Facebook campaign

For all those on Facebook, go to 'Le Barbet' and like the page and add a photo of your Barbet.

Hallie the Barbet puppy swims

She is 12 weeks old and took the plunge yesterday evening, she is a brave puppy or daft, as she doesn't pick good entry points to water but hey she loves it as we have made water fun.I will post a short video later as it shows 'doggy paddle' at its best.  

Russian Barbets

Russian Book and Barbets

Nice drawing of a Barbet

http://www.pointerclub.narod.ru/Books/sabaneev/sab_2group6.htm

As I have so many Russian visitors to my blog, can any of you tell me the year that this book was printed?

Kennel Club update

The meeting for Recognition of the Barbet as a breed in the UK is being held today in London. This will be my third attempt for recognition. Let us hope for third time lucky.
We need to wait until the General committee meets on the 17th July, as they will be responsible for approving the decision made today.
So the next date in the diary will be the 23rd July as that is when we will hear the official result of the two meetings.
     

Barbet Hallie learning the joys of water

So far she is only brave enough to go as deep as her coat shows wet.

A bit of Black retriever history

 The British were a powerful force in the dog world, especially with regard to 'sporting breeds' and if you think about working dogs today, the black lab, the flat coat retriever, curly coat retriever, and black cockers, we still value ' the black dog for working'. when doing any research, it does make a difference as to which century you are looking at, as fashions change  and that includes coat colours with the dates. The text below is just one publication, a snippet into the dog world in 1871. Its hard to imagine that the Golden retriever was not a breed fixed in type in 1871. So in 1871 what was the situation in Europe, our retrievers were mainly black ?  


The Exchange and Mart 1871


Address J Smith 1 West street Harrow Black dog half bred Newfoundland and retriever good water dog will exchange for poultry Offers requested Brahma game or Dorking preferred (T Kingston jun Chiswick)

 Jet black retriever bitch 12 months old has thrown one litter of pups fit to exhibit can be seen before exchanging if wished Open to any offers to £2 No live stock Illness sole cause of parting with her Hollo way 9448B

Handsome large black curly coated retriever good  at anything, brace of liver pointer puppies,highly bred and handsome,dog and bitch very obedient Offers JM Burton Bradstock Bridport

large black curly coated retriever will fetch and carry and good for water and a good house dog and companion to exchange for jewellery if good or anything useful for lady or gentleman iu new wearing apparel Kent 9292s

Black retriever bitch 14 months old suitable for coming season quiet obedient tender mouth and nose, Price £1 very cheap Box 21 post office Norwich

Turk a handsome well bred bright black retriever pup about 6 months old over the distemper from first class parents Exchange for poultry value a guinea Mr William F Bayer Chelmsford

Large black retriever dog very handsome and well broke and fond of water Price 25s F Wildman St Cuthbert street Bedford

Retrievers black dog and liver bitch shot over three seasons warranted broken Will exchange for perfect pointer or setter or offers Stamp tree Essex


Handsome jet black curly coated Newfoundland retriever rising 12 months a bargain at £5 but for a good home will part with her for half that amount illness cause of selling her Address Juno,3 Lowman road Holloway.

Undo edits

Grandma Betsy

Novaforesta Demi

Demi in the New Forest at 10 weeks



Demi looking guilty at about 7 weeks

Demi a wonderful dog in my opinion, one of the best barbets in the world but then I am very biased. She is the daughter of Caya and Bepop, and spent most of her puppyhood when we had visitors hiding under a cot, people would remark about the fact that there should be 12 puppies and they could only count 11. She reminded me of a babybird rather than a puppy, but when she looked at me I used to melt.She was called Demi as she was half the size of the biggest pup at birth, and we thought rather than interfer with nature we would let her fend for herself for the first few days. After about a week, she was losing ground to the other 11 pups, so we used to top her up with milk and she also got first feed from Bepop, something that the experts say not to do but hey.....   
I thought I would never find the right home for Demi,how wrong was I? She has had her moments of being hard work, but her family are devoted to her, as she is to them and if you want to meet Demi she will be at the CLA Game Fair this year, there is something special about her, honest! and its always such a pleasure to get a 'Demi' welcome when I see her so I can't wait.

Novaforesta Demi June 2012

Barbet puppy and play

 Well I thought I would be over the moon that Bobby has now decided that Hallie could be an asset to our 'dog gang' as she is so very playful. However he plays real rough and although he stops and leaves the crime scene when she yelps, Hallie always goes back for more so she encourages him everytime. Bobby has only started playing in the last two days so perhaps he has a better understanding of the words 'foster' 'rehome' and 'castration' than I gave him credit for. I did supervise this new playtime and drew the line at Bobby sitting on Hallie, she has very sharp teeth and he was being rather daft with his positioning in my opinion, those words ''it will end in tears'' were going through my mind frequently. Guess who stopped play? Big Bertha aka Betsy, she got inbetween Bobby and Hallie and said in a volley of barks 'enough' and then she beat up Hallie in the same manner of play as Bobby.......hmmm, I am beginning to think that the dogs should just form an orderly queue and get 'lets beat up the new member of the pack' out of their system. As for Bepop, well she is still depressed and has taken up residence in my hall, so if anyone reading this wants to study dog behaviour, I have enough going on here for a book!

Hallie update

10 weeks old

Jazz only does this to his best friends.

Well Hallie has survived for 3 weeks in our mad household, she has now completed her puppy vaccinations without a murmour, totally transferred to a raw meat diet and so is eating her chicken wings with glee along with every bit of loose debris in the garden. Our garden is not puppy friendly as since Hallie arrived Julian has been laying a new patio and now is working on a decked area, so much around for a puppy to play with, and as for a puppy and a pile of cement, it has been an interesting couple of weeks.

Toilet training is ongoing, she has always been dry at night and wakes me up every morning by barking at about 5.30, during the day she looks at the grass through the  glass of the French doors and relieves herself inside not outside, so we are working on that.

I have started training her, and so far she is showing great promise. Her scenting ability is amazing, I must try and get it on tape. She sits readily, we are working on the command 'wait' and we try and do 3 retrieves everyday with her favourite toy, which is a furry duck that squeaks. The toy is not my first choice for training, but as she is obsessed with it, it means that training is really good fun and that is what it should be at 10 weeks old, she is a baby still.   

Puppy and rain

Heavy rain didn't stop play yesterday. As the other dogs did not join her in the rain, she was very happy if not overjoyed to destroy the box without interuption. Anything that Hallie wants is as you can imagine owned by Bobby, its a continual battle, but Bobby doesn't like rain......

Hallie and Hope

9 weeks old today,

A beautiful Barbet on his morning walk

Barbet Aragon

Grandpa Caya the Barbet

With so many new barbet puppies in the UK, I thought it would be good for you all to see 'Grandpa' Caya who is owned and very much loved by Valerie in France.
Caya is the Father of 12 puppies born in the UK in 2008, two  from that litter have now produced a staggering 27 puppies this year alone. Caya is playing a huge role supporting the British Barbet, so its wonderful to share his photo.

Novaforesta Ebony has a friend

This is Novaforesta Ebony aka Daisy and she has a new boyfriend.

Its my little boy that I had for 3 weeks with Hope, so yes its Halfpint now known officially as Charamese Horatio aka Basil   

Finally a calmer household

Grandma Bepop puppy sitting

I will try and get a photo of Betsy when Hallie jumps at her face, you cannot help but smile.  

Barbet Puppy News

I am very pleased to say that Novaforesta Dudley and Quaciendas Alba Aqua -Aura, otherwise known as plain Ooli and Alba are the proud parents of 8 beautiful pups born last night 31st May 2012.
This means Bepop is a Grandma again.....yippee.
Anne has already posted photos on her blog, and as some of you may know, Anne takes fantastic photos.  

http://nuphars.wordpress.com/