My Strange and Wonderful Spaniel

I have owned a few different breeds of dogs in my life, but up until now, never a Spaniel. In fact, until we moved to Edinburgh I had never even "seen" a Spaniel. Since I have to pet dogs to be able to see them, I am sure this is why I had never seen a Spaniel before. Where I grew up, people had big dogs-German Shepherds, Labradors, Collies and mixes of these medium to large breeds. So, I didn't exactly know what I was getting myself into when we picked a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel as our newest family member back in February of this year. Everything I read said that they were the calmest of the Spaniel family and the perfect lap dog. I haven't owned another type of Spaniel, but my condolences go out to those dog owners. ;)
How do you ever get to sit down? If I had a tail, Hermione would have me chasing it from the time she wakes up in the morning until we go to bed at night. (I say that as she naps on the couch beside me. I may be exaggerating a bit, but just a bit). :)
 To be honest, I'd never have another breed; unless I could have a Great Dane, or a Mastiff, or a Husky or...okay...you get the point.  I love her, but she is undoubtedly a nut.
You never know what Hermione Sophia will do next. She holds perfect points at unsuspecting prey with no training; she death shakes her toys and sounds like an evil Wolverine who weighs only 5 kilograms; she jumps as high as my hip or higher even though her head hardly clears half way up my calf; and so much more. We met her mom, but part of me wonders if her dad had been a Cocker Spaniel instead because of her hunting tendencies, but the breeders assured us she was a purebred. Honestly, who cares. She's one of the coolest little dogs I've met and I'm not saying that because she's mine.
I know she can be a bit much for some people, but in  her defense she's still a puppy and her training is coming along quite nicely. In fact, Mr. K and I have thrown around the idea of putting her into agility; note the comment above about how high she can jump.
Of course she has her holy terror moments where I want to pull out my hair; note previous comment about death shaking/wolverining everything. Not to mention, she must have been a paper shredder in her previous life because she will destroy any paper she comes across. And, it's not like she just comes across it and destroys. Oh no! She seeks paper to shred into little bits, turning our couch or living room floor into a shredded paper graveyard. Despite her crazy antics, she can be super sweet and she always manages to surprise you.
Most dogs aren't huge fans of grooming. Glacier used to try to make himself really small if he saw me coming with the Zoom groom; not easy for a 35 kilogram Labrador. Jetta just used to run as fast as she could; and that was fast. Roscoe pretends he's not there, but I always find him. Otis hasn't figured out how he feels about it yet. Most will tolerate it, but most don't enjoy it. Not Hermione. She loves being combed. All I have to do is pick up the comb, she hops in my lap and she stretches out to be combed. Her ears in particular are her favourite. How weird is that? If I start combing those beautiful feathery ears of hers, she goes to sleep and she won't wake up or move until I have stopped combing.
Do you see what I mean when I say she's strange?
She chases anything that moves, stalks paper victims and death shakes her fleece tug toy until it slaps her in the head violently, but get out the grooming comb and she settles in for the long haul. Mr. K thinks it's because she likes to be pretty. I'm sure he's right. She is the princes after all.