Home | Pets | Dog

The Bichon Frise: A Mediterranean Breed 

The Bichon Frise is a descendent of the Barbet or Water Spaniel and is mostly white in color and considered a ladies dog that originates from the Mediterranean region dating as far back as 600-300 B.C. Originally, it was referred to as a Barbichon though this name was later compacted to Bichon of which the four main categories are the Bichon Maltais, the Bichon Havanais, the Bichon Bolognais and the Bichon Tenerife. The Bichon Frise is also a very charming creature that belongs to the non-sporting classification of the American Kennel Club and is in fact mostly used as a companion or show dog.

From the time it first began to be reared, the Bichon Frise has always been used as a companion dog and is not one that retrieves fowl from the water as its ancestor the Water Spaniel did, and instead, this toy sized breed is thus ideally suited for being a companion dog and not a hunting dog.

The Bichon Frise, from the time of the Renaissance was called the Bichon Tenerife, which obviously alludes to its origins from the Canary Islands. But its early masters, the Spanish sailors of the early fourteenth century, affectionately named it the Bichon Tenerife.

It later became a pet most favored by both Italian and Spanish nobility and only in the reign of Francis I during the sixteenth century, did the Bichon Frise become established in French royal courts and its popularity peaked under the reign of Henry III of France towards the latter part of the sixteenth century.

However, in the 1930s he was bred once more by determined French breeders and that is when it was officially recognized as being the Bichon Frise by the Federation Cynologique International, and later in the fifties he was brought over to the United States where he was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1971 and ever since then, the Bichon Frise has enjoyed some amount of popularity and is the preferred pet of the working class.

Interest in the Bichon Frise was once again renewed after World War I, and it was bred under strict control, and on March 5, 1933 the official Bichon Frise Standard was adopted by Societe Centrale Canine of France.

Even though the fortunes of the Bichon Frise have undergone a fair share of ups and downs, the breed survived because of its immensely likeable nature and also because of his ability to perform tricks, and after he came to the U.S. he has won over the heart of the working class who find him to be an excellent companion as also a show dog.

And, in October 1972, the Bichon Frise entered into the American Kennel Club Stud Book as a non-sporting group, which is the brief history of this breed in the U.S.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

About the author: Mary Stevenson is a passionate lover of the Bichon Frise and owns a popular website where you'll discover how to have a happy, healthy and well behaved Bichon Frise. Among other topics there, you will find out more about Bichon Frise Training plus a whole lot more. Click here for other unique bichon frise articles.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entiretly, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE VISIBLE links (without "nofollow" tags).