Hello all and happy new year :) Just looking for some advice regarding my dog's behaviour - he's a 10 month old Cavalier x toy poodle (supposedly), we've had him since 8 weeks old and he's our first dog. But he's remarkably ball obsessive, tug obsessive and does herding poses when you throw balls for him (either fully crouching down, staring at the ball - or crouching with his bottom in the air, one foot forward, staring at the ball. Sometimes he also "stalks" before pouncing). I didn't realise that Cavaliers or poodles were meant to be this drivey? There's just something about this behaviour which, to me, doesn't say "cavapoo" - but I'm wondering whether I just don't know the individual breeds well enough to judge.

I have two young Cavaliers which play 'wilder beast and Tiger' all the time, stalking, slow motion creeping and pouncing. My adults quarter the ground, point and flush. Still full of spaniel instincts.

Your puppy isn't "herding"he is simulating hunting, both breeds were originally retrieving breeds(the poodle being a water retrieving German breed & the Cavalier a woodcock retriever as well as a vermin controller in the homes of the courtiers & royal families when it was known as the Royal Spaniel or Blenheim Spaniel depending on who owned them or were they were born. the two breeds were mixed during the close relationship between the Royal family & the Churchill family who own Blenheim Castle)

Oh, thanks, I hadn't realised Cav's were bred to control vermin/retrieve things. I thought they were bred to run alongside horses, and to be companion dogs (lap dogs) - at least, that's what Wiki and the Kennel Club seem to suggest. (I was aware that Poodles were bred to retrieve things.)

"The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel of today is the direct descendant of the small Toy Spaniels seen in so many of the pictures of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Toy Spaniels were quite common as pets of the Court ladies in Tudor times but in this country it was under the Stuarts that they were given the Royal title of King Charles Spaniels. History tells us that King Charles II was seldom seen without two or three or more at his heels.
As time went by, and with the coming of the Dutch Court of William III, Toy Spaniels went out of fashion, being replaced in popularity by the Pug dog with the little black page in attendance. We do not hear much about Toy Spaniels again until the 18th and 19th centuries. At that time the special strain of red and white Toy Spaniels bred at Blenheim Palace by the Dukes of Marlborough were well known for their sporting qualities, as well as for their claims as ladies' companions."

These are typical behaviours for a predator  species young (which all dogs are) .

As Cavaliers are a Spaniel, and Poodles a hunting dog, even though both have been bred down, and away from their origins to be primarily companion breeds, so the traits do not surprise me at all, some pups in any litter will have more of the inherent drives than others.

Agree with what has already been said,I have cavaliers,and one of mine at 9yrs old is still as you describe your dog to be. To have a dog with such drive is  a blessing as it makes training so much easier as the ball,or tug toy etc can be their motivation and reward. My nine year old was so easy to train as an agility dog and made kc grade 7,one of only a handful of cavs ever to achieve this.