Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Poodle Mix

Timshell Farm started breeding for first-cross Goldendoodles (Standard size/large) in early 2000. We had been raising lovely AKC Golden Retrievers and our vets advised that yes, indeed, genetic faults are eliminated or greatly minimized by breeding for a crossbreed. The Goldendoodles are just perfect for many people and families, with their sound health, great temperaments, intelligence and lower-shedding coats. Besides, the Goldendoodle is a beautiful dog! We began raising litters of first-cross, standard (large) Goldendoodles.

Goldendoodles bred from top-quality parent dogs are a wonderful package of highly desirable traits.

Above is our puppy, SADIE, on the cover of the 2003/October LIFE Magazine. We are very proud of her – she’s everything a Doodle should be! Also shown is Sadie with her family in California.

Downsized Goldendoodles

Many of our adoptive families let us know they really would love a smaller, more compact version of the Goldendoodle, for their children and homes. Families wanted a more “portable” companion to include more comfortably on car trips and vacations. Families asked for a smaller dog, a better size to raise with their young children. Older couples (yes, like us – “baby boomers”) requested a smaller, more manageable-sized doodle. So, we began to explore “downsizing” our Goldendoodles – working to achieve a smaller sized doodle without sacrificing any of the wonderful traits of the standard-size Goldendoodles.

We consulted with a reproductive specialist veterinarian in Carrollton, Texas to get his guidance on how to best achieve a downsized version of the Goldendoodle. We knew that we could breed a miniature or toy poodle with a full-sized Golden Retriever mother, but the size range of the puppies is too wide and unpredictable. The offspring could technically be called “miniature Goldendoodles” but in reality might grow to be quite large, like the mother dog. The genetic specialist vet advised us to first downsize the breeding mother dog, by crossing the Golden Retriever with a smaller dog that would be similar in appearance. We chose the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel as the “downsizer” to breed with our Goldens. The resulting offspring are referred to as Petite Golden Retrievers. They are 50% Golden Retriever and 50% Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Our Petite Golden Retriever mothers are about 1/3 the size of a Golden Retriever.

The Petite Golden Retriever mothers are a great size for breeding with a Miniature Poodle. The resulting puppies are “Petite Goldendoodles” or “XS Petite Goldendoodles”. The Petite Goldendoodles have a Miniature Poodle sire. The XS Petite Goldendoodles have a Toy Poodle sire.

The Triple Cross

The Golden Retriever, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and Miniature/Toy Poodles are a wonderful recipe for a downsized Goldendoodle. The gene pool is widened X 3, for even more “hybrid vigor”… so the result is a puppy with sound health, minimized risk of genetic faults, great disposition, low to no shedding coat, and loving personality that will grow to be a medium or small size – more manageable than larger dogs.

GOLDEN + CAVALIER + POODLE = Petite Goldendoodle! Wonderful stuff!

The Golden Retriever brings:

• a graceful, classic beauty;
• a people-loving disposition; and
• a playful, athletic nature.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel brings:

• a downsizing of the puppies;
• the “teddy bear” look (wide face, shorter nose, big eyes); and
• a sweet, sparkly sprinkling of “Cavalier Magic” – the gentler energy level.

The Miniature or Toy Poodle brings:

• an effervescent, lively, playful personality;
• soft-curl or wavy/shaggy coats (low/no shedding); and
• high intelligence.

The Cavalier MAGIC

We chose the Cavalier as our “downsizer” to breed with the Golden Retriever to produce our smaller females, to be the “Petite Golden Retriever” mothers of our Petite Goldendoodles. In addition to the downsizing, the Cavalier brings so much to the “triple-cross” Petite Goldendoodle puppies! The Cavalier brings a gentler energy level to the puppies…. “classic Cavalier” or what we call Cavalier Magic. Our Petite Goldendoodles are playful, funny, athletic and have bubbly personalities but are not hyper and do not have energy levels that are too high. The Cavalier Magic is what sets our breeding program apart – what makes our puppies truly special. Most professional trainers agree that in general, first-cross Goldendoodle puppies (50% Golden Retriever and 50% Poodle) have lots of great potential and wonderful qualities but the energy levels are often high, making them more of a challenge to work with. We’ve seen for ourselves, but have also been told by trainers as well as our adoptive families, that Timshell Farm Petite Goldendoodles are out of the ordinary – really different from most first-cross Goldendoodles. We feel this is truly a different Goldendoodle.

Our parent dogs are tested and cleared of genetic faults. We believe that a fine puppy can only come from top quality parents. This includes (1) sound health; (2) gentle temperaments with no personality “issues” and (3) high intelligence. (The adoptive families put the icing on the cake, when they complete in-home training sessions and raise the puppy with loving kindness.)

Please see the References from Professional Trainers below – and click-ons for sections containing updates and photos we’ve received from our adoptive families. We are really happy that we’re up to 53 families now, that have come back to us for their second Timshell Farm puppy!

Thanks for your interest and contact us if you have questions.