We used to raise purebred Bichon Frises. But, I had numerous people contact
me saying "I love the personality & non-shed qualities of a Bichon, but was really
looking for a dog in a color other than white." And of course I had to tell them
"I'm sorry, but Bichons come in white, white and....white."
So, I did a lot of research to see what I could do about the color-issue. What I
found was that Cocker Spaniels are an excellent cross with Bichons. Cock-A-Chons tend to keep the hypoallergenic, low/no-shed qualities of the Bichon, but come in a variety of colors. And Cocker Spaniels personalities mix very well with Bichons; they are both happy, energetic, good-natured family dogs who strive to please & are excellent with children. Some of the other small breeds would not be a good choice, because they don't allow the Bichon's no-shed characteristic to come through when mixed with a Bichon.  And many are hyper or don't do well with children, and these negative traits could still carry through, even when mixed with a Bichon.

So once I had decided on the best compatible breed, I was on a mission to find
the "perfect" match for my girls & that would fit what I was trying to breed for:
small, sturdy, active family dogs who have exceptional temperaments & are
absolutely child-friendly, with the added bonus of being no/low-shed &
hypoallergenic.

I found Ranger.

He is AKC registered and is a rare Blue Merle (Blue Roan on his papers, as
AKC does not recognize the Merle gene). You can see information on the merle coloring at the bottom of this page.  Ranger is quite a small Cocker, about 18 lbs, who passes on his small size to his offspring; they tend to stay under 20 lbs.
He was formerly the head sire for a large kennel in the southern US. But, one of
his sons was so exceptional he replaced Ranger as head-sire. Then Ranger went to a show-home where he was scheduled to be shown at the International show. Ranger sired another litter of puppies for this owner, and once again put himself out of a job. He sired an exceptional litter of tri-colored and merle puppies. It was the quality of litter that breeders dream of!Some of the females the breeder decided to keep for future show & breeding stock. So, she put Ranger up for sale, kind of hoping that he wouldn't sell before his show.  She fully expected him to win his classes. His physique is nearly perfect. But, I snatched him up before his scheduled show.

Ranger is now a permanent part of our family and is producing a neat variety
of colored puppies with our Bichons. He is a very laid back dog & is not hyper
or jumpy. He is excellent with our daughters (the baby learned to walk by holding
onto his back...he's always very patient with her!) and is the most devoted dog
I've ever seen. He follows like a shadow and is always sitting faithfully at my feet.  He tries his very best to please & it usually only takes one lesson for him to learn something.

With his small size, his puppies are typically not getting any larger than about
20 lbs. He also sheds very little, so between him & the Bichon mothers, the 
Bichon cross puppies will all be no/low-shed. All his puppies have been
black-based colors (black, black & tan, sable, chocolate). I believe he is
homozygous black, which means he can not produce a buff/red based or
an all-white puppy. And, Ranger has consistently produced a rainbow of colors, with better than 90% of them being merles and partis.  And several of the merles have blue or partial blue eyes!