Jazzy, my daughter’s new Bichon Frise puppy

Last week, on my daughter’s 12th birthday, we added a new member to our family – a new Bichon Frise puppy.  But this wasn’t an easy decision.

Eight months ago, our then 11 year old daughter approached us (again) about getting a dog. Up to now my answer has been “No, not until you can completely take care of it yourself”  But this time was different.

She came citing all the areas she had demonstrated being responsible (specifically babysitting and doing some light housekeeping for another family), and how she felt she understood that she would responsible for the dog and what that would entail.

Now our family already has six cats and five fish, besides the six humans that live here. So I really don’t need anything else to take care of, but I felt that she had a good argument and her father agreed.  And so we wrote her out a list of things she needed to do before we could agree to this.

I expected it would take her a while to do everything on the list, but I was wrong. She spent the next week researching her heart out. She did everything and more, learning everything she could about dogs, puppies, breeds, etc. She researched breeds, and then when she selected a breed she researched everything she could about that breed. She switched breeds three times –first it was a Pug, then a Beagle, and finally it was a Bichon.

But then she had to wait for us to be able to afford and find the dog she wanted. But it worked out perfectly. The week of her birthday, we found a 9-week-old Bichon Frise puppy, raised by a family (around kids!) near us. And so, on her birthday, we added a new member to our family.