No wonder dog and man are best friends. They have so many things in common…
…like allergies. (…)

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, but if your Bichon Frise has dander…. (…)

“It just breaks my heart.”
This is a comment frequently expressed by owners of Bichon Frise dogs that are prone to allergies. (…)

Boy! Our Sprite is sure a high maintenance dog! (…)

Our quest had begun…. Unfortunately, we encountered a major road block while trying to come up with the ideal dog breed that would be a good addition to our family. Our son is allergic to almost everything! I asked our pediatrician about getting a dog, but his response was very negative. 
It was his opinion that since our son is allergic to cats, a dog's dander would make him react just the same. Dander?  Hmmmm….  What's that?!? I made a lot of library searches, and found out that it isn't the dog hair, but the dead skin that is stuck to the dog hair (dander) that makes people with allergies react. Since I wasn't very computer-oriented eleven years ago, finding a hypoallergenic dog breed meant having to look through many books about dogs.  
After doing a lot of research, I was able to determine that we had to get a dog that didn't shed, which meant that it wouldn't leave dog hairs all over the house with dander attached to them. (I don't think that is the actual scientific "formula", but it's what I understood!) We had to go with a breed that has to have its hair cut, rather than sheds it off. 
We had to be sure of getting the right dog, because we were making a long term commitment, not a temporary one. A friend of mine had told me about her neighbor getting a puppy for their family and then having to get rid of it after it was found that the son had an allergy of the dog. That wasn't a mistake we were going to make!

My husband and I thought that our family was complete. Our daughter was in the third grade, our son in the fifth, and we lived in a location that made it very attractive for family members to visit us. My parents visited us yearly, which was a great treat for all of us, except for the anxiety/trepidation that our daughter experienced. She was very frightened of dogs, and since my father's stroke, all of his visits included his loving side-kick Aspen, a devoted Cocker Spaniel. My daughter kept a constant eye on Aspen, trying desperately to enjoy his presence, but always wanting to know exactly where he was, and what he was up to. 
At my father's suggestion, we decided that we should add a puppy to our family, so that our daughter could get over her fears for all dogs, no matter how loving or docile their temperaments. Thus began our quest for the perfect dog to add to our family. We had several requirements to fill, and the  Bichon Frise temperament, along with its hypoallergenic qualities, are what convinced us that a Bichon Frise puppy was the dog breed for us. (…)