A bird dog crossed with a boulevard dog
The Cock-A-Chon puts a Cocker Spaniel together with a Bichon Frise, which is a cross between two completely different careers.
The Cocker is the smallest of the land spaniels. British shooting men sorted their spaniels by size and job through the nineteenth century, and the little ones that worked woodcock in thick cover took the bird’s name with them. What the work asked for was stamina, a busy nose and a strong wish to stay in front of a person rather than off on its own. In America a smaller, rounder-headed, more heavily coated version developed and was recognized as a separate breed in 1946, which is why in this country “Cocker Spaniel” means that American type. It stands about thirteen and a half to fifteen and a half inches and weighs somewhere in the twenties, with long feathering on the ears, chest, belly and legs.
The Bichon Frise never had a job beyond company, and it is very good at it. It belongs to the old Barbichon group alongside the Maltese, the Bolognese and the Havanese, and Mediterranean sailors carried them around the trade routes as goods worth trading — the older name, Bichon Tenerife, points at the Canary Islands. They turn up in the Spanish and French courts, and Goya painted one. In the nineteenth century they went to work in the streets as performing dogs, which is where the trick-learning reputation comes from. French and Belgian fanciers wrote a standard in 1933 and settled the name bichon à poil frisé, the curly-coated bichon, and the American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1972.
What the middle ground looks like
There is no standard for the cross, so nobody is writing down what a Cock-A-Chon ought to be, and littermates vary. The usual result is a small-to-medium dog somewhere between twelve and twenty-five pounds and around ten to fifteen inches at the shoulder, with a soft wavy or curly coat, long feathered ears and an appetite for both a walk and a nap. The Cocker is the larger parent and the Bichon the smaller, so where an individual lands depends on which way it leans. Ask our team what a particular puppy’s parents were; it is a better guide than any average.
Colour is wide open too. The Bichon is white, sometimes with cream, apricot or buff shading that shows most in a puppy, and it brings dark eyes with dark pigment around them — the halo — and a black nose. The Cocker brings everything else: black, every solid shade from cream through gold and red to brown, parti-colours, and tan points over the eyes and down the legs. Cross the two and a litter can look like a paint chart.
The curl, the wave and the feathering
A Bichon coat is two layers: a soft dense undercoat under a coarser, curling outer coat. Press it flat with your palm and it springs back, which is the standard’s own test and a very satisfying thing to do to a dog. A Cocker coat is silky, flat or slightly wavy, short and fine over the head, with all the length in the feathering.
A Cock-A-Chon generally lands between the two: Bichon curl carried at Cocker length, or a softer wave with heavy fringes on the ears, chest, belly and the backs of the legs. Curly and wavy coats hold the loose hair in the coat rather than dropping it around the house, which is the whole reason the combing routine matters — what comes out of that coat comes out when you take it out.
The puppy coat gives way to the adult one somewhere between the first birthday and eighteen months, and it usually comes in denser and a little tighter than what you started with. A groomer who knows curly coats will tell you when it is happening.
Grooming on a regular cycle
Comb rather than brush, and comb in sections right down to the skin. Three or four sessions a week keeps a coat like this straightforward, and the places that want the most attention are behind the ears, under the front legs, the armpits of the back legs and the feathering along the belly. Most of these dogs settle onto their side and doze once the rhythm starts.
Then a groomer every four to six weeks. Pick a length at the first appointment and stay with it, because a coat kept at a consistent, comfortable length stays a ten-minute job for the whole of a dog’s life. Keep the hair around the eyes short so the dog can see out, and the paw pads tidy.
The feathering on the legs and belly collects grass seed, sand and the occasional burr, so a quick comb through after a walk on the beach or a run in long grass folds neatly into the routine.
The ears are worth building in deliberately. Both parents contribute long, hair-covered drop ears, and a wipe inside with a soft cloth once a week keeps them clean and gives you an excuse to handle them. Dry them properly after a bath or a swim; in Florida humidity that is the part worth being consistent about. Nails a little and often, and teeth brushed from the first week so a puppy decides the toothbrush is a game.
Temperament and family life
Both parents were selected to enjoy people, from opposite directions, and the cross gets it twice over. The Cocker brings the wish to work alongside somebody and a tail that never quite stops. The Bichon brings an outgoing, cheerful, entirely social little dog that assumes everyone in the room has come to see it. What you end up with is a dog that follows you around the house, greets visitors like old friends, and is happiest in the middle of whatever is going on.
They are good with children and generally easy with other dogs and with cats they have grown up around. Neither parent breed was bred for guarding, and it shows in the manner. They will tell you when somebody arrives at the door, and the routine that works is the one that works for any alert breed: go and look together, thank the dog, get on with the day.
Exercise sits between the two parents. A proper daily walk plus a game and something to think about covers it comfortably. Fetch usually lands well, because the retrieving side is right there in the Cocker, and so do nose games — hide a handful of treats around a room and let the dog work the problem out. Twenty minutes of that does more for a spaniel cross than twice as long spent marching.
In a Florida or Tennessee summer the early and late hours are the pleasant ones for both of you, with shade and water in between, and a shallow paddling pool in the yard is popular with the Cocker side of the family. Short absences are worth building into the routine from the first week, with a chew to work on and no ceremony on the way out or the way back in.
Training a dog that wants to work with you
The spaniel inheritance is the useful part here. A Cocker was bred to check in constantly with the person walking behind it, and that habit makes a Cock-A-Chon genuinely enjoyable to teach. The Bichon side brings the street performer’s talent for learning tricks and then doing them for an audience.
Reward-based training suits both lines completely. A cheerful voice and something worth having gets you further with this cross than anything else. Keep sessions to a few minutes, ask for one thing at a time, mark it the moment it happens, and stop while the dog still wants another go.
Three things repay attention early. Loose-lead walking, so a busy nose and a busy dog stay pleasant company on the pavement. A reliable recall, taught with food and taught in a lot of different places, so a spaniel that has found something interesting still comes back. And calm greetings, because this is an enthusiastic cross and a happy arrival at the front door goes better with four feet on the floor.
Socialization fills the rest of the first year: new floors, car rides, umbrellas, wheeled bins, people in hats, calm adult dogs going about their business. A puppy that has met a hundred ordinary things by six months treats the hundred and first as ordinary too.
Come and meet the Cock-A-Chon puppies
Coat texture and size vary between individual puppies in this cross, and both are things you have to put a hand on. A photograph will not tell you whether a coat is a Bichon curl or a Cocker wave, or how solid a particular puppy feels when it climbs into your lap.
Our Cock-A-Chon puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you how a particular puppy has been getting on day to day. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit on the floor with one 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.