~ Jack Donahue & Family ~
On my return to Tokyo last week I stopped in Boston to pick up our puppy. Katie, our youngest daughter has wanted a dog “since I was born”. Jenny, our oldest daughter being allergic to dogs has had us be hesitant in getting a dog. In our slow way we have learned that there are hypoallergenic dogs that have human hair—one type is a Bichon Frise. We got in contact with Debbie and Dana and waited our turn to get a puppy. Yuki, means snow in Japanese, was born last October—pictures from Dana and Debbie showed a small white fluff with two sparkling black eyes. Timing of the rabies shot allowed Yuki to come to us in early February—so I was the best candidate to transport Yuki to Tokyo after my seminar.
I get a rental car in Boston—a red Mustang for $16 a day—life is good—and went to Fitchburg. Yuki ran with the herd of Bichons—the smallest of them and definitely the spunkiest. Debbie and Dana were sad to see her go and the whole family came to say their good byes. Yuki and I stayed at a friend’s city apartment that night before catching an early flight to Detroit where we got the 11 hour flight to Tokyo. I have traveled a bit in my time but never with a dog. Yuki went on the plane with me since she and her cloth carrying case weighed less than 15 pounds. So here I am carrying this laptop looking bag with a small white head peeking out. Only one dog is allowed per business class per flight—I had made the reservations.
On the way to Detroit Yuki sat in my lap—rules are a dog must stay in the carrier—never was good with rules—and lucky for Yuki and me she is ridiculously cute and so the stewardesses just gushed over her and wanted to pet her. I took Yuki into the Business Class Lounge in Detroit where she got a toilet break on newspaper on the floor of the handicap stall.
We made the flight without luckily being spot checked—had visions of the security guards trying to frisk Yuki—I learned that dogs are carried through the walk through metal detectors. Well the flight to Tokyo had a stewardess that was of the Broomhilda type—rules were her refuge of being right. Yuki is a charmer—Broomhilda melted about three hours into the flight and Yuki sat on my lap while I watched a couple of movies. Toilet breaks were newspapers on the floors of the toilets—she showed no preference for Japanese versus U.S. newspapers.
All was fine till I received my breakfast—I was trapped with my tray table down and loaded—Yuki needs the toilet—lucky there is more room in Business Class to maneuver—with Broomhilda holding the tray even. Kristin is there on arrival in Tokyo. Yuki and I are excited to meet her—the girls are in school and so could not make the trip.
Now the moment of truth, Yuki has to go through the animal quarantine station.
First, all of her documents are scrutinized to be sure all is in order—they are, thanks to the hard work of Debbie and Dana—then she is physically examined by the animal quarantine veterinarian. All is ok. Normally Japanese regulations require all new dogs be quarantined at the airport for two weeks before entry into the country—but the vet Okays for Yuki to go home with us –home quarantine—we are thrilled not to have to leave her at the airport. The vet said he would allow home quarantine because she is a puppy and had all of the proper papers—I think it is because she is just too cute to be locked up.
Reception at home by Katie was enough to melt any parent’s heart—Katie finally has her dog—they look so happy together. Jenny is right in there too. Yuki is all over them loving every hug she gets from them. Yuki is part of the family.
Herb Campbell
~ Jack Donahue & Family ~
"Are they cute yet?" I asked Debbie. The puppies were barely two weeks old. "Their eyes have opened and they are up on their feet." she responded tactfully. "But are they cute yet?" I insisted. With patience, Debbie responded, "Yes, they are adorable."
So we drove the two hours to Massachusetts to see them. It was only three days after Christmas. Our beautiful, year old Bichon, Sunny Girl, had been killed in the road five days earlier the day before Christmas. She'd never knew what hit her. There wasn't even any blood. I remember thinking; "She can't be dead. Her eyes are open, and she doesn't even look broken. The image of her sweet, fluffy white body lying lifeless in my husband's arms had haunted my dreams at night and my thoughts during the day. It hadn't been a week yet since her death, and already I was considering getting a new puppy.
The grief I felt encompassed every animal and human I'd ever lost. It was, somehow, even worse than when my mother died. I didn't think I could get through Christmas, and, as soon as the gifts had been opened and the turkey stuffed (life goes on) I'd retreated to the computer room. Mostly, I was looking for a tactful and polite way to leave the house full of company, and cloister myself behind closed doors so I could cry without being embarrassed. I told myself that what I was thinking was okay. Everyone has their own timing and their own grief process when a beloved pet has died. Some people need to get another dog right away, some need to wait a while, and some decide never to be that devastated again, determining not to ever get another dog. I needed another puppy immediately.
I said a prayer asking God to lift the heaviness of my sadness just enough to be able to make it through the holidays. Then I booted up the computer. It had occurred to me that looking at pictures of other Bichons might, somehow, be a comfort, so I put the words Bichon Frise into the Yahoo Search engine, and came to the D&D Bichon homepage. I cried some more as I looked at the pictures before exploring the site further and discovering that they had had two litters born the week of December 14th.
I knew instantly that I had to have one. I'd prayed about it, and my prayer had been answered. I had been led to this site. "You won't ever be able to replace Sunny Girl," Don said when I proposed getting another puppy right away. "I know. I'm not trying to replace her. I just want another puppy." We buried Sunny in the garden on Christmas afternoon, put the statues of St. Francis and the animals over her grave, and spoke words of blessing for her, words of comfort for each other. I waited another day before contacting Debbie by phone. I wanted a female, a puppy that would grow up to be a small Bichon. Okay, I'll admit it now. I wanted another Bichon just like Sunny. I said to God, "Okay, here's your chance. If it isn't in your Divine plan for us to have one of these puppies please let there be no small females available. There were three, actually, and I took that as confirmation from Above that we were destined of have one of them. "But are they cute yet?' I asked Debbie again. "Why don't you come on down and see them." she suggested.
I think, at that point, my husband would have done anything to get me to stop my nearly incessant weeping. "We'll only look." I assured him. They are too little to come home anyway. He knew better, and tucked the checkbook into his back pocket as we were leaving just in case. I absolutely believed that if he didn't like the puppies, and he wouldn't, or if our older Bichon, Buster, didn't like them once we got there, that would be the end of it, at least until spring. Anyway, spring is a much saner time to try to housebreak a puppy than the middle of winter.
My heart sank when I saw the puppies. They looked like little rat babies, and their mom had been shaved for cleanliness during her lying in time so I couldn't even tell what she looked like in full coat. "They don't even look like puppies yet," I lamented when Dana and Debbie left the room. "Sh?" Don hushed me. "I think this one likes me. Check and see if it's a girl." I lifted a little back leg on the tiny white bundle of - - - rat doggie, snuggled against his neck. It was a girl. "We can't even tell what she will look like, what her personality will be like. They are too young. We can't tell anything. Maybe we should forget it and come back in a few weeks when they look like dogs." I suggested.
"I think she likes me." he repeated. "How do you like the name Little Lily?" "Lily's a great name, but let's go now before we get attached." I urged. "I think I am attached already." he admitted. "Don't you think she's cute?" And to the pup he cooed, "Yes, she's Daddy's girl, aren't you, Lily?" The puppy nibbled his ear. Still talking to "Daddy's girl" he promised, "We're going to get an Invisible Fence for you, Sweetie, so that you will never break your mommy's heart like Sunny did." I was nearly in tears for the third time that day when he put her in my arms, and instantly she became the most beautiful puppy I'd ever seen a face only a mother or daddy could love.
The rest, of course, is history. Little Lily is still Daddy's girl, and now she truly is beautiful. She romps and plays outside with her "brother", Buster Bichon, and we don't worry about the road. We will never lose a dog that way again. Praise and blessings to Invisible Fence.
Lily is a pure white, twelve-pound, powder puff with a baby-soft coat and expressive black eyes. She carries herself as if she remembers the days when Bichons were the pets of royalty. She is a little diva dog. If she were a human she would be a soprano, and quite impressed with herself. She doesn't wear a doggie "collar". She wears a jewel-studded "necklace." She's quite conceited about her looks, and often spends time in front of the full-length mirror in our bedroom admiring her appearance. Her favorite game is to go to the landing on the stairs and taunt Buster, daring him to try to get past her, at which time she jumps in his face. He has learned to wait patiently at the foot of the stairs, only occasionally whining, "Mommy, she won't let me come upstairs." When left alone in the house, Lily watches out the window from her royal perch on two overstuffed pillows, surrounded by her menagerie of stuffed animals. (See picture)
Lily has brought light and laughter back into our lives with her cheerful, devoted disposition, and we are very grateful to Debbie and Dana for the exceptional care she was given before she came to us.
Nancy Gnecco E-Mail: ngnecco@adelphia.net
Hi, we are the Armstrong family and Gabriel is our Bichon Frise puppy that we got from D&D Bichon. I'd like to share the story of how we chose this breed and how we hooked up with Dana and Debbie even though we live here in Texas!
About a year or so ago, my daughter, Hannah, started asking for a new puppy. We already have a dog, Beamer, but she wanted a small lap dog to take care of and call her own. We told her that after we moved and got settled into a new house that we would consider a puppy for her. Well, in Sept. we moved into our new home and Hannah did not let us forget what we had promised her. So, we began looking at puppies at rescue adoptions, etc.
In Oct. my husband and I started attending a Bible study and it was at this Bible study that we met our first Bichon. They had just gotten a puppy, and she was adorable. The owner gave me some information on the breed and I couldn't help but think that God had shown us the kind of puppy that would fit into our family and that Hannah would be happy with. So, I began to do searches on the web and found Dana and Debbie's website, which was packed full of information.
I then saw that they would have some puppies, so I began to communicate with them via email and then over the phone. We reserved a puppy and at first was going to have them ship our puppy. But, I was concerned about the weather and it being too cold for him to be shipped, so we used some free tickets that we had to book a trip out to the Boston area to pick up our new "baby" in person.
Hannah and I made it a Mother / Daughter weekend trip. We went sightseeing around Boston (snow and all...good thing I was raised in Michigan) and enjoyed the sights we saw. We then drove out to meet our puppy, Gabriel. Debbie had named him that when he was born to Puffer, as he was stuck and she had to pull him out and pray that he would be okay, which he was. She called him Gabriel after the angel.
Well, we could have chose another name, but we liked that name, so we kept Gabriel (Gabe) as his name. When Hannah and I saw Gabriel we were sooo tickled. He was such a cutie and still is as you can see in the photo! It was also good to meet Debbie and Dana and their daughter Jennifer and see the mommy and daddy of Gabe. After going to dinner at there favorite Italian restaurant and enjoying ourselves visiting, we stayed in a hotel and traveled back to Texas the next day with Gabriel.
He did wonderful on the plane, only barking when the landing gear started coming out. My hubby and 2 boys met us at the airport and everyone loved Gabe.... well almost everyone. When we got home, Beamer, (part Border collie) kind of ignored Gabe. Gabe was stealing his toys, playing with his tail, Etc. and Beamer kind of "put up" with this. Now, Beamer interacts more with Gabriel, sometimes reprimanding him for trying to steal his bones, but mostly in a "brotherly" way. Gabriel is now a little over 4 mos. old and has doubled in weight. He is a playful guy and we are enjoying him immensely. He also has a little girlfriend, named Maple that is some kind of terrier or something and comes over everyday up to our window to get Gabe's attention. Gabe then barks to go out and play with Maple. They wrestle and run and have a great time together. It is so cute!!!
We have been pleased with our Bichon puppy and we are happy that we made the trip out to the Boston area to pick him up and meet with Debbie and Dana.
Blessings to all of you reading this.
Mary, Hannah and the rest of the Armstrong family. E-Mail: MArmst63@starband.net
