The Cava-lon is a combination of a Chevalier King Charles Spaniel and a Papillon with its origins in France, Italy and Belgium. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was named after King Charles I of Britain in the 1600s. Queen Victoria also owned one but developed a slightly different breed known today as the English Toy Spaniel in America and the King Charles Spaniel in the United Kingdom by mixing Cavaliers with Pugs and the Japanese Chin. They were smaller with shorter, flatter faces and a domed skull. In 1926 an American Roswell Eldridge offered a sum of money to find a pair who resembled the original small spaniel. A year later a dog called Ann’s Son was identified and became the breed standard for the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was officially recognized by the Kennel Club of England in 1944 and the first Cavaliers were sent to America in 1952. They were recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1996 in the Toy Group. A Chevalier was featured on TV series Sex and the City. It was named Elizabeth Taylor and belonged to the character Charlotte York. The Papillon also has a long association with royalty and appears in paintings of royal families around Europe. It is said that Marie Antoinette was holding her favourite Papillon under her arm when she walked to the guillotine. Papillons, whose nicknames include Butterfly Dog, Squirrel Dog, and Phal, have often been depicted in Italian paintings in the Renaissance period while King Louis XIV is believed to have imported the dogs for his court. The Papillon, whose name comes from the French word for butterfly, is also called the Continental Toy Spaniel. Papillons arrived in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century with the American Kennel Club recognizing them in 1915 although they were only registered in the mid-1930s. In 1999, a Papillon made breed history when it took Best In Show at the Westminster Kennel Club show.
