Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

The easiest spaniel to fit into ordinary life: 5.4 to 8 kg, happy in a flat or a farmhouse, friendly with strangers and other dogs, and wearing a silky coat that needs weekly brushing rather than trimming. It still has a spaniel's urge to chase birds. Health is the hard part. Mitral valve disease affects most Cavaliers in time and is the leading cause of death, and most carry the skull malformation behind syringomyelia, so choose a breeder who heart-tests and MRI-scans parents.