Breeding plans Summer 2019

This lovely boy is Barbedoux Riva Di Castro aka Joep and he is the chosen one for my sweet Snoop.
https://pawpeds.com/db/?a=p&ids=3:1252037;2:1335105&g=4&p=bar&o=ajgrep

He is about the same size as Snoop, weighs a little less but Snoop is a heavy female which no doubt she has inherited from Martha.
He has been fully health tested for breeding in Holland and most importantly does not carry VWD type 1 as Snoop is a carrier. Three of his litter have been hip scored and all have A hips which is very nice to see.
Described as a very stable male which is perfect as Snoop is a lively lass.......
My aim always when choosing a male is to have a plan as to breeding on, as the future is so important for the breed emerging in the UK. This pedigree in the making has barbets that I have met over the years, and if I haven't met them personally then I know about the lines so that has also helped my choice.
Now it is just waiting for Snoop and her timings.
 

Martha and Murdoch puppies at 5 weeks

Black girl - Novaforesta New  Horizon

Black girl- Novaforesta New Horizon

Boy with 2 white feet - Novaforesta New Moon

Boy with 2 white feet -Novaforesta New Moon

girl with one white foot - Novaforesta New Dawn

Gloves - Novaforesta New Day

Gloves - Novaforesta New Day

Green boy- Novaforesta New Life

Green boy - Novaforesta New Life

Orange boy- Novaforesta New Start

orange boy - Novaforesta New Start

Red boy - Novaforesta New World

Red boy - Novaforesta New World

So the pups now have official names which hopefully will be accepted by the French Kennel Club. They have changed so much in a week, and everyday they are having new experiences which will benefit them later in life. Everyday also sees old and new visitors which is wonderful for me as it means constant entertainment of puppies although Snoop and the cat are also doing their bit to keep them occupied! The pups are already in a routine over meals and tucking into their breakfast,lunch and dinner like a plague of locusts, I am less organised about milk as Martha is still feeding them and competing with any milk I put down in a bowl, having said that sometimes the goats milk wins. As for the characters of the pups, they are developing nicely and all are confident at the moment and play rough although that is encouraged by Snoop, who does sometimes have to be forcibly removed as they wind her up into a frenzy which for their own safety becomes a time out session. This week they have all enjoyed late night trips into the garden as the weather has been so hot, they have all been raring to explore at about 10pm, they have also experienced being showered as one day I just left the hose running to keep them cool ( you can see Gloves playing in the water in the photo above).
As for the pups, Gloves is the most vocal for attention and normally the last one to sleep, Red boy loves Snoop and is very chilled, and nearly always eats by standing in the bowl but easy to handle, Orange boy is one of the most playful and very cuddly, Black girl likes all the new toys and blankets and generally moves everything from a to b, so reckon she might be a bit of a thief in later life, Green boy is one of the braver pups and likes to run everywhere at high speed, little girl with the white foot is very sweet and tends to steer clear of any bundles as does the white boy with 2 white feet, I easily muddle them up as they behave in the same manner, but both are pretty easy going. Anyway I am blessed with such a lovely litter, and really looking forward to another week of new experiences.    

The Life of Pi the black and white Barbet

I have some news, sad news for me but at the end of the day it was my decision as sometimes you have to accept you are not ''superwoman'' . The lovely Pi, Netis Jitterbug came into my life with encouragement from my Mother, which was a surprise as she had always said I had too many dogs. She also suited my long term breeding plan as she was a lovely combination with a Dutch male that had come into the UK who I had a soft spot for, as his Father was the male I had the failed mating with Betsy the Barbet we lost at 7 years old. Pi passed all her health checks, 4/5 hips, 0/0 elbows, 2 clear eye certificates, D/D locus , VWD type 1 carrier,  Tan, an excellent show critique from France, the list is endless....she was a perfect dog for breeding as she is also of excellent temperament.Pi went to live with a wonderful family, it was a difficult time but I want all my dogs to be happy and Pi was looking sad at times as she is a very affectionate girl, it was a better life for her as I had only ever planned one breeding as there are already so many Barbets with similar genes, afterall I only have 2 hands to stroke dogs , it was  right for her but it took a long time for me to get over as I missed her terribly and felt very guilty. However in early 2016 I finalised my breeding plan for her, late in the day but I had lost my Father in 2014, and my Mother in 2015. So after so much grief what could go wrong ? Firstly the Dutch boy had been removed from breeding, so I chose an English Stud who when Pi was ready for mating drank some stagnant water and was immediately very ill and not feeling very passionate and he remained ill during her fertile time!, not being nervous about travelling we had a 48 hour window to find a male that would be a good combination for the breed in the UK, my first choice in Holland was denied due to Pi being under 30 months, then by chance we found another male in Holland that I was happy with  ( remember at this stage I am thinking of combinations for new blood in the UK and a combination that would work with Martha,) Meanwhile our window for breeding was getting shorter and we knew we were cutting it fine. So a quick dash to Holland arranged, dog wormed, channel tunnel booked last minute, hotel booked. A 5.5 hour delay at Eurotunnel meant we arrived at our hotel at 1am, we had planned to be there at 5pm. Anyway to cut a long story short, we tried first thing in the morning and Pi was really not interested, and timing wise I think we were pushing our luck had we got there at 5pm . As soon as we realised it was too late for Pi we left for home. We waited for her next season, and this time I had decided to try chilled semen from overseas, this failed once again over timings I believe, we don't have instant progesterone checks in the UK so we get our results in 24 hours or longer and this also means nothing over the weekend. In hindsight using a female who had not produced was my error and I also chose a reproduction vet that was useless over communication!. The lovely family who have Pi kindly said I could try again but it is now 2017 and this year ( very shortly) we will become grandparents and 2016 was my window to breed Pi as I also have my lovely Martha (2 failed matings last year is another story!) and her daughter Snoop who has passed her health checks with flying colours. I am only telling the story about Pi as I don't wish to hear rumours that she has been spayed for any other reason. Pi is very happy with her family and my breeding plans have changed yet again as Pi and her husband were to have made a male for Martha in the future! and when you hear that it is all about money...think again as Pi to date has cost me about £8000      

Novaforesta Litter news

We are patiently waiting for Pi (Netis Jitterbug) to come into season, but found this photo today of Novaforesta Eton the chosen husband. Those that have met Martha, this is her Uncle and yes he has the same sweet nature.

Novaforesta Jools Holland at 4 weeks

Novaforesta Jools Holland, (red Collar) he is a very dark brown boy , and the most cautious still out of all the males, so a bit safer to hang out with the girls or go and explore when everyone else is fast asleep.

Hallie and Cooper pups part 3 at 2 weeks old

9. Brown girl with green collar 

2. Black girl

7. Black girl nick named Sweep

10. Black boy (who sleeps through everything!)

1.Brown girl

Barbet puppy training

I seem to be stuck in the world of puppy training, but before you feel sorry for me it is of course by choice. Every puppy is different, so I always try to get to know the puppy and settle the puppy before I do any training of any sorts. The very first thing I noticed about Pi was that with any toys that trailed she would fold them if possible to carry, this impressed me as I like dogs that think.
Pi is just coming up to 4 months old and is a bit of a tearaway, if she finds anything that she can pick up then she is off like a rocket, and by the look in her eyes it is most definitely planned. She will be a quick learner, a good hunter and I am hope a good retriever. The hunting skills are already showing, most nights without fail she finds our resident toad,and  by her tail wagging it is easy to spot what bushes contain birds, and then we have the goldfish situation ( a blessing really as it does occupy her time) and being rather positive we have a very fit toad in the garden and very fit goldfish.

Anyway, as you may have seen she has taken to swimming like a duck to water, and learnt the sit and down with hand signals and words and I have just started working at her retrieving the dummy to hand.
Pi is still a young puppy, I only do 5 minutes a day training with her, but that 5 minutes I expect her to listen and to work out what I expect of her, that way training is fun as she always looks a little disappointed when it is over.  
 

Obi at 11 months

Obi, otherwise known as red collar for several weeks is another boy from Bepop and Jedi. He has turned into a gentle chap probably because he lives with young children. His beard is like his Mum, who is coming up to 8 years old and has never had her beard trimmed.

Rugby the Barbet

If you look carefully you will see a hand holding Rugby, he is a rather lively boy and my camera just doesn't have a good shutter speed!. So a good photo of his nose to start, taking him to get confirmed could be quite a weekend as one can imagine how fast he will go round a ring.....He is a lovely charactor which is what is important.

Barbet dogs in the UK

Although I have far too many emails to read and phone calls to make, as I am still catching up after 8 weeks of puppies, I just felt the need to have a Barbet dog count.
This could be wrong, as not everyone will be in contact with the Barbet Club but at least these are the Barbets we know about.

We have 6 imported Barbets, 1 from France, 2 from Poland, 2 from Holland and 1 from Canada.
10 pups from Betsy
16 pups from Bepop.
9 pups from Ebene
12 pups from Dora

So we have at least 53 Barbets now living in the UK.

If you read this and you live in the UK and own a Barbet that has different parentage than the above then please get in touch so we can count you in as it would be good to have accurate numbers.

At my last count Betsy has 35 grandchildren,
Effie 8 puppies
Eton 27 puppies

Bepop has 30 grandchildren
Ooli (Dudley) 13 puppies
Dora 14 puppies
Duplo 3 puppies.

The next generation of breeding with Claude, Hallie, Martha and Hector will be very exciting for me, so far the health reports have been excellant, as Claude,Hallie and Hector all have A hips and you can't get better than that, Martha will have her hips scored at 12 months so fingers crossed and then just eye testing results to come.

Happiness is......

Three boys who like running, water and a completely empty beach.Life doesn't get much better for a Barbet.

Barbet Club GB Breeders

This is further information for all those who visit my blog, some of you will own a Barbet and some will be researching the breed thinking you may want a hairy beast to join your family:)
It is early days for the breed in the UK, we are laying strong foundations by carefully choosing dogs for breeding that will give us a concrete future, the charactor and health of these dogs is paramount in those choices.
Betsy and Bepop have not been overbred even though they are both excellent dogs and both are a credit to the breed, so laying the foundation is certainly not about money, it is about taking care and waiting to see how the offspring mature before continuing.
Plan 1:
Betsy and Bepop are not related so sires were carefully chosen, so that the offspring would be able to mate.
This has now occurred with the recent litter from Novaforesta Eton and Novaforesta Dora, COI over 5 generations is 6.15%
 http://pawpeds.com/db/?a=p&id=1091198&g=5&p=bar&date=iso&o=ajgrep

Plan 2:
Betsy has had two litters, her first litter with Boree and her second litter with Bacchus, they are two brothers and it gave us a selection of dogs for our foundation that were 0% COI over 5 generations.

  http://pawpeds.com/db/?a=p&id=865894&g=5&p=bar&date=iso&o=ajgrep

Plan 3:
It has been important to produce sires in the UK that can be used by the International Barbet community, we obviously have a small genepool in the UK so some breedings will produce males that  will have limited use, but with a rare breed you need to share your genes.

  http://pawpeds.com/db/?a=p&id=1091190&g=5&p=bar&date=iso&o=ajgrep

Plan 4:
The importing of new blood is also vital, but this is carefully planned, as I have said before one quality dog is better than 5 of dubious quality.
The import of Ebene from Canada has been the most recent import, and a sucessful litter has been born, with 4.68% COI over 5 generations.:

 http://pawpeds.com/db/?a=o&id=832587&g=5&p=bar&date=iso&o=ajgrep

All the breeding dogs in the UK by Barbet G.B. Club members have been confirmed in France, that means that a judge has examimed the dogs including teeth, height, tail set and coat quality..Bepop has not been confirmed, had I known more about the proccess in France in those early years she would have easily been confirmed as she attended a club show and was ranked 4th with 3 different judges grading her as `Excellent`....hindsight is a wonderful thing. If I can fit in a confirmation show before she has her last litter, I will just for the paperwork.

So if you are thinking of importing a Barbet, please do get in touch as we would love to hear from you and to include you in the British history regarding the foundation of the Barbet in the UK.It is vital to make sure that the Barbet you are importing is from healthy stock, as at the moment we do not want to introduce problems to the foundation we have.
The Barbet breed must grow slowly in the UK, the lines we have will be bred together as this is of upmost importance to understand what health issues we may have and therefore what health issues need to be dealt with.
As most of you will be aware,  there are hundreds of dogs in rescue and no one  should just breed to make up the number of Barbets in the UK. I will try and write some questions that you should ask a breeder before you buy a puppy from them,

More puppies...Yippee

I cannot post a photo as I have not got one yet, but the good news is the safe arrival of 8 puppies and the new Mom is Novaforesta Effie.
She had 8 puppies, 5 females and 3 males on the 14th August, the majority are brown and some have white.
All are doing well......
So my Betsy is a Grandma yet again, and what a competition starting as both Betsy and Bepop have the same amount of Grandchildren.....27 each, and the same amount in the litter sizes.
Betsy
Denzil- 5 pups
Eton 14 pups
Effie 8 pups

Bepop
Dudley-5 pups
Dora-14
Dudley 8 pups

Isn't that weird.......

Another Muddy Grandma

As promised this is 'Grandma Betsy, taking the old French expression ''., Être crotté comme un barbet'' in hand. Did she smell bad? absolutely those who were there will remember well. This was the day of the Barbet Club photo shoot with Nick Ridley and before they were required to pose in front of the camera we thought they should have a run in a field, it was a dry day and we had a DRY field. Anyway a quick dip inbetween posing dogs and she was as good as new, and some of the resulting photos  are being sold as 'stock' photos for the breed so it turned out to be a wonderful day. 

Barbet puppies 6 weeks and 6 days old

 How beautiful are they? and all reserved so all that is left to say is '' good luck in your new homes, behave yourselves and be proud to be a Barbet.

To the left is Annette feeding her 10 Spinone pups and the 5 Barbet pups, it was a calm affair which was almost surreal when I think back to feeding Bepops 12 pups and the chaos!I will post more photos as its great to see the Barbets and Spinone pups together.