Although we had now agreed that we were going to get a dog, we hadn't totally agreed on where we should get a dog from, and if it should be a puppy or a more mature dog. I registered on several Cavalier King Charles rescue lists, but was told that the average age of adoptable dogs was about 6 years. A lot of these animals had come to the end of their useful breeding cycles. I was rather hoping to get a younger animal that would still be active enough to enjoy long walks and possibly even to do some agility training. They also told me about their puppy register, and that sometimes a breeder will keep a puppy on with the prospect of showing or breeding it but then if it doesn't show potential they may let it go at about 9 months or so. This sounded like it might suit us.
Before contacting the puppy register, we spent quite a few weekends visiting all the rescue centres, which were filled with Staffordshire Bull Terriers. At each centre we were told the same thing, that it was very rare for them to get a Cavalier for adoption and when they did it was usally an elderly animal and more often than not had heart problems or other health issues. We started to think seriously about contacting the puppy register, we also started looking for breeders.
I continued to read books about the breed and the best methods of training,I thought it would be wise to also look around at dog traing schools to see what was available. I found a couple of local places, one of which was "In The Dog House" They hold free taster sessions, I emailed them for information and explained that we didn't have a dog at present, but would be interested to see what they had to offer.
The following weekend I went along to the free taster session and was very happy with what I saw, they were training using clickers and positive methods. I knew that this is where I would bring our future pet for training.
