Little Dickens

Little Dickens

June 2006

Hi my name is Dickens. I am a Bichon Frise.
I was born on January 22, 2006.

Here is my story.

I don't remember my first home very well, but I think
I was brought into the world by a breeder, whatever that is.
Somebody bought me, and took me home, but she was not very
happy when I started chewing things. I tried to explain to my
new owner -- that puppies are supposed to chew-- but
I guess she didn't understand, because the
next thing I knew, I had been placed into "rescue."

A nice rescue organization for bichons frises called Small
Paws Rescue put me in a wonderful home with great people
named Jeanne and Jim Rothe.

I thought I was in heaven. The Rothe's
have a bichon named Lacey, and they had another
rescued bichon whose name was Louie. They were were very kind
to me, and had a fun back yard where I could run and blitz.
They told me that I would soon be going to another, forever home.
The Rothe's are the kind of nice people who volunteer
to keep foster dogs until they find another home.
Jeanne and Jim knew a family who was still very sad
because they lost their bichon Widget several months ago.
Maybe I could cheer them up.

The biggest question was:
would their other bichon Miss Lily like me????

When I met Miss Lily, I thought I had found the best chew
toy in the world! I chewed her ears, her tail, her face...
and then BOOM, she took her paw and flipped me over on
my back and held me down for a while. Everyone thought
this was hilarious.

Pretty soon Miss Lily let me know WHEN and
HOW HARD I could chew her before I got the flip. It was
sure a lot of fun! In my newly created list of wonderful
things in the world... first came the Rothe Family, next came Miss Lily.

However, I thought I've give my new Mom and Dad a
chance to get on that list too. So we all went
to my new home.

Here's...DAD

Here's... MOM.

When we arrived home, my new name became Dickens.
My new Mom and Dad sat me down,
and explained to me what big paws I had to fill because of course
Widget had been their ANGEL dog. They showed me the tree in
their yard that was dedicated to Widget. In springtime, it has white,
fluffy blossoms like little bichons.

Lily supervised Dad while he planted the tree.

Here is Widget's plaque.

I had a photo taken on the rug, just like Widget and
Lily did.

My new house was filled with hundreds of chew toys. I had an inside
dog yard, and a dog playpen.

Here is my inside dog yard. It may look messy to you,
but it was my little private "space," complete with chewies, cuddlies,
food, water, and great blankets made just for me by my Small
Paws friends.

Pretty soon I got to meet
the groomer Bryan and of course our photographer Dawn.

The dog trainer also came.
After that, my hearing started to improve, and I could
hear the word "no" (fairly frequently). I also found out how
namby-pamby these humans are about puppy teeth. They don't
ever want my teeth on them! Oh well, I just started chewing
the chew toys instead.

I was taken out into the yard about every
two seconds to "hurry." As soon as I figured out that I wasn't supposed
to "hurry" in bed, I was allowed into the king-size bed (but we won't
mention that to the trainer.)