Bichon Frisé

The Bichon Frisé originated in France. “Bichon Frisé” literally means Curly Lap Dog in French. They look a lot like the Maltese breed of dogs, but only larger in size. They are small in build but aren’t brittle or anything. They are sturdy built too. A healthy and fully grown Bichon Frisé weighs in at around 10 to 18 lbs (4 to 7 kg) and they stand tall at around 9 to 12 inches (23 to 30 cm).

They have a silky under coat and a curly outercoat. They have a slight cream accent on the fur mostly on their paws and ears. These accents are accepted by breed standards as long as they occupy less than 10% of the dog’s body. Their tails are not cropped or docked and the hair is trimmed to maintain the fur at even lengths.

They are often referred to as a cheerful and a merry breed that also happen to be very affectionate to their masters and handlers. They get along very well with children and other animals as they are gentle mannered and sensitive too. They are hard to train once they grow old, but if you start training then when they are puppies itself, it’s more the easier.

People often refer to the Bichon Frisés as dogs who don’t shed their fur. This is just misleading and not true. Every hair on the dog goes through a cycle of growth and death. Hence they do shed hair and the amount of times they do it depends from breed to breed. It also depends mainly on the type of weather conditions the dog has been living in. This myth about a dog that does not shed any hair is only a myth.

Daily grooming and brushing is required to keep the Bichon Frisé from losing around a lot of hair. For those people who happen to be allergic to dogs but still would like to have a pet dog, the Bichon Frisés are the best option as the happen to be hypoallergenic. It is also important to note that different people with allergies react differently to different dogs as the saliva and the dander output varies too. On surveys conducted word over, the average life span of a Bichon Frisés stands at around 12-13 years. The Bichon Frisés in UK surveys happened to live a little longer to about 16.5 years than the Bichon Frisés in the U S A surveys. Some registered Bichon Frisés in USA have been reported to live for the maximum of 19 years. The oldest Bichon Frisé was in the state of Illinois of U S A that had died in the month of august of 2008 after having lived for 20 years and 3 months. In the 2004 survey conducted in UK, the most leading cause of death for the Bichon Frisé happened to be because of old age at 23.5% and then came cancer, which was responsible for 21% of the deaths.