How We Decided to Breed Cock-A-Chons and Get "Ranger":
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 On the "Breeds, Health & Colors"
page of this websire. 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 & the rest
is history!
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!
Meet Our Dogs
On the deck.
Here you can see all of Ranger's pretty colors!
We got 18" of show this day!
Sleeping under my desk by my feet.
Being a Mooch in the kitchen.
Sitting Pretty!
Don't tell anybody you caught me sleeping with the cat! Oh how humiliating!!
He likes sleeping in the baby's "Boppy Pillow"
Our Girls:
A quick note about hair-doo-s*
We live in the country on a farmette & the dogs are very much a part of our active lives. They go all over with us and spend a great deal of time running around outside with us. You'll notice that in most of the pictures the dogs' hair is trimmed relatively short. This helps keep the brambles, matts & icky stuff out of their hair. It would be impossible to maintain a "show" groom on them with our lifestyle. The shorter hair style is easier for us and healthier for them.
On this page:
*Our Boy, Ranger
*Why we decided to breed Cock-A-Chons
*About our girls
Our Boy, Ranger:
Ranger is our AKC Daddy Cocker Spaniel & weighs about 18 lbs. Ranger produces better than 90% merle and/or parti. He produces sable, brown, black, black & tan, and parti-colored, any of which can be combined with Merle! He's a very sweet boy who loves nothing more than to tag along or lay at my feet. He's wonderful with the children. He adores them and gives them very thorough face washes if he can sneak some licks in. The baby learned to walk by holding onto his back. He stood there as patient as a saint.
Snuggling with our little girls
"I don't think I like being a princess...."
The "girls" in a breeding program are immensely important. They are the foundation of the program. They not only produce the puppies, but raise & teach the puppies. Many of the puppies personality traits are learned from their mothers. We carefully selected our girls for temperment, as well as overall health & conformation. Our girls are purebred, registered Bichon Frises.
Here is a little about each of them:
Frilly has been retired and re-homed. She had several lovely litters of puppies for us and was a joyous part of our family. A wonderful lady has adopted her and she is a very loved & pampered little princess now. We're so happy that Frilly got such an exceptional lifelong home! Thank You Patti for giving our girl such a great home & family!
Hey, what's up guys??!
Lacy:
Lacy has been retired and re-homed. She was our first Bichon Frise and a very much-loved part of our family. We were able to find a perfect life-long retirement home for her. She's living the high & pampered lifestyle that she deserves!
Frilly:
Penny:
Penny is the newest addition to our family. We purchased her about a year ago as young adult. We will be continuing our Cock-A-Chon breeding program with her since we have retired Lacy and Frilly. Penny is an AKC Bichon Frise. She LOVES to play and has a comical exhuberance for life. She loves children and everybody else. Did I mention that she LOVES to play?? She's got great comformation and temperment. She is about 13 lbs. She has fit into our family perfectly and we love her dearly!
(Better pictures coming soon!)
"I am one of the happiest, goofiest dogs you'll ever meet!
See me laughing?"
Frilly (now "Lilly") At Her New Home
After retiring Lacy & Frilly, our first two Bichon Frise breeding females, we knew that in order to continue our breeding program, we would need to get "replacement" girls. But we were not comfortable getting an adult dog from somewhere else, where we wouldn't be sure of the care & socialization it would have had. So we got pick-of-the-litter of two little girls in a litter of Bichons and we're raising them from puppy-hood on up. This way we know their personalities and exactly how they've been raised. We chose each of them for their own unique reasons. "Petunia" has a purest white coat with great quality. She's a little rascal and loves to be in the midst of any attention or excitement. She's very outgoing and is quite the clown. "Pansy" is a more laid back little gal who loves attention, but is not quite as impish as her sister. She loves to run and play, but she's just as happy laying down next to you and just enjoy your company. She's a white with apricot points and should make some beautiful colors on her future puppies. Both these girls are AKC Bichon Frises. Pictures and more updates coming soon!
