Spot the barbet?

I wonder if Ebene the barbet ever feels like the odd one out. If she does, she doesn't show it.
Some dogs have a hard life, some are spoilt rotten. I think this hairy bunch are enjoying their new dog bed.
More news shortly on Ebene, we are counting the days now for a pregnancy scan. March could be a fantastic month for the breed as we so need some new pups and some new owners ( the barbet is a breed that deserves to be shared!), its been a long time since I had any cuddles with pups so Bepop and I are looking forward to the event. I shall be seeing Ooli next week so will be giving him a little talk about being the responsible Father.figure. Exciting times ahead.

Griffon a poil laineux

A new photo found and what a beauty.
This breed was commenly associated with the barbet and to this day you often see the name cited as a second name for a barbet and you can see why,
Main difference in the standard was that this griffon was never curly, it was considered a fault.
A great shame that it didn't survive all the challenges a breed has to deal with to still be in existance today.

Kennel Club Registration

As the registration of puppies is on my mind at the moment, this link below is worth a read.
Well written and a good explanation on how Kennel Clubs registration system works.
All Novaforesta pups have French pedigrees and are registered in France.
They are also registered on the Kennel Club  Activity register in the UK.
Why both?
All Novaforesta pups have been  DNA  profiled, and this has been cross referenced to the KC activity register.
So all the health checks prior to breeding can also be cross referenced by the KC.
The past for the barbet is complicated with paperwork so I wanted to make sure my papertrail with my puppies would be simple and easy to trace for the future.
A word of warning, although not relevant to Novaforesta barbets
When buying a pup always remember that the words ''KC registered'' may mean the activity register NOT the breed register.

http://totallydogsblog.com/?p=629

Happy Birthday to Betsys' beautiful pups

Betsys' 'E' litter are 2 years old today.

One of these pups  just has to be Eton , he was a record breaker as he weighed 530 at birth, so I believe thats the heaviest barbet ever born.

Left to right.
Enid (Ellie) Effie and Evie

The whole gang with Betsy watching over them. Eating is a pups pleasure, eating outside in the snow is survival training or is it socialisation with the elements.

Novaforesta Eton deserves a pat on the back.

This boy has done so well, he is a real credit to the breed.  

A compliment from Madame Fichter

A dog of  yesterday, today and tomorrow.

I liked the statement when I thought of it, and its always good when someone else borrows your idea or statement (well nearly always!)

We are used to our barbet history or bits of our written history cropping up on websites around the world, some people ask politely others just take, but thats something you get used to working with the internet..

Which dog is the cleverest?

A quick challenge to test my dogs.

I put spaghetti in their full water bowl to see what each dog would do:

The results

Jazz initially tried to pick out the spaghetti, then drank all the water so only the spaghetti was left.
Bobby looked at it for several minutes, then tipped up the bowl (small flood in kitchen!) he ate the stranded spaghetti.
Bepop made alot of mess but just stuck her nose in and ate it with gurgling noises.
Betsy looked at it, then at me and decided against the whole experiment and went back to snoozing.

I am not sure it shows intelligence, but it does show their characters.
Jazz typically would be quiet and not attract attention over food, so that the other dogs are not alerted.
Bepop and Bobby wouldn't give a damm about mess/noise/attracting attention
Betsy normally seeks guidence, if none is given she feigns sleep.

Hide and seek in our house is boring with Bepop,Betsy and Jazz as all scent far too easily. Bobby just gets very over excited, and it takes him ages to find you, although as Bobby is normally at your heels its hard to lose him to hide, but when I do....its a great game, and the hysteria when he finds you is so endearing that it makes dog ownership priceless

Barbets and duck hunting 1863

WINNERS OF PRIZES AT THE INTERNATIONAL DOG SHOW, PARIS 1863

1& 2] BARON DE RUBLES PURE FRENCH HOUNDS OF GASCONY

3] FRENCH BARBETS, FOR DUCK HUNTING

4] JAPANESE DOG

5] KURDISH HARRIER

6 & 7] MR RILEYS RETRIEVERS

8] FRENCH GRIFFON

2010 the barbet  still duck hunting