The Bichon Frisé or Bichon à Poil Frisé is a Franco-Belgian

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of small toy dog of bichon

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

. It was recognised by the

Société Centrale Canine The Société centrale canine (), officially the Société Centrale Canine pour l'Amélioration des Races de Chiens en France and abbreviated SCC, is a French kennel club founded in 1881. It is made up of regional clubs and breed clubs, and coord ...

in 1933 and by the

Fédération Cynologique Internationale The (; FCI; ) is the largest international federation of national kennel clubs and purebred registries. The FCI is based in Thuin, Belgium and has 98 members and contract partners (one from each country). History The FCI was founded in 1911 un ...

in 1959.

Etymology

The French word comes from

Middle French Middle French () is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from the other co ...

('small dog'), a diminutive of

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

('female dog', cognate with English ''bitch''), from Old English , and related to other Germanic languages, Germanic words with the same meaning, including Old Norse , and German language, German . Some speculate the origin of to be the result of the

apheresis Apheresis ( ἀφαίρεσις (''aphairesis'', "a taking away")) is a medical technology in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus that separates one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation. ...

, or shortening, of the word ('small poodle'), a derivative of ('shaggy dog'); however, this is likely impossible, since the word (attested 1588) is older than (attested 1694). While the English name for the breed, ''Bichon Frise'', is derived from the French meaning 'curly haired small dog'.

History

The dogs found early success in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and it is generally believed that Spanish seamen introduced the early breed to

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. Their association with European nobility began in the 13th century, entering the royal courts of Spain, Italy and France. In the 14th century, Italian sailors rediscovered the dogs on their voyages and are credited with returning them to continental Europe. The Bichon à Poil Frisé was recognised by the

in 1933. It was definitively accepted by the

in October 1959. Some of the dogs were brought to the United States in 1955"Get to Know the Bichon Frise"
''The American Kennel Club''. Retrieved 30 April 2014. and to the United Kingdom in 1973.

Appearance

The Bichon Frisé is a small dog, standing at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

and weighing approximately , the weight varying in proportion to the height. The skull is rather flat, but may appear rounded; the muzzle tapers only slightly, and constitutes two-fifths of the length of the head. The nose is black, the eyes dark and round. The coat is loosely curled in spirals or corkscrews, with a thick soft undercoat. It is always pure white; only in dogs under a year old may it be slightly tinged with beige, this extending over no more than 10% of the area of the body. The head and legs are proportionate in size to the body.

Health

A 2024 UK study found a life expectancy of 12.5 years for the breed compared to an average of 12.7 for purebreeds and 12 for crossbreeds. An American study looking at immune-mediated hemolytic anemia found a predisposition to the condition in the Bichon Frise, with 9% of cases belonging to the breed despite being 2% of the control population. A study in the UK found the Bichon Frise to be predisposed to gall bladder disease (excluding gall bladder mucocele). The Bichon Frise was found to be 9.26 times more likely to acquire a non-mucocele gall bladder disease than other dogs. File:Toby the Bichon Frisé.jpg, alt=, Pet trim File:Honey Dreams Dancer & Sahra.jpg, Show cut File:16yearoldbichonfrise (cropped).jpg, At sixteen years old

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bichon Frise FCI breeds Companion dogs Toy dogs Dog breeds originating in the Canary Islands Dog breeds originating in Belgium Bichon