Would You Trust This Dog? (to be a nurse?)

Not really dog related or bichon related or animal related but I went to the doctor today. I'm glad I did, it's a blood clot. (see previous post for clarification and some nice pictures of a fat leg) Maybe superficial but we won't know till the ultrasound and I'm supposed to stay off of it as much as possible till Friday when I get the ultrasound. I'm off work with doctors excuse. Anyway notice the sort of strange look on the dogs face and the tongue sticking out, does he impress you as being really caring and trustworthy? Just kidding, everyone knows he worships the ground I walk on (as long as I'm devoting my entire being to him and possibly getting him CHEESE) and I love him more than I have ever let myself love a dog before. My cousin also lives next door in case I really need help with something.

So I went grocery shopping, and did as little walking as possible, took my doctors excuse by work and now I'm home contemplating my lack of new books. I can lay in the sun, riding the lawnmower doesn't do much for tanning the backs of your legs. If I do have a deep blood clot the doctor said something about self injections @ home with blood thinners but he was probably trying to mess with my head, not that he would do that but he is my cousin. We come from a family that didn't have dogs in the house in past generations, I have two dogs, my cousin has two dogs, my other cousins have a CAT, what is this world coming to?? tee hee hee

So I will probably be blogging and suntanning, I think it's OK if I walk a bit so will get some pictures, doctor said just to take it easy. I can see Dispatch plotting, he's thinking she can't move much and can't do much this means she can hold ME on her lap more and scratch my itchy spots and do the puppy massages we do and ask me if I love her and I'll wag my tail just so she keeps it up!

Home Grooming A Bichon Frise

I home groom my Bichon Frise Dispatch, Bichons are some of the most labor intensive dogs to groom but the results are well worth it. If you prefer you can use a trimmer and go for a more all over shorter cut for your Bichon Frise but my husband likes Dispatch to be fluffier. I compromise during the summer and since I've found this marvelous link on this forum bichon.ca I decided to try scissoring myself (it has illustrations, a lifesaver). I use a simple pin brush I got from petsmart, a little slicker brush I found on sale @ Wal Mart, a detangling comb and ouchless brush I think I got from petsmart also. And a pair of generic scissors, they turned out to work better than my good ones that were specifically to trim dogs. Bichons have LOTS of curves so a pair of curved scissors would be a good investment also but I did this without them. Dispatch is not good when I groom him but he's getting better. For absolute before pictures see the previous post, he hadn't been thouroughly trimmed for 2 or more months and was rather shaggy. I hate to break my tone of this post by saying something funny but I know why bichons are small dogs! If they were bigger they would be shaved and they aren't pretty shaved. Seriously though, grooming a bichon is a time consuming process but actually all this probably only took me a 2-3 hours and that included brushing, trimming, brushing again, trimming, bathing, brushing again and final trim and brushing once more. If I had kept up with the brushing and bathing better and not let his hair get so long I probably could have gotten it down to a little over an hour.




This is him after the first brushing and trim. You might not see any difference between him in the video and him now but trust me there is about an inch or so of hair off of his back and I've started to shape his legs.


It was getting late and I decided we needed a good nights sleep to continue. As you can see my grooming table is the all purpose patio table when the weather is warm.
This is him this morning after further leg shaping and face shaping, his eyes are squinted because he thinks the flash is going to go off, fooled him! His hair on his legs is probably over 1 inch long, that on his back toward his rear is 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. You aren't supposed to give a bichon a tuck on his belly like poodles have but Dispatch is so sensitive about being trimmed near his man parts I'm like doing it while holding him so he has a slight tuck.
Now the bath which you can see he is SO very happy about, I used mild flea shampoo and then whitening shampoo, I ususally use conditioner to make brushing easier but he hates getting rinsed so much I decided to use no more tangles on his legs, his head and back are easy to brush, his head becuase it's fairly straight and his back because it's so short and he doesn't mind having it brushed. I did use the pedipaws on his nails too.
This is him all clean and white, first I towel dried him and then after a bit we went outside for the brushing and final trim. He is probably/maybe part poodle so he is really curly, you have to brush a bichon while they are wet to get the fluffy straight look. If you really want to know more about bichons and what owning one involves the best source for information is once again the bichon.ca forum I think. You can see a few of my pitiful grooming tools on the table along with the sheets of drawings I have printed out for reference. The dog continuously faces me hoping beyond hope I will take him off the table so that's why he's not quite sideways. The biggest mistake I found myself making or overlooking is trimming under his round head hair on his neck to give his head shape. That and the ledge above the eyes make up the typical bichon "look" plus of course the plume of a tail and the cylindrical legs. And them walking around on their hind legs because they want to be picked up, or fed, or entertained?
This is the wild groomed bichon in the wind. I see a couple points on his rear that need smoothed and a couple more on his front leg and chin but that could have been the wind.
And here are the three amigos, Dispatch, Skeeter, and Mugsey who is really alive, just goes into chill mode quickly. And that is how you groom a bichon. Trust me my previous trims have NOT turned out so well.

Bichon Frise Puppies Pictures

Ok, folks here are the bichon puppy pictures I promised.


And here they are about a week old.



Aren't they adorable? The lady in the middle is their vet. Yes they've already been to the vet and pronounced beautiful healthy bichon puppies. The mother's name is Champion Bestow's Gift of Grace (doesn't she look like she's just so happy to have puppies?), yes champion, these are not your run of the mill bichon frise puppies. We prefer to call the mama Ruthy though or rather her "mama" does, I've not had the pleasure of meeting her or the puppies in person. The breeder is the breeder of many champion dogs, sire and dam are handpicked for the best qualities. The breeder also lectures and writes on many subjects ranging from canine care to nutrition, she also grooms and is knowledgeable about all canine subjects. But getting down to brass tacks her bichons are more spoiled than mine is basically. The dogs are raised in the breeders home and are well on their way to being socialized. Not all these puppies will be show dogs but some will.

If you are interested in one of these puppies email me @ moads4u@gmail.com and I will forward your email to her. Be forewarned though, she has the strictest policies as to where the bichon puppies go. They will go to non smoking homes and be kept inside, no ifs ands or buts. She keeps the puppies till they are 12 weeks of age and has a very detailed review of the potential owners, she is located in California. The mother dogs are only allowed to breed a limited number of times, I believe 3 but I may be wrong and the intervals are carefully spaced for optimum health of the mother and puppies.

And now here is a picture of one of the breeders other dogs, doesn't he look happy? He should he just won best of breed. But he's happy anyway just to be a bichon. His name is Champion Bestows Pillar of Strength or Rocky. He's a real looker isn't he?

So far the worst thing I've found about bichons is they make for difficult typing. The left arm is almost useless as it is the support for my dog, he is allowing me partial use of it now but if it's serious cuddle time he must be supported so he is held sitting on my lap but upright with his head resting on my shoulder. This makes for optimum viewing of the window where the cats might appear or a dog and perhaps a car may go by, if things get dull the head gets lower till it's nap time.

When the puppies are a little older I will post more pictures.