bichon grooming at home

Question
Dear Bill,

We have a Bichon male, "Major" who is 4y,0M.  We are a large home schooling family with 11 children, 6 are still at home.  We relocated from Virginia to Oklahoma when Major was 18Mo.  He is a great dog and we were well informed of the care and attention he would need.  He is very sweet, just thinks he is a "big" boy, being raised with a lab who just recently died unexpectedly. He seems to have handled this really well considering she was like a mother to him.  Anyway, I thought it might be nice to have some positive information to throw out there for a change :)

Now, for my question.  I am having a pretty big problem here in Oklahoma finding a reputable person for grooming my bichon.  We live in Edmond, which is a suberb of Oklahoma City.  When we first moved here, I called several contacts I found, but they either weren't taking on more clients or were not very nice and didn't want new clients.  I have taken him to several general places, but there is such a turnover of personnel that there is never anyone reputable I feel to service us.  We had one bad experience when we first moved here, at a grooming facility, I recieved a call after Major had been there for several hours, telling me that I needed to come and get him.  He was very upset,had pooped all over himself twice, was nervous, etc.  I picked him up and never returned!  They say nothing happened there, but something did.  I think I could groom him at home, but I would like a good, user friendly manual or video to show me how.  In your opinion, where is the best place to find this, and is there one particular you would recommend?  

Thank you for listening,    Jane  

Answer
Check the Bichon Frise club of America listing for a local person who can help you.  www.bichon.org

I have not seen a great video on grooming that is available. Grooming a bichon is no eash task.  Washing, triming nails, cleaning ears, all takes some knowledge.
I would suggest finding a small groomer who does the dogs in her home.