Aldermere Cavaliers
Cavalier King Charles Spanielsof the Virginia Piedmont
Blenheim and tricolor Cavaliers, bred in Albemarle County since 2007.
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Charlottesville, VA
Proud Member Of
American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel ClubCavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, USAOur Lineage
Blenheim and tricolor Cavaliers, bred in Albemarle County since 2007.
Aldermere is a small Cavalier King Charles Spaniel program on eleven acres west of Charlottesville, Virginia. I bred my first litter here in 2007, from a tricolor bitch who had finished her championship the previous autumn. Nearly every Cavalier in the house today descends from her or from the Blenheim line I added in 2012.
We breed particolors only, Blenheim and tricolor, and we whelp one or two litters a year. That limit is deliberate. A Cavalier's heart cannot be judged at two years old, so a responsible program has to keep its dogs, examine them every year, and wait. Our retired champions live out their lives here, and their cardiology reports at nine and ten years old tell us more about a planned litter than anything else we own.
Current Litters
Puppies of Distinction
Daisy × Tobias
Ready to Go Home · October 18, 2026
Five puppies, three dogs and two bitches, born on 2 August 2026 by natural whelping: three Blenheims and two tricolors. Tobias is a tricolor who carries Blenheim and Daisy is a Blenheim, so both colors were expected in roughly equal numbers. Birth weights ran from 6.8 to 8.1 ounces and all five had doubled by day nine. Daisy was clear by cardiologist in March 2026 at four and a half, and Tobias in April 2026 at three years and three months. Both have been MRI screened with no syrinx. All four grandparents were heart-clear past five. The puppies are named for English rivers. They are seven weeks old, on three meals a day, reliable on a litter tray, and have had their first car rides. The photographs on the orange blanket were taken at four and a half weeks and the basket portraits this week. We evaluate the litter at eight weeks and match companion puppies after that. They go home from 18 October, at eleven weeks.
Daisy
Dam
Tobias
Sire
Born August 2, 2026
This Litter
Avon · Tricolor
Male
Severn · Blenheim
Male
Wye · Blenheim
Male
Eden · Blenheim
Female
Tamar · Tricolor
Female
What We Offer
The standard our puppies are raised to.
Decades of careful breeding distilled into every part of our program.
Available Puppies
Browse our current litters and the puppies still seeking a home of distinction.
Our Foundation
Every puppy's pedigree begins with its parents — health-tested sires and dams of proven lineage.
Health Guarantee
Every puppy leaves under a written contract. We guarantee for three years against hereditary conditions that are life-threatening or that materially shorten a normal life, as confirmed by a veterinary specialist. The cardiac portion runs to the fifth birthday: if a board-certified cardiologist diagnoses mitral valve disease before age five, we refund half the purchase price and you keep your dog. No Cavalier breeder can honestly promise a heart free of disease for life, and we do not. What we promise is that every generation behind your puppy was examined by a cardiologist, that you may read those reports before you commit, and that we will take any Aldermere dog back at any age.
Why Choose Us
The hallmarks of our line.
Hearts examined every year
Each breeding dog sees a board-certified cardiologist annually from its first birthday until the end of its life. We breed only under the MVD protocol: both parents clear at two and a half or older, and all four grandparents clear at five.
One or two litters a year
A small program can keep its retired dogs, and their health in old age is the most useful information a Cavalier breeder has. We keep them, test them and publish what we find, including the results we would rather have been better.
Measured in the ring
Our dogs compete in AKC conformation and at ACKCSC and CKCSC, USA specialties. A championship matters less to us than the discipline of having structure, movement and temperament judged against the standard by someone else.
Raised in the house
Puppies are whelped off the kitchen and handled daily. Early Neurological Stimulation begins on day three, a litter tray goes in at three weeks, and crate, car and grooming-table introductions are complete before anyone leaves.
In Their Words
Dogs placed in homes of distinction.
19
Years breeding
104+
Families served
27
Litters whelped
6
Health-tested dogs
Of Interest
Questions, considered.
Mitral valve disease is the leading cause of death in Cavaliers, and nearly every Cavalier will develop a murmur if it lives long enough. The aim of careful breeding is to push the age of onset as late as possible. Each of our breeding dogs is examined every year by a board-certified veterinary cardiologist, by auscultation and with an echocardiogram at intervals, and the results are filed with the OFA. We follow the MVD breeding protocol: a dog is not bred before two and a half years of age, must be clear at that examination, and must have parents who were clear at five years or older. A general-practice veterinarian's stethoscope is not a substitute, and we are glad to show you the cardiologist's signed reports for both parents and all four grandparents.
Where we can. Chiari-like malformation is close to universal in the breed, and syringomyelia can only be assessed by MRI under anesthesia, so screening is costly and not every dog is scanned. Both stud dogs and one of our bitches have been MRI screened at three years or older, and the findings are listed on their pages. A clear scan reduces risk and does not remove it. We will tell you plainly which dogs behind your puppy have been scanned, which have not, and what signs to watch for: scratching at the neck or shoulder without making contact, sensitivity about the head and ears, or yelping when lifted.
Blenheim and tricolor only. The breed has four colors, and the two whole colors, ruby and black and tan, are traditionally bred separately from the particolors so that markings stay clean. Blenheim is recessive, so two Blenheim parents produce only Blenheim puppies. A tricolor bred to a Blenheim will produce both colors if the tricolor carries Blenheim, and only tricolors if it does not. Each litter announcement states which colors are possible. The thumbprint of chestnut that some Blenheims carry on top of the head, the lozenge, is prized and cannot be bred for with any reliability.
Between ten and twelve weeks. Cavaliers are a toy breed and mature a little more slowly than larger dogs, and those extra weeks with their dam and littermates show later in bite inhibition and confidence. By the time they leave, puppies have had two vaccinations, two veterinary examinations, an eye examination by a veterinary ophthalmologist and a cardiac auscultation, and they are sleeping in a crate, used to the car and reliable on a litter tray or grass pad.
Begin Your Inquiry
A pedigree worthy
of your home.
We welcome thoughtful inquiries from discerning homes. Please write to begin the conversation.