Bichon Frise

Bichon Frises are joyful, active, intelligent and usually friendly. They learn well with reward-based training techniques, allowing them to enjoy a vast array of activities such as learning tricks, retrieving and agility. Bichon Frises can also bond with people by being animal-assisted therapy dogs. Because of their reputation as a good family dog, they are allowed around children but as with all dogs, close supervision is needed to prevent accidental injury to the child or dog and avoid the dog's subsequently developing fear-based defensive aggression.

Bichon Frise History:

The Bichon Frise has been in existence since the Renaissance period and is thought to have origins from the Barbet or Water Spaniel. Spanish sailors brought the dogs with them to the Canary Islands and they were re-imported into Europe due to their popularity with Italian and Spanish noblemen. The early popularity of the breed is evident, as French invaders of Italy in the sixteenth century brought some of the dogs home with them. The Bichon Frise was established in French royal court society and its peak of popularity came under the reign of Henry III. Treated almost as though they themselves were of royal blood, the royal court Bichons had loving attention. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Bichon Frise was associated with traveling circuses and served as catchpennies for street beggars, distant from the favour of the royal court. At the end of first World War, the Bichon Frise became hugely popular again in France. The first litter born in the United States was in 1956 and the Bichon Frise was officially admitted to the American Kennel Club Studbook in 1972.