Male Barbet Puppy available

This little chap is 4 months old and still looking for his forever home. He has been micrchipped, vaccinated against rabies and has a pet passport.
He is called Artos, and loves to swim and play, but as that is what Barbets are good at, no real surprise:).
If you are interested, then either look up Barbet Beppina on facebook and see more family photos of Artos with his brothers or contact me and I will pass on your details.
There is one slight problem........although he is ready to have a family of his own, he is in Poland.
and if you want a Barbet this is an opportunity......there are no Novaforesta storks arriving until 2014.  

Hector the Barbet boy

Lovely day today as I saw Bonnie and her son Hector. As you may know, he is the brother of Hallie.
Hector is like his Dad Eton, in character as he is really full of fun and very outgoing.
He has the most adorable expression.
A future Stud as he has now passed all his health checks, and will be confirmed early next year in France.
He is rather apprehensive in my grooming room as he knows what will be happening next :)

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Yesterday I mentioned that Jazz the Standard Poodle had to cope with 2 kittens, well I think we have to admit that he has coped well in his first week. I think kittens are very very brave, and Jazz is just a wonderful example of a well mannered gentleman.  

Jazz the Standard Poodle

A quick update for those who are interested.
A week of anti inflammatory tablets meant that he was buzzing, the words ''calm down'' were said far too often and I had to shut my eyes watching him take corners at speed as his back legs failed him and he would end up in a heap. So as they also upset his stomach, he has been taken off them as he was a liability to himself. It is a hard choice sometimes, but he did a 3 mile walk at the weekend and still ran out in the garden looking for a ball, and he is still no stiffer after exercise than before. His time will come when he needs them, but I don't think he needs them yet. As for the ghastly lump on his back that the vet wanted to remove with a GA after a week of antibiotics, and in fairness to the vet it was hard to see what was skin and what potentially was hair.  Well yesterday I shaved him off, and my daughter who is less squeamish investigated the lump. As Jazz is deaf and very poor sighted, he took no notice of the screams and my retching, he just sat there in his own world, and the good news is that without going into too much detail, the lump is now an acceptable size (he has had it years bless him).Another shock for Jazz is that at 13.5 years old, he now shares his home with 2 kittens, and he is coping. He is an amazing dog, his life changes daily and yet he takes it all in his stride

basic skills test for Barbet dogs

Martha has the retrieving ability

Hope looking very well behaved compared to the others. 

A bit of fun, will they all retrieve a bird? the answer was 'yes'

Well all the dogs passed the basic skills test, otherwise known in France as the TAN. We had a good morning, the dogs were able to have a quick run before they had to do their retrieve and once Mick who was the examiner had seen the dogs and ticked the pass box we were able to do a bit of training with birds. Having just spent 3 days at the Game Fair with Claude, Hope, Hallie and Martha and seeing how sociable they were, and how they had no reaction to the any of the gunfire, and how as a group they plunged into the water I was quietly confident that the 4 dogs would pass. This will be the 3rd Tan taken in the UK offered by the Barbet Club and so far we have had only 2 fails, one Barbet would not swim and the other Barbet swam like an otter but would not retrieve!!!.
 I can recommend Mick as a gundog trainer, he is someone who listens and accepts readily that the Barbet is not going to do things like a spaniel or a lab, so if you have any problems with your Barbet he is certainly a good contact and is very approachable, http://www.corunnagundogs.com/
The Tan is a test that can be taken from the age of 6 months old, we are of course very grateful that the French Breed Club has allowed this test to be performed in the UK, the other working tests are only available in France.

Barbet Bepop and Jedi puppy update

This is Ralph enjoying a beach holiday

This is Harpo still enjoying the ball pond

This is Hugo looking rather relaxed

Martha the Barbet

I can't really call her Mad Martha anymore as she is growing up into quite a normal sensible dog but and there is always a but she still wakes me every night and it is always the same routine. She sleeps half in her dog bed and half sprawled out on the floor, and without fail about 2am I wake up because I can her this huffing and puffing noise and a definate current of air. Martha is doing the cha cha with her body and breathing on my face. Well many moons ago I would stumble downstairs and open the back door, and she would stand there surveying the night by my side with that Martha look, if she could speak she would be asking '' what are we doing now''  an impolite version being ''wtf''. But we have moved on from our night time excursions and all that happens now is a butterfly kiss on my hand and she walks back to her bed and goes back to sleep.
On another very positive note, she asked for an armpit tickle from a visitor which was lovely to see as it is really nice that others can witness the loving and affectionate dog that Martha is with us.
Everyone loves Martha, she is a very endearing dog,
She will be taking the Tan shortly, then her hips will be tested and then she will be attending a dog show in France.

Agnes the Barbet puppy

Nothing better than seeing or hearing about how puppies are getting on, Agnes is doing very well and has recently added plane travel to her life experiences. I am pleased to say that she took it all in her stride.

Puppy visit

Little Ralph popped in yesterday to visit his Mum and to catch up with Martha and have a quick game. He had to suffer his ears being plucked so at that point he decided he wanted to leave his place of birth and carry on with his holiday.

Life with an old poodle

I have had years of good health in my dogs, only visiting a vet for boosters or for breeding checks so it is only fair to expect that it had to happen.
Jazz my 13.5 year old poodle who had his toe removed more than 4 years ago (probably cancer, but didn't check) has now got several lumps, the worse one is on his back and looks like a polo covered in hair. He is virtually blind and deaf but his sense of smell is still better than all my other doggy residents! He is a fine example of an old dog. Well after our visit he is now on anti inflammatory medication and antibiotics for a week and the vet possibly wants to remove the lump under a GA so we will have to see whether in a week I want him to have a GA, I am secretly hoping that they can put a band around it and it will drop off. So a good visit really for Jazz, and I was well behaved other than one minor disagreement about ear cleaner. The vet looked in his ears and remarked they were hairy and dirty, yup.....I agreed and it is on my list of jobs to sort and she gave me that look that I dread and said '' Ear Cleaner'' well folks I don't do ear cleaner, no doubt it works but I just have never used it on any of my dogs who also have never had ear problems. I don't consider a dirty ear as a problem so I said ''NO'' why pay for something you are not going to use. I think I must have a lot of black marks against my name. Worth remembering that although dirty ears can be ok, dirty smelly ears are not, there is a huge difference.
As for the anti inflammatories, I will wait and see as, although he is stiff legged he still manages at least an hour sometimes jogging on the beach every day, and he has no ill effects. If we take away the stiffness, will he do something daft, that is what bothers me, afterall he is still a crazy poodle that dances on his back legs when excited and still takes corners too fast when playing....take away his stiff legs and he is quite likely to kill himself, he is blind and deaf so a loose cannon potentially.
So my old man Jazz is doing fine for now and I will keep you posted.