The Life of Pi the black and white Barbet

I have some news, sad news for me but at the end of the day it was my decision as sometimes you have to accept you are not ''superwoman'' . The lovely Pi, Netis Jitterbug came into my life with encouragement from my Mother, which was a surprise as she had always said I had too many dogs. She also suited my long term breeding plan as she was a lovely combination with a Dutch male that had come into the UK who I had a soft spot for, as his Father was the male I had the failed mating with Betsy the Barbet we lost at 7 years old. Pi passed all her health checks, 4/5 hips, 0/0 elbows, 2 clear eye certificates, D/D locus , VWD type 1 carrier,  Tan, an excellent show critique from France, the list is endless....she was a perfect dog for breeding as she is also of excellent temperament.Pi went to live with a wonderful family, it was a difficult time but I want all my dogs to be happy and Pi was looking sad at times as she is a very affectionate girl, it was a better life for her as I had only ever planned one breeding as there are already so many Barbets with similar genes, afterall I only have 2 hands to stroke dogs , it was  right for her but it took a long time for me to get over as I missed her terribly and felt very guilty. However in early 2016 I finalised my breeding plan for her, late in the day but I had lost my Father in 2014, and my Mother in 2015. So after so much grief what could go wrong ? Firstly the Dutch boy had been removed from breeding, so I chose an English Stud who when Pi was ready for mating drank some stagnant water and was immediately very ill and not feeling very passionate and he remained ill during her fertile time!, not being nervous about travelling we had a 48 hour window to find a male that would be a good combination for the breed in the UK, my first choice in Holland was denied due to Pi being under 30 months, then by chance we found another male in Holland that I was happy with  ( remember at this stage I am thinking of combinations for new blood in the UK and a combination that would work with Martha,) Meanwhile our window for breeding was getting shorter and we knew we were cutting it fine. So a quick dash to Holland arranged, dog wormed, channel tunnel booked last minute, hotel booked. A 5.5 hour delay at Eurotunnel meant we arrived at our hotel at 1am, we had planned to be there at 5pm. Anyway to cut a long story short, we tried first thing in the morning and Pi was really not interested, and timing wise I think we were pushing our luck had we got there at 5pm . As soon as we realised it was too late for Pi we left for home. We waited for her next season, and this time I had decided to try chilled semen from overseas, this failed once again over timings I believe, we don't have instant progesterone checks in the UK so we get our results in 24 hours or longer and this also means nothing over the weekend. In hindsight using a female who had not produced was my error and I also chose a reproduction vet that was useless over communication!. The lovely family who have Pi kindly said I could try again but it is now 2017 and this year ( very shortly) we will become grandparents and 2016 was my window to breed Pi as I also have my lovely Martha (2 failed matings last year is another story!) and her daughter Snoop who has passed her health checks with flying colours. I am only telling the story about Pi as I don't wish to hear rumours that she has been spayed for any other reason. Pi is very happy with her family and my breeding plans have changed yet again as Pi and her husband were to have made a male for Martha in the future! and when you hear that it is all about money...think again as Pi to date has cost me about £8000      

Netis Jitterbug aka Pi

I had to share the show critique from the dog show we attended in Douai, France in June this year. However show results don't paint the whole picture of the dog and if Pi had a choice I think she would rather be in the forest.  

Novaforesta Lady Fern at her first dog show in France

What a clever girl she was on both days in France, she won best puppy and got to go in the big ring twice........she was the only entry both days BUT it was very good practice for her, and lovely for us to spend 2 long days with her in a very busy, noisy environment.

Martha and Novaforesta Lady Fern

A few updates for you all, Lady Fern is a staggering 9.9kg at 12 weeks so if she carries on in this manner she will be bigger than her Mum in a few weeks time :) I have to admit it is lovely to have finally kept a puppy and to witness the joys of watching Martha play non stop with her daughter.

Novaforesta Lady Fern at 7 weeks

Lady Fern is one of the larger girls, she has her moments of madness like the others and really is just one of the gang. She normally sleeps with Lily by the gate waiting for the rugby scrum moment when I unlatch it.All the puppies now just want to be with us, if we are quiet then they sleep, if we talk or move they are awake and yelling. This litter have always seemed a week ahead, so they will be more than ready to join their new families next week and to start exploring the big wide world.  ,

Novaforesta Livingstone Daisy at 4 weeks

At the moment she is the extrovert of the litter, on par with Lily of the Valley!. Both these girls are very alert and the first at your feet. Although the webcam doesn't show the rest of the room, we eat our meals a few feet away so we are able to watch the pups, however they are getting teeth so slippers are now a must!, plus my floor doesn't show the little puddles that are now appearing.

Novaforesta Lydia Broom at 4 weeks

She is a gentle girl still which I think you can see in the photos, but she has had a busy week as all the puppies have now enjoyed the taste of meat, from tomorrow they will get two helpings a day and probably the start of goats milk. The webcam will go also this weekend as the pups are now more free range.

Hallie and Cooper pups part 3 at 2 weeks old

9. Brown girl with green collar 

2. Black girl

7. Black girl nick named Sweep

10. Black boy (who sleeps through everything!)

1.Brown girl

Hallie and Cooper puppies part 2 at 2 weeks old

11.Brown boy with brown collar

4. Brown girl with white chest

6 Brown boy red collar

Martha the Barbet diva and dog shows!

This is me with my hand on hip, next to me is my chilled Barbet, Martha waiting to go in the ring. My sweet Martha who we can take anywhere, she travels like a dream, she sleeps under the table at restaurants, she is a working gundog, she swims like a fish, in fact as a dog (not just a Barbet) she is hard to fault. BUT take her in the show ring and she becomes devil dog. When we took her to the club show in Holland, she created as soon as she was in the ring, she barked and did absolutely every trick in the book to get out of the situation....hmm....so for Calais we borrowed a soft crate for her and she was the perfect dog, quiet,serene,happy as you can see from the photo above, she was normal Martha. Martha can do normal behavior to lunatic in less than 3 seconds and it is not fear or anxiety, she lets the judge check her over, but trying to make her move in the ring is impossible as she gallops to leave. It is a shame as she does deserve better, and it takes me back to showing Betsy as she had a stubborn streak in the showring and really only behaved if there was someone else handling her. So with that knowledge, I should have thought about training her from an early age about showing, although some dogs are just natural at it, Martha is not. Strangely enough I was not nervous or stressed about the show, I think I knew deep down that Martha was going to behave badly, and I normally just accept I am not a good handler although I never had a problem with Bepop in the ring, and Pi was also perfectly behaved. I think Calais will be Marthas last appearance in the ring, I know what a sweet girl she is and that is what is more important, she also works well in the field and every day life. She got an excellent by the judge at Calais, and I was told she needed cutting to make her hair more even which amused me as a dog groomer!,  ,  

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.
 

Happy Birthday Martha my dear

The sweetest girl was 2 years old this week, dear Martha who has to put up with so much now that Pi has joined us.

Martha has the shooting season to look forward to, then she will become a Mother in the Spring if all our plans work out.

Barbet mating plans

Charamese Hermione aka Hallie

Cooper du Pré de Redy 

http://pawpeds.com/db/?a=p&ids=3:1091211;2:958471&g=5&p=bar&date=iso&o=ajgrep

A good mating for us in the UK, 0/0 inbreeding over 4 generation and only 2.64% over 5 generations.

Hurry up Hallie, I want puppy time again :)

New Barbet puppy

Look who has joined the Novaforesta gang, at the moment she is called Pi but that may still change as we do not make decisions very quickly. She is the daughter of Ebene and Ooli, so the Grandaughter of Bepop. She is 8 weeks today and has settled in very well, and all my dogs love her except Bobby who is having a little bit of a crisis. Enjoy the white bits as they will not last long once she has been in the forest.
House training is going very nicely as she is really clean indoors and with the warmer weather the back door can remain open, I am however waking with the dawn chorus for the first wee of the day, she is going to have to learn that I like tea before I get up in the mornings.  

Martha my dear

She is just so sweet.

The perfect teeth in a Barbet

This is NOT a set of Barbet teeth, but just a lovely example of the scissor bite.

There is always confusion over the correct bite so I have tried to make it simple.
The Barbet should have a scissor bite, although a level bite(pincer) is also acceptable for showing,breeding and conformation.

I would make a dangerous guess to say that teeth in the Barbet breed has been overlooked due to the small genepool and the fact that most breeders have to take onboard how closely related dogs are, and what more serious health implications there are to combinations for breeding.
I personally would rather own a dog that had crooked teeth than hip problems.
I personally would rather own a dog with an incorrect bite than one that had seizures.
The list could be endless.......
So what you need to do is have a look at your dogs teeth, and also look at the bite and let your breeder know......if breeders are not informed then improvements will not happen.
This is a good site :

WEBSITE FOR TEETH

The link above goes into more details about the bite.

There is quite alot on the internet about teeth, but the 2 sites I have used today are:
 http://www.felsteadgundogs.com/canineundershotandovershotjaws.htm
http://www.mudicompass.org/teethandbite.html#ANCHOR_Text5

Happy 2nd Birthday to Hallie

2 years old today, so a big Happy Birthday to not only Hallie but also her 13 brothers and sisters

Happy 8th Birthday sweet Bepop

My lovely Bepop is 8 years old today, hard to believe she is already a great Grandma.
She has had a day with lots of cuddles, and salmon with her dinner......what more could she ask for .

Barbet Puppy plans

Cooper du Pre de Redy

Charamese Hermione ( Hallie)

 This will be my next Novaforesta litter later this year.

Cooper is a beautiful brown boy from Germany who is about 58 in height, so a perfect size for a male and has A hips and a 0/0 elbow score. He has passed his character tests in Switzerland.

Hallie as I am sure you know is  not only beautiful in looks and character, but has A hips and a 0/0 elbow score and her height is about 56 (hard to measure as she has so much coat at the moment) and she weighs about 20kg

A  lovely combination to take the Barbet forward in the UK with some new blood.

Cooper and Hallie proposed pedigree

   My puppy waiting list has resumed its pace :)

Douai Dog Show 2014

Yes, we were there and a mighty fine weekend was had by all.

There will be a write up on the GB site, and I will post the results of the show. The good news is that there were 5 Barbets from the UK, and 3 Barbets from Holland

Anouk , Claude, Distel,Hector,Sade, Bisous,Martha and Hallie.

Novaforesta Eton was very well represented as Anouk, Distel, Hector and Hallie have him as their Father, and of course Martha is the daughter of Etons' sister Novaforesta Effie. It was a lovely sight to see so many offspring together and to see what beautiful dogs they all were.