Barbet Bepop and Jedi puppy update

This is Ralph enjoying a beach holiday

This is Harpo still enjoying the ball pond

This is Hugo looking rather relaxed

Hallie the Barbet

This is Hallie yesterday just before she was groomed, she has so much coat and with the weather being so wet and muddy in the forest I decided to take a few inches off her coat. I hated doing it as she has a fab coat, but you do start thinking that these dogs cannot remain damps for days and days......just in case you are worried, she now has a fringe so she can see :)
Hallie is very sweet, Bobby thinks she is rather sexy! and Martha just takes all the toys away. Martha and Hallie are good friends as there is only 4 months age difference, and yes they play rough.    

Bepops' husband to be- Deejee

Some further information about Deejee (see below), the rather beautiful boy chosen for Bepops last litter.
The owner of  Deejee, also owns his Father Jedi (another rather handsome chap)
For lots more photos of Deejee, please visit :
http://jedi-le-barbet.be/

Deejee Dakota Van de zonnehonden

dog show Bruxelles 2011: bébé très prometteur

certificat d'élevage

nationale d'élevage Chatel-Guyon lors du symposium 2012 : classe jeune 1er excellent , meilleur jeune mâle , meilleur jeune

exposition de Chatel-Guyon 2012 : classe jeune 1er excellent, meilleur jeune mâle, meilleur jeune

Tan

brevet de sociabilité

dog show Bruxelles 2012: premier Excellent CAC, CACIB, BOB

Remember Hope that little pup

Well folks,the photo is of  Hope  doing what a Barbet enjoys.
Hope was one of the pups I hand reared for 3 weeks and what a fantastic dog she is turning into, we spent a lovely morning together in the forest with her owners and there is no better way to enjoy a Sunday morning than a bit of waterwork.. Hope is only 7.5 months old and already learning the role of a gundog.

Barbet Puppy time at nearly 6 weeks

Two girls and a boy all reserved

 A lovely visit yesterday at Annettes to see the puppies who will be 6 weeks on Thursday.

I know he is having a scratch but he remained still for a second! This chunky boy is reserved.

This boy is still available, he is very sweet and just loves the big dogs.

Wet days and paperwork but lots of good news.

Another wet day in the UK, its getting a tad boring and with any spare time I should be down my allotment planting seeds. But instead, I am sorting out paperwork inbetween the most important distraction of puppies.
News today, two of the male puppies from Ebene and Ooli will be training for gundog work, One pup has already been signed up to start training with 'Huw' a wonderful gundog trainer in Wales where we spent a weekend several years ago. Lucky Huw will have another barbet to make into a steady gundog. The other pup will be trained as a gundog and be working on a family shoot.So 2 more barbets being trained is something to celebrate.
The video showing barbets training and working on land and water  that was requested this year by the organisers of the Sporting pavillion at the CLA Game Fair has been sent off ......a big thank you to Lorraine and David for that.
Finally the Kennel Club have been in contact over our recognition of the Barbet in the UK, the committee have  requested clarification over a few points in our submitted application. It maybe I have misunderstood a question  and ticked the wrong box, easily done at times! but I am seeking more information from France, where better than the home of the Barbet. On a positive note, more communication with our Kennel Club means I can now let them know about the 2 new litters born in the UK, our numbers have increased by 19 dogs since my application went in December. I will also be able to send them the video of the barbets working that will be seen at the Game Fair.
Strangely enough, the letter from the  KC also mentioned whether a breed club was being established, * cough cough cough* page 41 of the application........ I take that as a good sign that they never got beyond page 40.

Hope and Halfpint Barbet puppies

They do wake up sometimes, but this sleep was deep as both had their first bath in my washing up bowl. They both paddled round the bowl and either they enjoyed the experience or they were both in shock but they took the bathing in their stride.

Hope is now showing that she wants to play, her little tail wags on sight of Bepop or one of us. She uses her bottle like a punchbag, showing her frustration that the milk doesn't flow fast enough for her hungar, so weaning for her is easy. This morning she came out for a walkabout and met Bobby face to face, he was very gentle but was looking over his shoulder for Bepop or Betsy, so I got the feeling he felt he was too close to such a young pup. As for Halfpint, he is a few days behind Hope, he loves his bottle and loves a cuddle while feeding,with a full tummy he wants nothing more than the crook of your arm and sleep so he is not as eager to explore yet . I am not getting attached, BUT both these pups stare at your face when you feed them, they fix you with a look that can't help but make your heart skip a beat. Monday will be  the next stage for these beautiful pups, they are going home and they will be over the coming days/weeks be reunited with their large family.   

Barbet Puppies having quality time

Annettes pups were 5 weeks old yesterday, and they are enjoying their freedom and learning the calming ways of the Spinones.

Grandma Bepop

If you look closely the pup is by Bepops front leg.Yesterday Bepop learnt the art of jumping silently into the puppy run, its only a small square run. Luckily she didn't land on the pups who were hidden under a fleece. I did worry that she would not be able to get out, as she may panic if the pups tried to feed from her. however she jumps easily and a click of my fingers and the word 'out' she sailed over with ease. Its a relief to me that Bepop is taking such an interest in the pups as it means they are having important 'dog time'.  

Barbet Grandmas

The girls are far too chilled about their new titles.

Waiting for a walk.

We had a NO dogs in the lounge rule! but they don't feel guilt do they?.
They were keeping tabs on Julian in case he had forgotten their forest walk luckily it was only a 10 minute delay as he filled our vw with oil.

Ticks and dogs

Every night this week I have taken ticks off my dogs.Yesterday Bepop had these two on her head, both at different stages, one fully engorged and one thinking about filling its stomach. I use tick tweezers (made in Germany) and probably about 30 years old, i am not squeamish about ticks anymore as I have removed so many since moving to the New Forest.
The sad news this week is that a barbet in the States lost its life to Lymes disease and this disease is carried by ticks. Our thoughts again with the family of Dyna at this difficult time.
I don't frontline or use any deterrent on my dogs against ticks, I did awhile back but as I was removing the ticks on a regular basis very much alive, I became more unhappy over the chemicals I was using for no real reason. Frontline will kill a tick in 24/48 hours, so for those reading this horrified that I do not protect my dogs against a terrible death I suggest you do research and find out when Lymes disease is transferred from tick to dog.I live in an area that has Lymes disease.
I hope my dogs have antibodies against Lymes as at some point they must have been bitten by an affected tick.
Have the antibodies given them immunity? or do my dogs have a good immune system?or is it a matter of time?  its hard to find out facts for ticks and Lymes.
When the weather gets warmer, my 2 ticks a night average will rise to 5 or 6 a night, I will then use a herbal spray or an oil to try and stop the blighters attaching to the coat.
Anyway I will try and do more research.........the answers will be there somewhere.
The beautiful barbet in the States had been frontlined and vaccinated against Lymes, but the belief is that she was affected before the vaccination. So don't stop what you do to fight ticks, my belief  maybe very wrong  and the price you pay is the loss of your dog.,  

Sex,lies and videotape.

A very appropriate title for the weekend

Sex:
A very successful mating of two barbets yesterday, so good news in 4 weeks I hope.

Lies:
Take a few seconds to read this...

As we don't intend to get through the entire alphabet, by breeding lots of litters, we chose names that have a special meaning for us. We hope they are not as awful as some, as we really didn't like the official name that was given to Odo.  We recall the breeder picking him up and saying,

"This one's called Denzil, 'cos I think he looks like Denzil Washington"!  No!  None of ours will be named after anyone that happens to be the same colour,  a very strange thing to do!!!

The quote above is more a reflection of the downside of being involved in the dog world, normally I can read comments about myself as a breeder or comments about my dogs and just laugh as the malice behind the words is envy not the truth.However today I have a headache and I am not laughing. Firstly I don't ever say ''cos'', Secondly Denzil is a Cornish name, Thirdly had I named my pup after Denzel Washington, I would have spelt it Denzel NOT Denzil.

As a breeder naming pups you only ever pick names that you like or conjure up a good memory, so even if I had picked Denzel as a name because of Denzel Washington it would not have been derogatory because they happen to be the same colour but because I like him as an actor (which I actually do),
I own 2 black barbets, strangely enough they have produced quite a few black puppies, Daisy,Drew,Diamond,Darcy,Duplo,Dickens,Dorje,Drake,Dora,Damsel,Dudley,Doug,Daria and Demi.
I also have a black shaggy boy named Bobby, I didn't name him and to us he is Bob, but rest assured that this is out of respect for the wonderful Bob Monkhouse not Bob Marley.
Video:
Julian does a fair mileage with our dogs, and today he took the camera. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful area and I believe the dogs would agree.

Bedtime for Betsy and how she communicates

Although she has a long coat, its now Spring and Betsy has had her natural warm woolly jacket removed. I groom my barbets for the UK weather, but perhaps I had not taken into account our house is very cold and we have no carpets, so the flooring is cold!. At 7pm last night, after a very long walk, a good swim and a hearty meal she begged and cried until we realised she wanted to go upstairs to bed, as you can see that is where the dog beds are!. It really shows how the coat of a dog can be changed by grooming, Betsy spent most of our Snowy weather outside, she is not a dog naturally that ever feels the cold. Anyway, she didn't move, thats how she slept until 7am this morning, Bepop and Bobby thought it was great as they cuddled up. Its strange how dogs communicate so differently, Bepop if she wants something she looks with her eyes and then back to me, not unlike a baby would, Betsy dogs your heels and cries and you play the guessing game, Bobby is still a bit young and too preoccupied with retrieving anything not tied down, Jazz dances on his back legs near whatever he wants or runs to it.

Bepop can be a lady and a model!

Copyright Dogs Today,photo Tim Rose

Hard to believe that Bepop has three shoots lined up for next season, if she could speak she would be complaining that she would rather be holding a duck or pheasant, sometimes it is an advantage that dogs communicate with their eyes rather than words, and Bepop nearly always has one eye showing, so I can tell whether she is happy, or fearful or just plain hacked off! . 

Coat of a waterdog

This is just an example, as most of the barbets I groom, the soft hairs are groomed with the top coat so the knitting together of the softer coat is less obvious. I also don't shave that many. To the untrained eye, Mr Bentley yesterday did not look as though his coat would come off in large sections like the photograph, the soft hair feels like his skin. Its a true woolly jacket for a barbet. Hard to believe that this dog was wet when he arrived, so that shows also that his skin had been kept bone dry. Mr Bentley is brushed by his owners, and they do rely on myself to advise on whether he needs shaving or just a good groom out, teamwork really to make sure the dog is comfortable.
So now you all know whats under the curls!

Perfect Pet-Dogs Monthly

Good news, the Barbet is officially on a breed drop down menu on at least one website in the UK.

http://www.perfectpup.co.uk/index.php5

I can also confirm that Jilly and I have been accepted as Breed advisors after completing an extensive form, there were some tricky questions to answer but we both passed!

Well done Jilly

Bepop has fame at last, she is in the Shooting Times.

This weeks shooting times magazine (dated 12th January) has an article by David Tomlinson about 'Beating with a Barbet'

I love this photo