

Should the Amazon site listings be temporarily out of the book it may still be available by contacting Laughing Cavaliers at their website, or through the publisher, Cascade Publishers.

This is a wonderful book on the breed. It is what I needed, and the whole family has enjoyed looking at the pictures. Very well done. I have read several books on this breed, and own three books. This one is undoubtedly the best!

This is even better than what I expected. Well written, photographed and edited. May not give you all the details of every aspect of buying, raising and caring for a dog, but this is a well organized overview. Did I mention it is gorgeously photographed? To understand a breed you need to see many different high quality specimens and this book delivers. A must have for anyone serious about Cavaliers.

To have someone write a book such as this one is to be given an honor to delve in to the massive knowledge the author has amassed about Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Everything from birth to raising to well, just everything about the Cavaliers is in this volume. Believe me if you have questions concerning CKC spaniels, you will and can find it in this magnificent book. Beautifully illustrated and professionally written, it is a book we as proud parents of Cavaliers to find tidbits of information about our beloved dogs. Thanks to the author. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Wonderful book, a MUST have for all Cavalier owners. Worth every penny it cost.

This book is a conversation piece. The cover is so nice you will want it out for display. I am 100% pleased and would definitely recommend it to any Cavalier King Charles Spaniel lovers!

Wow i ordered thsi book when I first heard it was coming out. I do not even OWN a Cavalier but as a dog fancier and lover of beauty I must say you have to get this book. The photos are breathtaking... Teh breeder certainly has an eye for beauty.

I found this to be the most informative book about the breed
that I needed to know. It was detailed as to color, nature,
defects, and most specifically the history of the dog itself.
There were no questions unanswered.

The book is 280 pages long and is a wonderful book on the Cavalier. It goes from the beginning of its history through today. I bought it as a used book that was like new and it was like a brand new book. You would never know anyone had owned it before I got it. Very, very pleased.