TRAINING AND CARE OF A BICHON FRISE
I am 56 years old and have never, owned a fu-fu dog. A fu-fu dog is a small dog that is usually considered a dog for females, a French Poodle comes to mind. I had always had large dogs, a man\'s dog, German Sheppard\'s, and Lab\'s.
I never paid money for a dog, the dog\'s either found us or we went to the local pound. Technically, I did not buy Bubba, I Inherited him. My Father had passed away in the early nineties and my Mother had a Maltese mix as a companion for her. In 2006 her beloved companion passed away and she swore, she would not get another. In July of 2007 my cousin\'s wife was breading Bichon Frises and she had just had a litter. She was aware of my Mother\'s situation and invited her over to see the puppies. Well, that was it once she saw the little fur balls she fell in love with the runt of the litter. Plans were made for her to pick up the runt, in August after they were weaned. Several days after she picked the puppy up I went by her house to see it.
He was a tiny ball of fur, looked like two small snow balls stuck together, with two small eye\'s that looked more like piece\'s of coal, a small black nose and a wisp of a black line that made up the mouth. As I walked in the door he ran to my Mother, set just to the side of her legs and slightly behind them, peeking out at me. Over the next six months he would not come near me, always hiding behind my Mother and keeping her between me and him. I tried being nice, giving him treats, everything I could think of with no results.
Every other family member, child, adult, male or female he would play with and he would allow them to pet him. Except me, every time he saw me he would run as fast as he could and hide behind my Mother and peek out at me. If I walked around her he would walk behind her legs in order to keep her between me and him, those little coal black eyes unblinking, starring at me. Late in 2007 my Mother was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors decided to do an un-invasive type of surgery, radio frequency ablation (RFA). The day before the procedure was to be done she had to be taken to the emergency room and was admitted to the hospital. She was extremely ill and was kept in the hospital for two month. During that time I was given the task of checking on Bubba.
I was usually at the hospital till noon and would leave to eat and check on Bubba. Bubba would look like a deer caught in the headlights when I walked in the door, wanted to run, but nowhere to hide. I would let him outside for about 20 minutes, check his food and water and then he would sit in the same room with me, but as far away as the walls would allow. This continued for two months while my Mother was in the hospital and never got any better.
I was beginning to really dislike that little fu-fu dog. When my Mother was released from the hospital I moved in with her to assist her, she had become extremely weak and had to have someone with her all the time. Bubba was as happy as he could be to see her, tail wagging, stretching his body as far as he could, like a cat stretching on the side of a couch. Finally, over the next several months Bubba finally accepted me. He was a little ball of energy, always wanting to play. If I couldn\'t play with him he would take his little ball in his mouth, toss his head throwing the ball and then chase it as fast as he could. His ears pulled back, his mouth open and his tail curled up tightly touching his back.
He would run and jump on the couch, race over the back of the couch stop in a crouching position and then launch himself off the couch at full speed. He loved to chase anything that rolled and anything that chased him. My Mother\'s house had wood floors, when Bubba would run around corners he would slide, his little feet moving just as fast as they could trying to gain some sort of traction. Sometimes he would slide into a wall or a piece of furniture, my Mother enjoyed watching him run and play, and would laugh till she would cry.
The care of the little furry rat fell to me. I knew how to train dogs, the same way my Father did, if they went the bathroom on the floor you stuck their nose in it, swatted them with a rolled up news paper and put them outside for awhile, wrong not with a Bichon Frise or as I called him at that time, a bitch\'en Frizzy.