The story of Belle, sister of Betsy

Belle,the sister of Betsy

I have just read about Belle who is the sister of Betsy, sadly she had to be rehomed as an emergency as her very caring owner became ill. Alain and Anne-Sophie, who are breeders in France and also own a beautiful male from Nicole and Dominique (they bred Betsy) acted swiftly and drove and collected Belle so that she could be looked after in a home situation while new owners were sought. Belle settled well into her new pack but it was shortlived as within days, the daughter of Nicole wanted to give a new home to Belle. So the future looks good, for Belle as she has joined a family unit and if she is as sweet as Betsy then she will be very happy as Betsy is a very gentle girl when children are around.So well done to Alain and Anne-Sophie for acting so quickly over the welfare of a Barbet in a very sad situation and I wish Belle happiness in her new home.   

Are you ready for a Barbet puppy?

Barbet puppies are not destructive as a rule, I have written that many times and told many new owners but I may have to change my view. Hallie is a very good puppy, she is obedient, she is very clean, she is very affectionate, she is very playful, she is quiet when left on her own, she has so many good points ..........and I love her very much.
However  in her former life  she was either a magpie, a thief, a hoarder or even a womble.
In the  last 24 hours this list has been her achievements:

Edible

 3 stock cubes, my sandwich and a packet of jaffa cakes.

Not-edible

Three shoe soles

A packet of post it notes

Various bits of paperwork, now beyond recognition.

A paintbrush

A dustbin pan ( my new one which replaced the one she chewed last week)

2 grooming brushes

I wood comb.

 

In the last week:

The list of items removed from her mouth which I considered life threatening

Stanley knife

 my best scissors

My mobile phone

2 x remote control

House phone

Numerous leads

Numerous collars

Screwdriver

2 nails

 

Hallie is at the moment fast asleep, but this used to fool me as I know when I leave the room she will leap into action.

Eton the Barbet

Crikey, I can see for miles and miles

grandma Bepop

 

Bepop does not take this role of Grandma very seriously, we are waiting to hear whether she will have more grandchildren, only a couple more days to go.

Do you really want a Barbet puppy ?

Nice one Hallie

Hallie the Poser!

Barbet puppy meets a cow

A good move Hallie, just stop and stare and work out that it is much bigger than you.

An even smarter move is to hide behind the hedge to get a closer look.

So you want a Barbet?

 

Betsy, Bepop and Hallie who all insist that they need to be near you at all times. As you can see Barbet pups are not destructive (most of the time!!!) as those wires look rather dangerous, and I had not really noticed before what a mess it is under the desk as I am normally trying not to get dog hair trapped in the chair when I move away from the PC.!So if you want a Barbet in your life, you need space under your desk.

Barbet BBQ

What a wonderful day we had on Sunday, I should have counted the dogs but I think we had 19 Barbets and maybe 10 others (the majority being spinione of course!) attend. The dogs were great, those that wanted to just played and played, those that wanted to lie in the shade, did so, and those that liked the sandpits full of water had plenty of opportunities to cool off or get a drink. It is a real credit to the breed that we can have so many dogs loose together. We had a brief meeting in the morning to chat about the rejection by the Kennel Club, the recernt Symposuim in France that we attended, and we also had the chance to go through the confirmation process for the new puppies with pedigrees and of course the shows in France  that we can go to next year as a club. 

Betsy Bonheur and puppies

Novaforesta Enid  aka Ellie and Novaforesta Esme

Well it is only 13 days since Betsy was mated but she has been very quiet and very sleepy so in another 2 weeks we will scan her to see.

Betsy retrieving game on land

I am keeping only positive thoughts as this will be Betsys' final contribution to the Barbet population, she is a very thoughtful dog and loves her home and family and the majority of  puppies she has produced in her last two litters have been kind and very loving dogs. Betsy has the ability to swim well, and she swims for pleasure aswell as to retrieve anything thrown! but happiness for her is to have her head on your knee or curled up next to you on the couch.
 

Hallie and her brother at 5 months

Basil formerly known as Half pint

Hallie who is just a diva for posing!

Betsy Bonheur and puppies.

Esbjorn,Alba and Betsy

Well we finally managed a trip to meet the new man in Betsys' life, he is Esbjörn S.T. Da Capo, a beautiful male living in Germany with a family and born 27th April 2008. We hope that the mating will be a success as it has been at a planning stage since 2010 and he was certainly worth waiting for.

We had no time to meet many friends as the travelling was hard work, it took 12 hours to get there, and 14 hours to return home. But we had the pleasure of meeting Anne and Wouter, who are the breeders from Holland who have used Novaforesta Dudley on their rather beautiful girl Alba, they have kept an amazing puppy called Lotus.So for now we will keep everything crossed and we should know at the beginning of Oct whether we will have the patter of tiny paws.