Pets
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Anyone with Bichons?
My husband and I are hoping to adopt a Bichon in the next couple of months. Ideally, I would like to adopt a young bichon or bichon mix, less than 2 years old. However, through my searching I am finding that a lot of them say they cannot be in a home with young children. While we don't have children yet, we do hope to have kids in the next few years. I have seen conflicting information about whether the breed is good with children with the majority saying yes. Are we better off with adopting a puppy and exposing them to children at a young age? Or should we just keep looking until we find a young dog that fits? We are looking for a smaller, low shedding dog because we live in an apartment and my husband has a slight allergy but did not have issues with this breed. Thanks!
Re: Anyone with Bichons?
Congrats on your potential new addition! It's awesome that you're looking into adoption. For both the children and the allergy issues, I would say an adult (or older puppy) would be a great way to go.
Regarding kids, each dog is an individual, so even though some breeds are thought to be good with kids, it can vary a lot by dog. Because of this, I would look for a dog that has been fostered with children. That way, you can see how they interact and know that the dog has experience with kids. If you know you're interested in a Bichon/Bichon mix, you could look into a breed-specific rescue in your area and apply for pre-approval, or you can search Petfinder to see Bichons and Bichon mixes in your area and then see which organization they are with. If you are pre-approved, when a potential match comes in, you will be near the top of the list. We did this when we adopted our second pug.
For the allergy issue, I think it's important for YH to meet and spend time with the dog to see if he reacts. Just because he doesn't react to one Bichon does not guarantee he won't react to another. Puppies' coats change as they mature, so it's possible YH could have no reaction to the puppy coat but have a reaction to the adult coat. That's why I would go with an older puppy or adult. HTH!
Certified Veterinary Technician / SAHM
Our Bichon is 8 y/o & has been wonderful with our son (who is almost 4). We adopted her as a puppy, and she had almost no exposure to children in the 4 years before DS was born. Keep in mind too that when you do have children, unless you're adopting a toddler or older child, you'll go through the newborn to baby to toddler stages & hopefully your dog will acclimate gradually though those stages. At least that was our experience.
As for the allergy situation-I did get hives from our dog when she was a puppy, but by the time she was about 1 year didn't have any problem with her "adult" fur. Good luck!