Cava Tzu Dog Breed

Below are details and specs for the Cava Tzu dog breed.

The Cava-Tzu is a small dog that makes a great apartment dog for families. Once grown, males and females are alike in that they stand about 9 to 18 inches and weigh between 10 and 16 pounds. They are lapdogs and if carried gently will not mind.

Your Cava-Tzu will love lots of attention and should get along nicely with children, other pets and strangers. They can be left alone for long periods of time and will find ways to occupy their time, and they make good watchdogs.

When it comes to maintenance, be ready to dedicate a lot of grooming time to your Cava-Tzu. Members of this breed will be easy to train (for the most part; house training may require some patience and persistence). They require little effort to exercise and will be fine spending most of their time indoors.

The Cava Tzu is a relatively new designer dog conceived by cross-breeding the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the Shih Tzu. Not much is known about when they first appeared, and there is very little history about them. There is, however, quite a rich history to be learned regarding their parent breeds.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was named after a 17th century English king, Charles I, as well as the subsequent monarch, King Charles II, who was also fond of the dogs and was never without a few from his pack; they followed him everywhere. Charles II was known as the "Cavalier King," and so too did the prefix become part of the breed's name: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

The Shih Tzu breed is at least 1,000 years old. There are many Chinese tapestries, statuary and other artwork from that time bear this out. Shih Tzu means "little lion dog," and these tiny dogs have long-haired faces that certainly look like little lions! Tibetan monks were said to have been responsible for breeding them and later giving them as gifts to Chinese emperors. The Ming and Manchu valued these dogs to the point that it was punishable by death for non-ruling family members to possess them. It was not until 1938 that the Shih-Tzu was taken to the West, and by the 1960s they had spread to the United States and quickly became very popular lapdogs.

Some Cava-Tzus will get more characteristics from the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel side whereas others will get more from the Shih-Tzu side, and then there are those that will get an equal amount from both sides.

Basically, they are small dogs with short torsos, round faces, button-like eyes, a pair of ears that hang down, a black nose and a medium-length tail that curls upward. Their coats may be fine or silky and thick, and the coat length may be medium- to long-haired.

Your Cava-Tzu comes from two very pampered parent breeds, and his behavior will be dependent on the characteristics he inherits. Cava-Tzus tend to be rather sensitive, are not very active, do not like rough play and will bark a fair amount. Although they enjoy the company of people, they do relatively well alone for moderate lengths of time. He may get excited easily and then become a bit hyper. Nevertheless, he should also be eager to please and is fairly intelligent. Training and socialization should be done early, as usual, and as Cava-Tzus are smart and eager to please, training should be easy. House training may be more difficult but most other aspects should require less persistence.

Although cross-breeding is a way of attempting to alleviate or eliminate health problems, both of the Cava-Tzu's parent breeds were bred at one point to have very small snouts — a factor which led to respiratory and related concerns. Along with the possibility of inheriting such problems, there may also be issues with their eyes, kidney, bladder, heart, liver, ears and teeth. You should be aware of possible joint problems and allergies. Some of these concerns may be prevented by keeping the ears, eyes and teeth clean as well as adhering to a diet that will help lessen allergies. Cava Tzus tend to live about 10 to 15 years.