[kelly528]

I'd caution you to stay away from "designer breeds" and dogs like a Jack-Tzu are exactly why. I'd be hard-pressed to find two dogs as different in personality, energy level and grooming needs as the jack and the shih-tzu. They could almost be predator and prey!!! I think that as a society we are a little too confident in our ability to create these "franken-dogs" because we automatically assume that we will get the best traits of both breed... That is not how nature works!!! You can cross two different breeds and get completely unique results with every litter. Our quest for the perfect, quintessentially cute, totally-non-shedding, low-maintenance, highly-trainable, great with kids, perfectly-conformed, disease-free dog is little more than a puppy marketing craze that is starting to get out of hand.

Now that I've gotten that off my shoulders...

Consider some of these guys:
-Soft-coated wheaten terrier
-Havanese
-Shih-tzu
-West Highland White terrier
-Bichon frise

All are small, non-shedding, low-medium energy, and quite good with kids.