A Cavalier, a Bichon, and a cross that stuck
The Cavachon is a first-generation cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bichon Frise, and American breeders started producing it deliberately in the mid-1990s. What makes it interesting is that both sides of the cross were bred for the same thing. Neither parent breed has a working past to fall back on. Both spent centuries being company, and the Cavachon is what happens when you put two of those together.
The Cavalier half comes out of the English court. Small spaniels were the fashionable indoor dog of the Stuart period, and Charles II was so attached to his that the type ended up carrying his name. Over the following two centuries the fashion shifted toward a shorter face, and the long-nosed spaniel of the old portraits gradually disappeared. It came back because of a competition: in 1926 an American named Roswell Eldridge put up prize money at Crufts for anyone who could show him a spaniel of the old type, the kind painted by Van Dyck and Titian. British breeders went looking, and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel we have now was rebuilt from what they found. The AKC recognized it in 1995. Its four colours are Blenheim, the chestnut-and-white pattern named for Blenheim Palace, along with tricolour, black and tan, and the solid red called ruby.
The Bichon Frise came the other way round the Mediterranean, carried on trading ships and named for Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where sailors picked the little white dogs up and traded them on. The breed turned up in the Spanish courts, sat for Goya, and became a favourite of French nobility — the full French name, Bichon a poil frise, simply means the curly-coated bichon. When the fashion moved on, the breed went into the street shows and travelling circuses of nineteenth-century France, which is where it picked up its talent for performing. The AKC recognized the Bichon Frise in 1972.
Small, round, and softer than it photographs
Most adult Cavachons stand around twelve to thirteen inches at the shoulder and weigh somewhere between fifteen and twenty pounds, though a puppy out of larger parents can finish heavier than that. The build is compact and slightly rounded rather than fine-boned — there is more dog in your hands than the photographs suggest, and the weight is the first thing people remark on when they pick one up.
The head is round, the muzzle short but not flat, and the eyes are large, dark and set well apart. The ears are the Cavalier’s contribution: long, low-set, feathered and folded down against the cheeks. The tail is carried up and usually finished with a plume of longer hair.
The coat is the interesting part, because it can land anywhere between the two parents. Some Cavachons come out with the Cavalier’s silk in a gentle wave; others carry the Bichon’s soft curl; most sit somewhere in the middle with a medium-length coat that has body to it. Colours run through white, cream and apricot, plus white broken with tan, apricot, sable or black — the Blenheim-style patterning of chestnut over a white ground turns up often, as does a white blaze up the face. Puppies frequently lighten as they grow, and an apricot puppy can mature into a cream adult with the deeper colour left only on the ears.
The temperament both parents hand down
The Cavachon is a sociable, even-tempered little dog that would rather be with you than anywhere else. From the Cavalier side comes the softness: a dog that reads the room, leans into whoever is nearest, and settles quietly once the household settles. From the Bichon side comes the spring — a comic, bouncy streak that shows up in short bursts, usually right after dinner, and then switches off as quickly as it arrived.
They tend to be easy with everybody. New people, other dogs, cats they have grown up alongside, children who have been shown how to handle a small dog — a Cavachon generally treats all of it as good news. In a household with a lot going on, this is the dog that turns up wherever the noise is and lies down in the middle of it.
They are attentive company. A Cavachon learns which chair you sit in, which shoes mean a walk, and roughly what time dinner is, and it will be waiting in the right place before you get there. Both parent breeds show up often in therapy work for the same reason: they like people, they read a mood, and they are content to sit still for as long as sitting still is what is wanted. Building short, ordinary absences into the routine from the first week — a stuffed chew, no ceremony going out or coming back — sets up a dog that is easy to leave and delighted to see you.
Coat care as a weekly habit
Plan on a brush three or four times a week and a groomer every couple of months, and the coat looks after itself. Most owners settle into a short trim all over, sometimes called a puppy cut, which keeps a Cavachon looking like a Cavachon and keeps the weekly routine to a few minutes.
Use a pin brush first to get through the length, then a metal comb right down to the skin rather than skating over the top. A light mist of leave-in conditioner makes the comb glide. The spots worth a little extra care are the ones that get most contact: behind the ears, under the collar, in the armpits and along the backs of the legs.
The ears are long and feathered, so wipe them with a soft cloth once a week while you have the dog on your lap. Nails get clipped about once a month, or whenever you hear them on a hard floor. Teeth get brushed daily if you can manage it, started early enough that the toothbrush registers as a game. Baths are occasional, and always followed by a full dry and a comb-through.
Teaching a dog that would rather agree with you
Cavachons are quick, and they are motivated almost entirely by approval. Praise, a light hand and a piece of chicken will get you anywhere. Keep sessions to a few minutes, ask for one thing at a time, and finish while the dog still wants another round. Because they are so responsive to tone, warmth does more work than repetition — a bright voice and an obvious reward and a Cavachon will offer the behaviour again immediately, just to see it land.
House training runs on a schedule rather than a signal. A crate that the puppy likes, a fixed rhythm of trips outside after waking, eating and playing, and going out with the puppy so you can pay the right thing in the right place will get you there. Think in months rather than weeks, and keep the crate a pleasant place with a chew in it.
Start with sit, come and stay, then keep going, because this is a breed that enjoys learning far past the basics. Spin, paw, roll over, find-it games with a treat under one of three cups, a little scent work, even small agility — a Cavachon will take on all of it, and five minutes of trick training before dinner does more for its contentment than an extra lap of the block.
A day in the middle of the family
Mornings are social. A Cavachon will be awake before you are, waiting politely at the edge of the bed for confirmation that the day has started, and breakfast is greeted as though it were a surprise.
A walk comes next, and it is a modest one — twenty or thirty minutes at a comfortable pace, or two shorter outings split across the day. Small dogs bank their exercise in instalments, and a Cavachon is happy to take half of the day’s activity in the living room in the form of a thrown toy.
The middle of the day is for company. A Cavachon will follow you between rooms, sit on your feet while you cook, and sleep against your leg while you work. In warm weather the walks move to the early and late hours, with shade and water in between and grass rather than hot asphalt underfoot.
Evenings are the whole point of the breed. A game, a food puzzle, a few minutes of tricks, and then a Cavachon folded into someone’s lap for the rest of the night with its chin over a knee, entirely where it wanted to be.
Coming to meet the Cavachon puppies
Photographs flatten this breed into a teddy bear. In person a Cavachon puppy is small, solid and surprisingly bright, and it comes straight over to see who you are. Coat texture and markings read completely differently in your hands, and littermates differ more in personality than they do in looks.
Our Cavachon puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you what a particular puppy’s parents were like and what the grooming routine really looks like week to week. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit on the floor with a puppy for as long as you like before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.