Bichon Frise: Tidbits

Let them eat cake!
The Bichon Frise is classified as a companion dog and a Non-Sporting breed. By the American Kennel Club. The Non-Sporting Group is a diverse club consisting of purebred dog breeds that don’t fit into other groupings. This diverse group differs in physical appearance, temperament and ancestry. Many of these Non-Sporting Breeds have changed along with the times to adapt to their surrounding societies. A good example of this is during the French Revolution The Bichon Frise once lived in the lap of luxury with Marie Antoinette but lost its standing in the Royal Court only to be embraced by the common man and survived by becoming a circus and street performer.

How many is that in dog years?
Although there’s been much debate about age comparisons between dogs and humans we’ve found the following comparison between the Bichon Frise Breed and Humans as follows:

1 year old dog = 16 year old man/woman
2 dog year old dog = 24 year man/woman
3 year old dog = 30year old man/woman

For each dog year thereafter add 5 human years to each dog year to determine dog’s age.

What’s in a name?
Bichon Frise, which means “curly lap dog” in French descended from the lap dog, Barbet or Water Spaniel called “Barbichon” which was later, shortened to “Bichon”.

Eventually four distinct types of Bichons emerged:

Bichon Havanese (developed in Cuba).

Bichon Maltaise (from Malta, which later became extinct but some people believed them to be forerunners of the Maltese breed).

Bichon Bolognaise (lived in Bologna)

Bichon Teneriffe (developed from Canary Islands) also known as Tenerife dog, Bichon a poil fries and Bichon Frise.

The American Kennel Club first registered Bichon Frise aka Bichon Tenerife aka Bichon a poil fries in 1972.

Yuppie Puppies
The Bichon Frise was one of the smaller breeds that became known as one of the “Yuppie Puppies” in the 1980’s. This resulted in some Bichons being over-bred with some breed lines becoming a little snippy.
 

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