About Our Puppies
Rogue Valley Cavaliers believes in producing healthy, well-rounded puppies that are confident and ready to take on their new homes. Our puppies come from health-tested, Champion bloodlines. We believe that any puppy — be they easygoing couch potato, Obedience genius, performance sports extraordinaire, or shining star of the Conformation ring — should be a credit to their breed in both looks and temperament. We breed to produce high quality, healthy puppies that represent the decades of hard work that has gone into making the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel the breed it is today.
As a result of this dedication to our dogs, we put great effort into raising our puppies to be excellent family pets. We pride ourselves on encouraging our puppies to be outgoing and friendly with an emphasis on “well-rounded.”
Our puppies start out sleeping by the bed. They are moved from their bed upstairs to a small area in our downstairs living room each day so we can monitor them as needed during those crucial first two weeks. Once their eyes open and they begin to show signs of taking their first steps, they are moved to a larger pen downstairs; we carry them back upstairs every night until we’re sure they’re able to handle being downstairs with mom without supervision. This is usually at about four weeks of age, depending on how quickly each indidivudal litter seems to be developing.
As the puppies get older and mom can no longer keep up with the mess, we set up an area downstairs with rabbit bedding (either shavings or paper bedding). They are beginning to eat solid food by this point. While downstairs, they get used to the sound of people walking; doors slamming; the TV blaring; other Cavaliers barking; and other general household noises. We are not a quiet family, and our puppies grow up hearing a lot of racket. We pick them up and play with each of them throughout the day. If you run to the back of the pen, you get picked up; if you come up to say hello, you get picked up. (At about 4 to 6 weeks, they start playing rough with each other and the word “no” gets introduced around this time.)
Once they’re getting too big and too active to be in their medium-sized pen during the day, they graduate to learning how to navigate a dog door and use a sawdust area on the covered porch. Puppies are still transferred back and forth from their secondary area to the pen in the living room twice a day, morning and night, until they are using the dog door well enough to have free access to the porch area all night. The time at which this happens usually varies considerably depending on the season (mid-summer, there’s less concern that a puppy who becomes trapped outside will get too cold).
The next step after the covered porch is an enclosed grassy area, covered in bird netting, where they can safely play outside. They have access to a dog door there, too, and can go in and out of a heated/cooled building whenever they please. They are carried back and forth from there to the house until we deem it safe enough for them to stay out overnight (again, when and if this happens depends entirely on the weather; if we’ve had snow or heavy rain, they’re transferred back to the porch until its safe for them to have access to their outdoor area again).
Once they reach 10 weeks of age, puppies are ready to go to their new homes. By this point, they will have been started on leash training and are well on their way to being housebroken. They will also have been examined by our vet where they are given their first shot, dewormed, and microchipped. Puppies can be picked up at our home or we are willing to meet their new parent(s) at the airport. All puppies must be escorted to their new homes, however. After the recent string of incidients involving dogs dying on airplanes, we are unwilling (and, depending on the airline, sometimes unable) to fly puppies unaccompanied.
We love to stay in touch with our puppy buyers after they have taken their new family member home. Puppy pictures are always welcome! We enjoy seeing our puppies growing up and hearing about how they’re settling in. It’s a joy to hear about their antics, and we are always willing to answer questions and offer training advice if needed.
Our puppies start out sleeping by the bed. They are moved from their bed upstairs to a small area in our downstairs living room each day so we can monitor them as needed during those crucial first two weeks. Once their eyes open and they begin to show signs of taking their first steps, they are moved to a larger pen downstairs; we carry them back upstairs every night until we’re sure they’re able to handle being downstairs with mom without supervision. This is usually at about four weeks of age, depending on how quickly each indidivudal litter seems to be developing.
As the puppies get older and mom can no longer keep up with the mess, we set up an area downstairs with rabbit bedding (either shavings or paper bedding). They are beginning to eat solid food by this point. While downstairs, they get used to the sound of people walking; doors slamming; the TV blaring; other Cavaliers barking; and other general household noises. We are not a quiet family, and our puppies grow up hearing a lot of racket. We pick them up and play with each of them throughout the day. If you run to the back of the pen, you get picked up; if you come up to say hello, you get picked up. (At about 4 to 6 weeks, they start playing rough with each other and the word “no” gets introduced around this time.)
Once they’re getting too big and too active to be in their medium-sized pen during the day, they graduate to learning how to navigate a dog door and use a sawdust area on the covered porch. Puppies are still transferred back and forth from their secondary area to the pen in the living room twice a day, morning and night, until they are using the dog door well enough to have free access to the porch area all night. The time at which this happens usually varies considerably depending on the season (mid-summer, there’s less concern that a puppy who becomes trapped outside will get too cold).
The next step after the covered porch is an enclosed grassy area, covered in bird netting, where they can safely play outside. They have access to a dog door there, too, and can go in and out of a heated/cooled building whenever they please. They are carried back and forth from there to the house until we deem it safe enough for them to stay out overnight (again, when and if this happens depends entirely on the weather; if we’ve had snow or heavy rain, they’re transferred back to the porch until its safe for them to have access to their outdoor area again).
Once they reach 10 weeks of age, puppies are ready to go to their new homes. By this point, they will have been started on leash training and are well on their way to being housebroken. They will also have been examined by our vet where they are given their first shot, dewormed, and microchipped. Puppies can be picked up at our home or we are willing to meet their new parent(s) at the airport. All puppies must be escorted to their new homes, however. After the recent string of incidients involving dogs dying on airplanes, we are unwilling (and, depending on the airline, sometimes unable) to fly puppies unaccompanied.
We love to stay in touch with our puppy buyers after they have taken their new family member home. Puppy pictures are always welcome! We enjoy seeing our puppies growing up and hearing about how they’re settling in. It’s a joy to hear about their antics, and we are always willing to answer questions and offer training advice if needed.