This (above) is "Duke" - Am/Can Ch Almaza Just Right Duke. Although he was still a puppy in this picture you could already see his potential. A coat that was very dense and time consuming to groom, but a pleasure at the same time. This is the beginning of a "show" grooming.


Let me tell you right off the bat that I am not a professional groomer. I am just a bichon owner of both pet and show bichons, and someone who knows what I like and don't like in bichon grooming styles. I have groomed my own bichons for a good many years so I do have a certain amount of experience with the intricacies of grooming this breed - but I am certainly no expert.

Unfortunately, taking your dog to the Pet Salon for the 'Professional (and often expensive) Grooming Experience' will not always guarantee a satisfactory result. If you have a particular preference in styling you might want to take the groomer a picture of a bichon done the way you like. Remember that the bichon trim is a fairly complicated piece of scissored sculpture, and not as easy to achieve as one might think.

When you pick up your dog and you are critiquing the finished product, take the time to point out what you like and what you don't like about the job that has been done. Be tactful, but be clear. This is more fair and much kinder than just leaving the shop dissatisfied, never to return again.

The bichon pictured at the right came to me for grooming 6 weeks after being groomed elsewhere. The dog had been shaved down, including the legs, and the head had been cut like a poodle! For most Bichon Frise owners, having their dog look like a poodle is an insult. If you ask me, by the look of the dog's droopy tail he too is insulted and even embarrassed.
I was able to partially transform the poodle-look into a sort-of bichon-look. This is a "pet" cut, which is shorter than what would be acceptable to many people, including me, but for ease-of-care is often requested.

For anyone wanting to learn to do the grooming on their own dogs, be prepared to make many mistakes along the way. There are important things to know, however, that will get you started right and I would suggest that you go to BBird's Grooming Blog site for tips. She will also give you information on equipment that you need.

'Posturing' - Challenging for Pack Status

Anytime I have a dog that returns from being away at dog shows, or have a visiting dog, the pack status has to be reassessed, it seems. Noisy and nervous-making for some people, but perfectly normal canine activity.

The introduction of another adult dog into the existing group should be done carefully and with supervision. Usually all goes relatively smoothly - just the regular butt-sniffing and challenging behavior that you would expect. With very assertive dogs (and I have a few), there can be a fair bit of posturing accompanied by some growls. If the new dog is quite submissive I need to be careful of the number of dogs I expose it to initially. The others can decide to gang up on it and if not controlled the situation can turn nasty.

If someone should step in protectively too quickly it may communicate the wrong message to the dogs. They may perceive that perhaps you need protecting or that the other dog is weak. Almost always the pack does its own handling of "who's the boss" very well themselves and the less interference from us the better.

The key to good supervision is being able to read the dogs' verbal and non-verbal signals correctly. Does one of the dogs turn his head so that there is not eye-to-eye confrontation happening? That's good. Wagging tail? Good. Raised hackles? Not good. Lifting upper lip and Baring teeth? Not so good.

Challenging another dog is one thing; full out aggression is quite another. A little growling and even a little tussling is part of the natural process of figuring out what the pecking order of the pack will be, but don't allow it to disintegrate into the kind of fighting where one or more of the animals could get injured.

Usually within 10 minutes the whole group is running and socializing and getting along famously. Each comfortable with their understanding of their place in the pack.

I don't know which is sweeter - puppies or granddaughters. This particular little girl is my precious 4 year old granddaughter, Chloe.

Duke and Meisje are pleased to announce the arrival of 4 healthy puppies, born on September/06. 3 have been 'adopted' by wonderful families; 1 little girl is staying here at Heaven's Bichons. Here is a short video of the last 2 remaining pups just prior to them being separated.

A husband living in a multi-dog household ought to know that rat poison is NOT a safe way to eradicate vermin...but mine thought he had hidden it well under the shed.

Thankfully, I go out with my dogs when they are in the yard and noticed within 5 minutes that 6 of them were unusually engrossed in something. It was a package of Warfarin-based rat poison. Very quickly I syringed hydrogen peroxide into each of them, and they all vomited. I repeated the peroxide and everybody vomited again (I thought). I had not actually witnessed one of the dogs vomiting, but presumed she had. Never presume.

Off to the vet for Vitamin K1 injections and bloodwork which revealed that the one girl was affected. She is now on Vitamin K by mouth for the next 5 weeks. A very scary episode and one that I hope none of you will ever experience. Would you know what to do if it happened to your dog?