How we got started...

We first became interested in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed when looking for a puppy to help our family heal from the loss of our three-year-old son. Our journey finding a puppy was a long and expensive one! But, after seeing just how therapeutic this breed was for our grieving children, we knew this was brought into our lives for a reason. One thing continued to nag at us: we never found the type of breeder we had in mind when looking for our first Cavalier. So once we found Missy and brought her home, we discussed our image of what a Cavalier/ESA breeder should look like; how the puppies should spend their day, how their moms should be taken care of during pregnancy, labor, and beyond. We continued our jobs at the time and began raising Missy, with the knowledge that if the opportunity presented, we would love to be the action we wanted to see happen for the betterment of Cavaliers, ESAs, and the families looking for them. 

 

Of course, this didn't come to us at random when looking for a therapeutic family pet. In past lives both Drew and I worked with rescue dogs, training and rehabilitating them, before setting out on career paths and having a family. Drew's experience is more with pit bulls, while mine is with English Springer Spaniels and Border Collies. Before leaving my job to raise ESAs full time, I worked as a registered nurse in an inpatient mental health setting caring for patients experiencing acute mental health crises beginning in 2013. I left my job in 2016 to stay home and care for our disabled son around-the-clock, and after he passed away in 2018 both Drew and myself grew a new appreciation for the importance of quality family life and the family's mental well-being as a whole.

 

We have extensive experience with training, from positive reinforcement exercises to confidence building in abused and mistreated dogs. Before Cavaliers we only had rescue dogs, whether they were our own or whether we were rehabilitating them for another family. Many of the exercises we use today with our puppies are things we learned from our days training mistreated dogs. After years of working to undo the harm others caused by the "mishaping" of puppies' lives, we wanted to work on the other side by raising puppies ourselves and shaping them with a healthy environment, stimulation, and care.

 

We hand raise our puppies beginning at birth. We monitor them closely, help them learn how to nurse, and help Mama when needed. We begin potty training exercises at 5 days old. They are around children throughout their entire time here. At about 3 weeks old, I begin playing with them one on one, teaching them how different toys are used and using those opportunities to work on commands such as "no teeth" and "gentle." By about 6 weeks old potty training is down pretty solid, so the puppy pen is expanded to allow for more room to play. Throughout this time we are advancing them through bigger pens allowing for more experiences and exposure. I send families frequent photos and videos, and we run the Puppy Cam every day, all day, to allow for families to check in on their puppy when it is convenient for them.

 

To read more about the methods we implement to raise our puppies, click here.