A Happy Bichon Frise!

Fritz was our puppy for 17 years. He was such an integral part of our family…actually like another child. He sort of missed out on the growing up part. Fritz was everywhere at once…excitable, constantly moving, greeting everyone who happened to visit like they were celebrities. I never called him a “dog”. The word “dog” was too serious for him! Fritz always acted like a happy, happy puppy!

Fritz was a Bijon Frise. He believed that he was very elegant. He acted like he knew good and well that he was supposed to receive every bit of adoration and attention that was available…and then some. Actually, you could tell by looking in his eyes that he was basically fancy. To me, elegant means fancy.

Our puppy was not that elegant when he ran through piles of leaves that were piled in the backyard and the leaves stuck in his curly white fur. Our puppy was not that elegant when he jumped from one sofa to the other in the family room…back and forth, back and forth. Our puppy was not that elegant when he jumped into the pool before anyone told him that it was ok to do so. In fact, he was told “No! No!”. Again, his curly white fur was not that elegant when wet. In the front of our house, he was the picture of good behavior.

The backyard pushed him overboard on the excitement level. Blame me for that. Whenever, he went into the front of our house, I had him on a leash…a brightly colored special leash. There is no telling where he would have gone without that leash. Across the street and around the corner were the best guesses. He was not trained to be a perfectly behaved and elegant puppy.

Again…blame me! We had never had an inside puppy and I told everyone in my family that I could handle the training. No way! I should have gone to a behavior modification class myself. And maybe there is a reason for his behavior…not to make excuses or anything like that! Fritz came to us when he was about four months old by very different circumstances.

Our good friends had a beautiful Bichon Frise (rather elegant, I would say!). When we would go over to their house, their Bichon…Tuffy…would pay an inordinate amount of attention to my husband. He paid a short, but polite amount of attention to me. Of course, my husband liked Tuffy a lot. I thought that this might be my big chance to get an inside puppy. I could find a puppy Bichon! I just happened to mention my plan to my friend…Tuffy’s human mom.

My friend took this announcement as a serious challenge. Within a day or two, she found a Bichon Frise advertised in the newspaper. Good price, all shots completed, great health, excellent with children, friendly…an ideal puppy for us, but needed some training. I was teaching school when she read the ad, so she called the owner who placed the ad and drove over to meet the puppy. As it turned out,  the “for sale” puppy had belonged to the man’s wife. She lost her battle from a serious illness just a week or so before he placed the ad. I am sure that her puppy made him very sad. He wanted to find a good home for Fritz…a home with children. My friend bought Fritz on the spot and told me when I got home from school.

SURPRISE to me…that is for sure! I was thrilled, but my husband was a bit questionable about the whole situation. We decided that we could “try out” the puppy for the weekend and my friend said that if it did not work out…that they would keep Fritz. They would love to have two Bichons. So Fritz came over to our house for the trial weekend and stayed for seventeen non-elegant years! He slowed down for the last few months because of sudden poor health…he was getting really old for a Bichon. We were crushed, but understood that his quality of life was diminished.

When the time came, we had him buried at a pretty pet cemetery under a shade tree. I chose a little white box for him to be buried in with a satin blanket. Perhaps, I became somewhat carried away. However, Fritz brought us such happiness and love and dedication. We were his forever family. He was very, very elegant with that satin blanket.

Bichon Frise on grass with chew toy

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