Martha and Murdoch puppies are 3 weeks old''

Gloves- the girl who is always looking for mischief and the most lively of the litter

Black girl- very gentle 

This boy is wearing the green collar, biggest in the litter and very determined in his actions and always competing with ''Gloves'' to be on your lap

This boy wears the orange collar and is one of the quieter boys who loves a cuddle

This boy used to wear the red collar, and is just one of those puppies that is just lovely to hold as you can't help but give him kisses 

This is the boy with two white feet who I had to use Snoop to keep him still for the photo as he is the most active boy in the litter, he is quite small but always manages to be first for a feed!

This is the smallest girl in the litter with one white foot, She holds her own against the other puppies but is the only one that hasn't managed to escape from the whelping box


As you can see the pups have changed in the last week, they now have toys to entertain them after feeding and they are responding well to the other dogs. Martha is on the mend but it has been quite a journey and I have practically camped in the whelping box as I have been very aware that with Martha ill it could have meant the pups suffered. We had a few days where Martha didn't have much milk but she soldiered on and although weight gains were not spectacular none of the pups lost weight so dear Martha has done an amazing job especially under the circumstances.There remains a lot of emails unanswered as I really have not had any spare time to be sat at the PC, but I will catch up I promise.
 

Charamese Hermione x Outdoors Je Suis Charlie puppies

Charamese Hermione aka Hallie with Outdoors Je Suis Charlie  aka Charlie are the proud parents of 2 beautiful puppies born on 5th Feb 2017, they are now 7 weeks and will shortly be going to their new homes. As 2017 is an 'N' naming year in France, the male is Novaforesta Nightfall and the female is Novaforesta Nightstar. I think that Nightfall broke records as his birthweight was 570g! 

Nightfall on his feet at 2 weeks

Nightstar overdosed on milk

Novaforesta Nightfall and Nightstar 

First forest walk 

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First time to explore mud 

Novaforesta Joss Stone at 3 weeks

Novaforesta Joss Stone is a brown female with a little white stripe on her chest, previously known as pink collar. She is quite a brave puppy so is coping well with the larger boys!

Hallie x Cooper puppies 1 week old part 3.

8. Brown female purple collar

11. Brown boy brown collar

9 Brown female green collar

10. Black boy

Barbet puppies soon

Well her due date is the 28th November, but as her Grandma and Mother decided to deliver a few days early we are getting prepared. The whelping box will be put up today, and hopefully we will also get the webcam running. Fingers and legs crossed it will all go smoothly.

Bepop

Well I am getting cross with my photos as whatever I do they are going on the blog the wrong way round, but life is too short and too sunny to be cross for long. Bepop out in the garden enjoying the sunshine

Barbet Magic

I always think the best photos are the ones that make you run for your camera as you want to capture something quite magical.

Countdown has started for Barbet Bepop

Well we have 7 days to wait (ish) and we are 2/3 through decorating but 2/3s is better than 1/3 so I am hopeful we may still get it done!. Bepop is sporting a rather short trim as when I got her on the table to trim her short she was in fairness as good as gold but I could see her discomfort, I did allow her to lie down but she still looked uncomfortable so out came the clippers. She is such a lovely shape that if I may say so myself I quite like her short, and should she have lots of puppies there will be advantages, at least she will be less likely to crush one as she will now feel it. She went to the vets yesterday for a check, and she has put on 6.5kg, although you wouldn't know it watching her running around the garden and still trying to leap the gate. As the countdown starts, she is definately getting more soppy, she wants more cuddles and her life is food, food and more food.   The whelping box is still in pieces on the dining room table, tomorrow hopefully it will be ready. I will try and get some more photos tomorrow,

Barbet puppies UK

Barbet puppies born in the UK are NOT registered with our Kennel Club as at the moment they are not a recognised breed. This means that the breed cannot be shown in the UK or enter working trials, although showing in Europe is very easy as the breed is fully recognised.
However, some litters will be officially recognised by the French Kennel Club and it is important to check that a mating certificate is available to view as if not then until we get recognition in the UK any other Barbet puppy is not classed as an official Barbet regardless of whether the parents are fully recognised with pedigrees. If you are interested in a Barbet puppy, then expect to pay approx £1000 with a full French pedigree and a DNA profile that will support the parentage of the line.
All Novaforesta puppies are official Barbet puppies, they will be registered with the French Kennel Club, the main reason for me is that it adds to the amount of Births recorded for the breed in France which is really important for a breed low in numbers worldwide  

Happy Birthday to Ebene and Ooli 'H' litter

Happy Birthday to Ebene and Ooli beautiful children who are 1 year old today. Hard to think a year has passed since this photo was taken.
 More news to follow as Ebene and Eton have produced some stunning pups

Bepop the Barbet is in whelp

I am very pleased to announced the Bepop is in whelp, which means me emptying my diary from about the 19th April as there will be another Novaforesta litter after what seems like a lifetime. Bepop has put on 1.5kg, and is not hungry which for Bepop is very odd, and I have been trying to get her to eat more as she looks thin to me. Her last litter produced 13 pups with one stillborn, and her daughter Bonnie produced 14 pups last year so I am a tad nervous that she will have a big litter.I am still taking in the news to be honest, and we now have 4 weeks to finish decorating our kitchen, and deal with the chaos of family life. If you remember back we did blood tests for Bepop to show the best day of mating, and the Lab rang to say that we should retest as an accurate day could not be forecasted on the results, this was on the Thursday, well we left on Friday and Bepop was very happy to be mated over that weekend so I am pleased that we didn't wait to retest but it was all very stressful but I can forget that now as we will be having puppies..  

Bepop and her Barbet wedding

We are back and what a wonderful weekend we had even though it was a little stressy at times. The journey of only 8 hours was uneventful and Bepop and Martha travelled in silence as they slept, although we did find out that the waterbowl had tipped over and their bedding was soaked!. but in true barbet style they perhaps enjoyed the wet bedding! Julian and I were so spoiled by our hosts in Belguim, we had the most fantastic meals and alot of humour, and Bepop had the most romantic time possible so all went well. We did have a slight change of plan but more about that later. I adore Bepop, she has such character and I can honestly say that I know her very well, and she knows me. However Martha is a different dog, she is 6 months old and rather wild at times, her best expression is WTF which is what I said we should call her when we picked her up at 16 weeks, so nothing much has changed and I can honestly say that at dog training they have also seen the look, so it can be verified!!!! The weekend was very good for Martha, she coped well watching the adult dogs and their activities, and she learnt all about automatic doors, staying in the boot of the car when it was lifted, being wormed at a vets in Belgium ( although she did poo in the surgery) and she coped with erratic feeding and general chaos. At the end of the day, Bepop has been mated and all went well, our hosts were tired and we were tired and the dogs were completely knackered, but we will have wonderful memories of our adventure.

Dear Martha in the garden

On Sunday we were up at 4.30 English time as we wanted to mate the dogs before our 3 hour drive back to Calais, Bepop and Martha would have happily slept for longer but they had no choice but to get up and eat breakfast. I have to admit that I don't enjoy dog matings, and because of that I like it to be as natural as possible, so the dogs were allowed as much play as they wanted while us humans froze waiting for the event. 

Carol is the owner of Jedi and Deejee, I cannot express our gratitude enough as she was so amazing and nothing was too much trouble. Carol appreciated our journey to Belgium for a mating, she understood that it was for the breed and the genes for the future. Sensible matings will save the breed, those that breed for the showring or colour will not!

Martha,Jedi and Bepop

           

Waiting for Bepop

Well we are packed ready to go, dog sitters ready to move in and children warned that they will be making their own dinners later. I can't help but think that the 14th Feb is a romantic day for a mating and by the way Bepop is behaving she is in total agreement.
Martha is now travelling with us, so after the event I will fill you all in over her adventures.

The photo is Bepops' last litter of 12, I am already thinking that perhaps a fleece would be nicer in a cardboard box rather than newspaper...funny when you look back, but that to me is why having litters is a wonderful time as you learn, and puppies are tough and no doubt they were only in the box for cleaning out the whelping box as puppies need their Mums more than anything else.

Eye test results for Barbets

Yesterday Bepop went to our vets and had her vaccinations, she is normally rather quiet and a bit subdued at the vets. Well, this time we met a new vet and she loved him and he fell in love with the breed as he used to own a Hungarian Puli, it is always good when you can show off a new breed and they like what they see. Anyway Bepop passed her MOT with flying colours, she is the perfect weight and heart and lungs etc.....all good. As you may have realised, I am always looking at why dogs do certain things and I was trying to work out why she loved the vet so much, as all the vets make a fuss of her. Then it dawned on me that when we entered the vets, there were 2 cats in  baskets who were coming out of the examination room.....BINGO......the vet smelt of cats, so it just goes to show that there is always a reason why dogs behave as they do. I suspect the next time we go to the vets Bepop will be desperate to go into the examination room, she never forgets so i just hope she will not be disappointed and at least for me, I have a very willing dog at the vets.
Today we have been to the eye specialist to update her eye certificate, and as expected she has passed with flying colours. I am very pleased as we had made an appointment with Mr Mason, who is the Chief Panellist of the BVA/KC/ISDS Eye scheme, although he was very busy he still had time to offer us advice over how often we should eye test the breed and what we should be doing as the dogs get older.      

Water tap for Barbets

All my dogs except the poodle have learnt very quickly about the water tap, often even visiting dogs copy one of my gang and soon learn that the water is colder and fresher from the tap. I often wonder why Jazz has never even attempted to drink from the tap, he has the brains, and he has watched the others do it now for over 5 years and he has been encouraged to try by us.  

Barbets love snow

 Is Betsy stubborn? daft? or just plain happy?
She loves snow and becomes like a garden ornament, she will just sit for hours.

A beautiful Barbet

I know I am biased, but dear sweet Hallie is turning into a really lovely Barbet. She is going to be a smaller dog than her 'Grandmothers' probably she will be more like her Mum which is a lovely size, at the moment she is about 54 in height and weighs 20kg. Her coat at the moment is still a fantasy Barbet coat as it doesn't need brushing, in my dreams it will remain that way but only time will tell. She does get the grooming experience as she still needs to learn grooming manners, but I spend more time whispering in her ear than I do brushing!. Exciting times ahead for Hallie as she is shortly going to be living in a different household, but will reveal more later.

Barbet Puppy News

Fantastic news for  Eton and Toutes as puppies are due around the 1st December.

Some lovely photos on the Barbedoux website:

Barbedoux in Holland

This is the information about Toutes:
Laulava Toutes t'Adorent Dutch Champion
Dutch Youth Champion
 birth date: 25-09-2007
mother: Nelum-Himalis Aurore
father: Quaciëndas Aragon Unique
health: HD-A, eyes ok
courses: Puppy, Youngster, Obedience A, Hunting training
Character:
playful, gay, cuddler, loves to swim and loves a lot of action, greets anyone chearful who passes her path, loves especially (little) children, is absolutely not dominant at all.

Barbet Puppies 2013

Watch this space as I will shortly be announcing my litter plans for Bepop who will be due on heat in March 2013.
Another Novaforesta litter I hear you shout '' bout time too''
After our fantastic success with previous litters, this litter will have been worth the wait.
If you are thinking of adding a Barbet to you family, please do check that the breeder shows you the health results and that you get the paperwork needed to prove that your dog is a Barbet.
If your puppy is not registered with a Kennel Club then it is not considered in the 'official' world of dogs as a pedigree Barbet. A registered Barbet will cost you approx £1000 in the UK and have a DNA profile to show its parentage. If any potential owner needs further advice, then ring any of the contact numbers on the GB site for further information as all are Barbet owners.

Charamese Hermione aka Hallie

How beautiful is she? Hallie is just the sweetest dog, she is only 7 months old but she is a puppy you can never get cross with as she always makes you smile. Hallie and Bobby are now best friends. Poor Bobby has learnt to share his toys and not be so jealous and the result is that he now plays with Hallie continually and they daily share bones, they often chew one end each.So little Hallie has changed Bobby for the better, her stable and kind behaviour has won his affection. he still insists on sitting on her as in the photo above, but it is all done in the best possible taste.