Is a Barbet a Gundog?

Martha surprised me on Saturday, so her new title will be Amazing Martha.
We have been on a new shoot which is quite near us and they were short of beaters so we went along, sadly Bepop is a bit big for this shoot as due to the distances we cover, sometimes a landrover is needed so the size of dog is very relevant. Anyway back to Martha......On the 5th drive of the day she appeared along a track with a huge cock bird that had only a leg injury, this was her first experience of a warm bird and to add a very large alive bird and she presented it to me beautifully, a very proud moment :). I didn't think the day would get better but on the last drive, when we were all exhausted as it had been a tough day with only 6 beaters and 2 dogs, a Spinione and a Barbet , amazing Martha worked like she had never done before.The last drive is called the the Water meadows, and with all the rain and flooding it was extremely wet!!!!, she worked the hedge without any instruction and flushed the birds and as she was doing all the work I got out my camera, and suddenly she appeared with a shot bird, so there you have it, Martha excelling at a job. At the end of the day she got a few more pats than normal from the guns, and a few more asking, ''what is your dog again?''   .

Barbet puppy photo request granted

Happiness is....a full belly

She is just a sweetie

He is getting bigger

Barbet Grandmas

The girls are far too chilled about their new titles.

Happy Birthday Bepop-her rather enjoyable Birthday in photos

A patch of sunlight

A muddy puddle

breakdancing on horse poo

breakdancing on fox poo in the undergrowth, she thought I hadn't noticed!

A deliberate face the other way after the fox poo incident

It was her birthday, so she was hoping to take this home.

 

Do barbets point?

 Remy, son of Betsy joined us yesterday on the shoot. He behaved perfectly, a credit to the flushing abilities of the barbet. As a breed in the UK, the dogs that we have do not flush like spaniels, they are bigger which makes a difference and they have inbuilt survival that tells them small holes in bramble are best left to other dogs! I was lucky yesterday as I witnessed Remy being over keen and leaving the cover during a drive, thinking the worse (commen when you own a barbet!) I watched and thankfully he flushed a rather large cock bird and returned at the same speed back into the cover. Free thinking barbets, they give you anxiety attacks, but time and time again they prove their worth.

Spot the barbet?  Remy in cover

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.

Happy Birthday to Bepops beautiful pups

Three years old today.

A lovely litter and I am proud of Bepop and Caya for giving the barbet world such wonderful dogs.

Thank you Bepop

Well done Bepop, an excellent morning with fine British weather.
A varied day for her, a bit of flushing, two marked retrieves, three lost birds and most importantly two pricked birds.
Was she tired? yes
Was she happy? yes
Is she wonderful? most of the time....whoops! yes

Novaforesta Eton deserves a pat on the back.

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

Why do I love this dog?

Muddy bearded lady

I have forgiven Bepop for being such a grump at the Game Fair, its hard to be cross with her for long. I knew it was going to be a bad day,we arrived at the gamefair, she jumped out the van very excited, surveyed the situation and hastily jumped back in the van, and curled up into a tiny ball, she knew what was ahead of her!!. I have since told her that was her last Gamefair appearance, luckily her children are more excited about being in the pen and they make the effort to wag their tails and say hello to the thousands of visitors. Bepop spent the day curled up behind my chair trying to impersonate the grass she was lying on. When she is depressed, thats how she deals with life, curls up and its amazing how small she becomes, her head disappears and she looks rather like a shaggy cushion, no tail, no legs, no head, just black curls. On a positive note, she didn't dump in the ring, and those visitors that had dog biscuits were greeted in a normal barbet style, In hindsite, she may have been hungry as we had an early start (4.45am) so perhaps I need a slapped wrist for that, but grumpy dogs and a long day out at the gamefair don't mix. Remind me in 2012 not to take my dearest dog.  

Barbet D'arret History

Its rare to see actual photographs of our breed. This photo is from the book ''Dogs of all Nations'' by  Bylandt, a well respected man also known as the Father of the breed standards. The 1904 version of the book also shows three illustations of barbets and has the breed standard in English, French, German and Dutch. The Boulet (Griffon a poil long) and the Korthals are also listed. In this slice of history the Boulet was accepted as brown and white, not just brown. This photo accompanies the barbet standard in Dutch. Bylandt would have certainly known the difference between a barbet and a poodle, his poodle Ajax was featured in the book. Very pleased to see so much coverage of the barbet, and no mention of the pwd, swd, or the lagotto; it would have been good to see how they looked. One final word, this barbet seems almost to be sporting a spaniel trim, which makes me feel better as for working that`s how I trim Bepop.

Dog Show in France.

Exposition de DOUAI les 2 JOURS  Samedi 11 et Dimanche 12 Juin 2011

I have finally booked dear Bepop for probably her final dog show in France.

Three/maybe four UK barbets will be confirmed at this show, all being well.

Bepop retrieving pheasant in water

Bepop is cut short, so for showing she will not look her best, but as most of you know I work Bepop, and long hair and working do not go hand in hand. I cannot  enter the working class in France as Bepop has not taken the BCE (the working test in France), hopefully one day the timing will be right so that she can take the test, as I am 99.9% confident she would pass.