Welcome to my blog about life with my three Barbets ( French water-dog ) Martha, Snoopdogg ,Roobarb and Moby, not forgetting my Bobby, a rescued poodle cross and whichever other dogs are visiting.
New Life -Green boy
Life with puppies is chaotic to say the least, and thinking of new experiences for them everyday is a challenge. In the last couple of days Martha has decided that the pups need weaning so as she is too much of a lady to regurgitate her food she has carried meals in her mouth into the puppy area, I hadn't realised until I saw the pups eating beetroot!, the next day she carried a boiled egg and a carrot in, then a mouthful of tripe. The pups are enjoying the experience of seconds, and I am being careful over what Martha eats now I know. Martha is also still feeding them milk and not getting grumpy with them at all, which hopefully will change this week as being rather selfish I don't like the 3am feed and Martha barks at the pen until we let the hooligans out!. As for the puppies and their characters;
New Horizon (Black girl) is very confident and loves exploring the garden, never seems to tire.
New Moon (boy with 2 white feet) is one of those pups that is never in trouble, he is good fun and very confident.
New Dawn (girl with white foot) is the puppy with the constant waggy tail who wants to be picked up and when you try and put her down she does the strangest wiggle, she is the attention seeker in the litter but is also very gentle.
New Day (Gloves) she is always watching what is going on, so very alert but likes the security of what she knows best, she likes being part of the gang and playing with her brothers and sisters rather than exploring the garden on her own.
New Life ( Green boy) he is a confident boy that is very playful and is happy to be exploring on his own, he has started to let me know when he is awake and wants out of the kitchen.
New Start (Orange boy) he is still a puppy that normally goes to sleep first, he is my quietest boy and just loves to be cuddled, he is calm and loves to play
New World ( red boy) he is my chunky puppy that is always stuck under the sofa due to his size I think.so not sure how bright he is, he is actually quite a gentle pup though and he still stands in the food bowl to eat!
Snoop is still being a fantastic half sister, she is sometimes a little rough but they all adore her presence and normally a chorus of crying means Snoop is in sight as they get very excited about her in the pen or garden. Snoop is also breaking up the puppies when the play gets out of hand whilst Martha just watches which I find interesting, almost as though she has handed over the responsibility to Snoop ( thats a worry!)
We have a busy week planned as will start taking them out in the car, and we have so many visitors of all ages including some from overseas which I am thrilled about.
Novaforesta James Brown (brown collar) and yes another pee photo, but I am thrilled with puppy pads :). James Brown is a cool dude, and totally unflappable at the moment.
Novaforesta Jessie J the first born girl, she should go and live in the shop 'Toys r us' as she is always the first to check anything new out, including our numerous visitors at the moment. She is a very sociable little minx.
Martha is enjoying this season, it has taken a few weeks for her to get fully up to speed but this week end she worked really well and she is certainly using her nose to establish where the birds are.
I could teach her to point , but unless I read a few books I am not quite sure where to start or whether I want her to. At the moment she is pointing at birds that have not been lifted during a drive which is rather intelligent of her, and I am praising her and we leave them be. I so need to do this full time, never enough hours in my day.
Pi has started dog training and as expected is a little star.She is going to her first dog show in November in Calais so will be having her rabies shot soon to enable her to travel.
Poor Hallie has an injured hind leg after an impact with Bobby playing in the garden. After a visit to the vets, a small dispute over her treatment (the leg was not broken after initial examination) with the help of a few manic phone calls I decided that crate rest was the best course of treatment with medication from the vets.
A good idea, but not according to Hallie who has never been in a crate and certainly has no plans to start. I tried everything to get her to enter the crate, and only ever did she manage willingly her front legs. Jonty was better as he got in the crate with her, so that worked while he was around. So the next best thing was a bed near where I was working, and I decided it was going to be shredding paperwork day. As you can see, after a short time she got bored and slept. It has now been a week since her accident and she is off all her medication and has been for a couple of lead walks with no limping and I have allowed her back with the other dogs for play.It is really tough with a young dog keeping them calm and rested, and trying to keep her apart from the others when she so desperately wanted to play.
However well she swims, she still has caution over where she enters the water. Yesterday we took her out and each time she huffed and puffed about going into the water and then she would just throw herself in, she did some impressive dives! and she loves putting her entire head under the water. So once she is a bit more confident we will take her to a lake where the water is deeper
Well I thought I would be over the moon that Bobby has now decided that Hallie could be an asset to our 'dog gang' as she is so very playful. However he plays real rough and although he stops and leaves the crime scene when she yelps, Hallie always goes back for more so she encourages him everytime. Bobby has only started playing in the last two days so perhaps he has a better understanding of the words 'foster' 'rehome' and 'castration' than I gave him credit for. I did supervise this new playtime and drew the line at Bobby sitting on Hallie, she has very sharp teeth and he was being rather daft with his positioning in my opinion, those words ''it will end in tears'' were going through my mind frequently. Guess who stopped play? Big Bertha aka Betsy, she got inbetween Bobby and Hallie and said in a volley of barks 'enough' and then she beat up Hallie in the same manner of play as Bobby.......hmmm, I am beginning to think that the dogs should just form an orderly queue and get 'lets beat up the new member of the pack' out of their system. As for Bepop, well she is still depressed and has taken up residence in my hall, so if anyone reading this wants to study dog behaviour, I have enough going on here for a book!
Être crotté comme un barbet- As muddy or dirty as a barbet This well known saying in France, Bepop has welcomed with open arms!. The earliest date for this saying is 1835, I may yet find earlier references. So all you new puppy owners in the UK, you have been warned that this is 'Grandma' She is not a city dog, she is not a dog that ever needs to wear a coat, she is a just a sweetheart that loves the great outdoors and that includes dirt, mud,bog, and anything dead. Now those puppy owners who are feeling smug because Betsy is their Grandma, more photos to follow as you haven't escaped.
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.
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