Thought to be descended from the woolly water dog, also known as the Barbet, and originating in the Mediterranean, the Bichon Frise breed has come a long way since its hazy origins in keeping sailors and pirates company.
This jolly dancing fluffball has been popular in the United States since the first Bichon Frises arrived on these shores in 1956.
First recognised by the American Kennel Club in 1975, the allergen-free Bichon Frise is a surprisingly high-octane pooch, despite the breed’s diminutive size. This sociable companion dog can suffer from separation anxiety too, even if Bichons can sometimes sulk when you’re home.
But are Bichon Frise smart? Is this fluffy companion among the ranks of the Border Collie and Labrador? And what are the Bichon Frise’s strengths? In the paragraphs to come, we’ll be exploring all facets of the Bichon’s personality, smarts, and skills, so read on!
How is the Bichon Frise’s intelligence measured?
Well, a major canine psychologist named Stanley Coren once decided to find out once and for all which dog breeds were the smartest. Stanley put together his own standard for measuring the two types of canine intelligence – obedience and working intelligence – and got in touch with obedience trial judges across North America.
After 199 obedience judges got back to Stanley, assessing got underway! Stanley Coren based his intelligence criteria on two things:
The number of repetitions it takes each dog to learn a brand new command. A dog who needs less repetitions of the command is seen as more intelligent, while a breed who needs more is seen as less intelligent.- The success rate of a breed obeying the command on their first try. This is a more dubious metric – it’s debatable how well this actually measures a pooch’s intelligence. Is it that they’re not understanding the command, or that they just don’t want to do it?
Bear in mind that not all dog breeds ended up participating in Stanley Coren’s trials. Only dogs who participated in agility in North America could have possibly taken part, for example. And, even at that, only breeds that ended up with 100 dogs participating qualified for ranking. But fortunately, the Bichon Frise is among these breeds!
So, how smart is the Bichon Frise?
Well… the Bichon Frise is rated as “average” in intelligence, at least according to Stanley Coren’s study. More specifically, they came in 75th place out of the 138 dog breeds that ended up participating in the study.
But there’s nothing wrong with being average! Plenty of other popular breeds, including the Shiba Inu, Boston Terrier, and even the Great Dane scored average too!
What Stanley Coren means by average is, the Bichon Frises that participated in the study took 25 to 40 repetitions to learn and obey the new command.
Stanley Coren also said that the Bichon Frises participating obeyed a command that they already knew about 50% of the time. Knowing my Bichon Frise, I’d say this is a pretty accurate statistic! I usually have to ask him to sit twice before he does it.
What is the Bichon Frise like?
The Bichon is a dog who is anxious to please, but who can get overwhelmed and hyper at times, especially if they’re tired. When my Bichon Frise is confused by a command I’m giving him, he often falls back on a familiar command instead.
Bichon Frises can also become hyper and frenetic when overtired. For example, if we’ve gone on a long walk, my Bichon Frise will suddenly start to tug on the leash when we turn around to go home.
Bichons are a jolly, playful dogs too. Many Bichon Frses love fetch and play the game well. And when your Bichon Frise has had enough play or exercise, they will simply drop down on the ground.
The Bichon Frise is quite good at communicating other feelings clearly too – when my Bichon, Kevin, is hungry or thirsty, he will growl and bark at the corresponding bowl, then dance for joy as I fill it up!
Kevin also does his dance when I chop vegetables, get treats out, tell him he is going for a walk, or as I rescue his toy from underneath the sofa. This spinning dance is something all Bichons seem to be born knowing how to do, and it is truly adorable.
Why is the Bichon Frise smart?
Okay, so maybe the Bichon Frise is merely average in terms of working and obedience intelligence. But there are many other ways in which the Bichon Frise is a downright genius!
Their companionship and personability, for example, is unrivalled! One of the reasons why the Bichon Frise was first bred was as a companion dog, for example, and they’ve been bred for this reason for centuries.
Even before the Bichon Frise was created, the entire Barbichon group of dogs – from which the Bichon Frise is descended – was bred for companionship.
Even today, there’s many a story out there of the modern Bichon’s friendly personality. Sure, maybe they’d sometimes rather stretch out on a cooling mat than sit on your lap – they do need a little solitude.
But Bichon Frises always seem to know what you need, and they’re excellent communicators. In fact, Purina has listed the Bichon Frise as one of the best companion dogs ever!
Bichons can also pick up on what you want them to do very quickly. When it comes to new skills and games, like playing fetch, for example, a Bichon Frise will teach themselves to drop the ball at your feet and scamper off in no time! This intuition may also be down to their companionship abilities, but it certainly is striking.
Their intuition and companionship is a big part of what makes the Bichon Frise so obedient, too – when they want to be. Though this small pooch has limited energy, the obedient Bichon Frise excels in sports like Obedience and Agility, thanks to the breed’s owner-centeredness.
However, Bichon Frises can also be stubborn, too – Bichon puppies are notoriously difficult to toilet train! But, all other training should go very well.
