The Kennel Club have accepted the Barbet

THE KENNEL CLUB



Well what can I say?
Finally ''The Barbet'' has been accepted onto the import register by the Kennel Club.

We now have a lot of work ahead of us, but we have been rehearsing this moment for years so I think we are well prepared.

A team effort by the Barbet Club, with input and encouragement from friends of the breed overseas too.

Watch this space!

Novaforesta puppies, Martha and Ooli at 5 weeks

This little girl loves Pi and is very much one of the crowd, at the moment she doesn't ever seem in the thick of any mischief but does like mud!

He is such a boy in looks, but he is quiet and very gentle and loves a cuddle. At the moment the girls are taking advantage of him as he is avoiding most of the wrestling games. 

This little girl is quiet but one of the first to explore, and just loves being outside. She loves also to play with Lydia Broom 

She is still a poser for the camera, and can normally be found sitting waiting for the gate to open to find new adventures, but then decides last minute that the kitchen is fun enough . 

She loves to carry all the toys, the best find a pair of socks which were taken and hidden from the others. She is very tail waggy and a very happy puppy

She is a cheeky girl, and the slowest eater in the litter but she is a confident girl and loves being outside. She was the only pup that disppeared with Martha late last night  to the end of the garden, so not sure whether that makes her brave or mad, however she did fall asleep first so it wore her out!  

I apologise for the photos being a day late, but last night I had them all out in the garden at night and had no PC time. The pups are on 3 meals a day, resonding well to the whistle and just busy exploring.

Charamese Hermione

Hallie is in season, so my pace of life has just gone up another notch and we are busy getting organised.
This will be a 'J' litter, so we should have fun choosing some suitable names.
More news as it happens as we are blood testing today.
 

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.

Obi

Obi in the work place

Obi has discovered water beetles!

This is Obi, he was my boy that loved his photo being taken and it looks as though he is still enjoying the camera. He has already changed so much as his hair is growing fast, but he is still that cheeky red collar boy.

Mr Red Barbet boy at 4 weeks

Mr Red is a bit of a poser, he likes the attention of the camera so perhaps he will be a future dog model!. he is a confident chap, and is now minus his collar as it keeps falling off, I can't see how as it is velcro and when I check it is on tight, but every morning we find it somewhere in the whelping box. So he is still called red collar, and is quite easy to spot as he is still the largest. A lovely boy and full of fun

Mr Purple, Barbet puppy at 4 weeks

Mr Purple is not the most adventurous of pups, and at the moment is the pup that reacts more to new sounds than the rest. He is a pup that loves cuddles already. It is lovely as I am beginning to start to get to know them and see their differences.

Solid Black Barbet boy puppy at 4 weeks old

At the moment he is the smallest puppy, and is completely black. He may be the smallest, but he happily manages to push out the others when it comes to feeding. Like Mr Blue he is responding well to the whistle, and he is normally the first to fall asleep once he has eaten breakfast or dinner so he runs out of steam the fastest. early days but my gut feeling is that he will be a gentle dog.

Meet Mr blue, a Barbet puppy at 4 weeks old

Mr blue collar is everything you want from a 4 week old pup, he is responding to me whistling, he is readily trying to climb on my lap and he is playful with his toys and he is taking to his raw meat like a puppy should.

New Kid in Town...

Wow, deep snow for the new bundle of joy who is now safely settled in his new home with his new friend Ziggy. 
Toby is officially known as:

Outdoors Asterix by Esbjorn S.T. Capo x Didi Von Der Leibruike.

Exciting times ahead, as having met Tobys' Father Esbjorn  all those months ago in Holland he was such a beautiful Barbet and now we have his Son residing in the UK- thanks to a wonderful Barbet owner (Carole gets a gold star) and a good breeder in Holland  (Astrid gets a gold star too)who took Toby out and about whilst waiting the 21 days after his rabies vaccination before he could enter our Country.

A Barbet likes to work ,rest and play!

Bepop didn't worry about the weather on Wednesday, she had a good day out.

Dogs Rules for Xmas

Phew, back on my blog at last and so much news to share with so little time before Xmas as today I still have one more day at work. But thought I would start with the rules at Xmas for your much loved family dog. You may have to read this several times so it really sinks in especially the bit about Father Xmas.

Betsy Bonheur

Betsy Bonheur caught on camera, the day before Hallie had been blamed for breaking the shrub. One can only assume that a stray dog biscuit is in there.

Novaforesta Darcy

 

Another wonderful day as Darcy, daughter of Bepop and Caya came to visit. A sensible option for Darcy is a short back and sides as she is rather a rural dog and like most barbets likes to swim and find mud. Darcy lives in a family home with young children, and is a very sweet little girl. She was a gentle puppy and has grown into a very gentle dog.At this time last year she was very ill, but as you can see she is back on her feet and now looks a picture of health.  

Hallie and dog training

Well, Hallie has now been enrolled in weekly dog training classes and after two weeks she has settled in nicely amongst the labradors which outnumber her by 5-1. I am helping out at the classes as I am very interested in not just the training but also the behaviour of pups and Hallie at not yet 6 months old has to lie down and watch the first class for an hour. To be honest I didn't think it would be possible that Hallie could be that good!.
The first week we sat together and watched the puppy class,  a group of 6 puppies ranging from 6 months to 8 months, it was very noisy, but  Hallie remained relatively calm throughout. Hallie then joined the older dog class and behaved extremely well and was much steadier than I could have hoped for as training with other dogs especially for a pup is very distracting.The second week she was tied to a piano on the stage, with my coat as her blanket and I sat near her whilst the first class was held, and after intently watching the class for awhile, she then lay on her side and slept. I woke her for her training session and once again she excelled, and her three dummy retrieves were all to hand :) So she is learning to chill amongst chaos, and she is learning to work with distractions and what is best of all for me is that when the classes are finished, she turns into a complete hooligan and wants to play and cause chaos with all the dogs. So she is not just a perfect puppy that is easy to train, she is learning what is expected of her in different situations.Fingers crossed for our third week, I will keep you posted.  

The story of Belle, sister of Betsy

Belle,the sister of Betsy

I have just read about Belle who is the sister of Betsy, sadly she had to be rehomed as an emergency as her very caring owner became ill. Alain and Anne-Sophie, who are breeders in France and also own a beautiful male from Nicole and Dominique (they bred Betsy) acted swiftly and drove and collected Belle so that she could be looked after in a home situation while new owners were sought. Belle settled well into her new pack but it was shortlived as within days, the daughter of Nicole wanted to give a new home to Belle. So the future looks good, for Belle as she has joined a family unit and if she is as sweet as Betsy then she will be very happy as Betsy is a very gentle girl when children are around.So well done to Alain and Anne-Sophie for acting so quickly over the welfare of a Barbet in a very sad situation and I wish Belle happiness in her new home.   

Barbet puppy meets a cow

A good move Hallie, just stop and stare and work out that it is much bigger than you.

An even smarter move is to hide behind the hedge to get a closer look.

Barbet Puppy News

I am very pleased to say that Novaforesta Dudley and Quaciendas Alba Aqua -Aura, otherwise known as plain Ooli and Alba are the proud parents of 8 beautiful pups born last night 31st May 2012.
This means Bepop is a Grandma again.....yippee.
Anne has already posted photos on her blog, and as some of you may know, Anne takes fantastic photos.  

http://nuphars.wordpress.com/

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.