Customer Reviews

Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (Kw Series)

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book has the basics but it is obvious that Four Paws has their hands in this. The book advertises Four Paws Products and the rest is basics. This book is not written from a knowledgable viewpoint. It is a bunch of hype. There are other MUCH better written books on the breed. My favorite is a new book by well known breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Barbara Garnet-Smith. I've recommendend her book to all my new puppy owners.

I was very disappointed with this book and would not recommend it for those wanting to learn about the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The book has some pages that are about the breed but the majority of the book is a basic puppy book with more product ads than I have seen in other books. I get the feeling Beverley Cuddy wrote this book and then adds a few pages on a specific breed along with their pictures and instantly has another breed book. How sad that the author is not dedicated enough to the different dog breeds to actually write a book that is of value to the breed. I recommend the book by Norma Moffat, Your Happy Healthy Pet, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

I disagree with the person who wrote that she found the book to be helpful in teaching her proper feeding, housebreaking, training, etc. How is a pet person to judge what is good information since the reason they are reading the book is to learn from an expert. Ms. Cuddy is no expert. I do not find the author's instructions to be insightful and they are certainly not relevent to a Cavalier. Someone should tell her that different breeds require different types of training. Cavaliers learn best with love and patience, pitbulls with dominance and discipline. Cavaliers are bright dogs and want very much to understand what you want them to do. The purpose of reading a book on training is for the owner to learn how to communicate with the dog and to teach "acceptable behavior." A properly educated owner will have learned how to convey her wishes to her intelligent Cavalier, a breed known above all else, for it's desire to please. It appears that Ms. Cuddy does not understand how important it is to build a strong bond of love, respect and understanding between owner and Cavalier. If she does, she certainly has not offered any guidance to her readers.
In addition, it is obvious that anyone who could have approved the two dogs on the cover of this book has no idea what a Cavalier should look like or how to photograph one. Cavaliers are one of those breeds that do show their expressions. When happy, their ears are up high on the head and when frightened, the ears are held low and close to the head....so why would anyone who loved this breed use a photo of one frightened puppy sitting next to a rather elderly dog who clearly did not want to be having her picture taken. It is a sloppily chosen cover on a poorly researched book by an author too busy to care whether she was giving good advice to her readers or not.
There are several very helpful Cavalier books that I do recommend. The first one is "Cavalier King Charles Spaniels" by Meredith Johnson-Snyder which as I recall won the award for the best breed book the first year it was published. The author is a well-known breeder and a respected educator by profession. I also like "Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet, The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel" by Norma Moffat, as well as the generic book titled "How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With" by Rutherford and Neal. These books are well researched and written with respect for this lovely breed.

I was also disappointed with the book. I got the book wanting something tailored toward the Cavalier but instead got a book that was basically a general knowledge, how-to-care-for-your-puppy book. I already had one of those. I ended up buying another Cavalier book by Barbara Garnett-Wilson. It was a bit more expensive but definitely much more Cavalier oriented.

I loved this book. So many beautiful pictures of the cavalier king charles. I am the proud owner of Lily, 8mths old and the book helped me tremendously when it came to basic information. HOw to house train, what to feed her, how to bathe her. I highly recomend this book.