“IN TERMS OF AKC REGISTRATION NUMBERS, IN 2017 THE CAVALIER RANKED THE 19TH MOST POPULAR BREED
IN THE UNITED STATES, TRAILING ONLY THE YORKSHIRE TERRIER.”
get them admitted. Records were kept, shows were held (usually at Trudy’s farm in Louisville, Sutherland) and it languished in the miscellaneous class for twenty years. In 1994, the AKC made it clear that Cavaliers would be recognized with or without a Parent Club. The Border Collie Club went through a similar situ- ation and was recognized without a par- ent club. Faced with this inevitability, twelve concerned breeders (including those with many of the top winning and producing dogs) organized a club, wrote a standard and gathered the support of over one hundred other new members. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels became AKC’s 140th recognized breed on January 1, 1996. In terms of AKC registration num- bers, in 2017 the Cavalier ranked the 19th most popular breed in the United States, trailing only the Yorkshire Terrier. ACKCSC has chosen this article to reprint to honor the author and the his- tory of our breed. Robert Schroll has been selected by the ACKCSC Board of Directors to judge Best of Breed at the club’s 25th Anniversary Celebration in April 2019. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Schroll (Ravenrush Cavaliers): Robert met his partner John Gammon while working for the legendary handler Ted Young, Jr. After moving to Tennessee in 1977, they got their first two Cavaliers, littermates, a black and tan dog and a ruby bitch. They attended their first Cav- alier show in 1980, where the ruby bitch became the first in the US of her color to win a specialty! Since then, they have bred, owned and handled four ACKCSC National Specialty winners, five all-breed BIS winners (including the breed’s first BIS). Additionally, Ravenrush has nine Registry of Merit and three Legion of Merit Cavaliers. Robert and John were both founding officers of the ACKCSC. Robert continues to serve on the Judges Education Committee.
“Study of a King Charles Spaniel” by Chalon, c. 1800. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
(Photo © Downey)
“A King Charles Spaniel” by Manet, c. 1866. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
306 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , J ANUARY 2019
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