Do Barbets retrieve?

I am very pleased to say that ''yes'' they do.
We have been having problems with Martha as since we got our pet ducks she has just gone right off doing any retrieving work on birds, rabbits were still ok though!. So yesterday we took the 3 girls and a frozen pheasant up the forest, as it was all a bit last minute! the bird didn't have time to thaw.
Bepop is just as keen as ever, and always does the perfect retrieve to the hand, Martha watched her mate several times and then did a fab retrieve through the water and mud, then Snoop for the very first time on game, took a while to go in the water but eventually decided to dive and delivered the bird very nicely to hand. They all struggled picking up the frozen bird, and Martha found the easiest bit to hold which I suppose shows common-sense. Anyway, I was very pleased as they also watched silently whilst the others were retrieving so we had a wonderful afternoon. .  

Martha taking the role of a gundog

 We don't do character checks in the UK (yet) but it did get me thinking about how a days beating on a shoot with a dog is a real test of character.
On small shoots you will sometimes get children, some are as young as 18 months milling around at the start and finish but often messing around with the beating sticks.
The dogs cannot be gunshy, but they also have to accept that people have either flags that they wave or they have sticks which they use and bang on trees.
Dogs have to be very obedient, they have to have perfect recall, it only takes one badly behaved dog to ruin a drive.
On Saturday we travelled between drives in a landrover, Martha had to jump into the vehicle  (which is a fair height) into a space that she could sit in, but not turn round in, 4 adults and 1 dog is a squash to say the least, you just about get the door shut.
Martha has to deal with barbed wire, fences,gates, electric fences, cattle grazing, and normally running deer. Martha also has learnt patience, as you can stand in the rain for 20 minutes waiting for the guns to be ready.
Martha is a pleasure to take on the shoot, she has a good range and will always return on the whistle, she flushes the birds well and once flushed she will return to the cover.
She knows that the horn sounding means the end of the drive, and she emerges to locate us. I have to admit that on Saturday I was very pleased with her, as after one drive she was walking at heel, and then suddenly she turned and went back to the hedge we had passed, she froze at the hedge with her head down so we thought we should take a look......it was a young partridge sat there, not injured just hiding in cover. A clever girl who has been allowed to think for herself, my sort of dog. She didn't flush it, nor try and retrieve it, she just told us it was there......and the partridge will live to tell the tale of its encounter with a Barbet.

Barbet dog history

This was written in 1881 and we now have some more images of the Grand Barbet 'Lowe'

The name barbet , which for three centuries was given to all the setting dogs with long hair, was replaced since by that of caniche, so the origin of the name is obviously duck. For a long time cane [male duck .fr] indicated the male barbet , and caniche the female. But the barbet is not a poodle, the blind dog. In certain aptitudes for hunting, the barbet has a little of the spaniel and the griffon, and much of the poodle by its aspect and its conformation. Like the spaniel, this dog originates from the sheepdog of the north. Over time, crossings and the climate, the barbet became what it is nowadays. I do not believe that the breed is well fixed; what causes me has to think this are the differences that one frequently finds in it. At the Dog Show of 1863, there was a prime barbet, Lowe owned by Mr. Favre. This dog had a head which slightly resembled a small Newfoundland, only the ears were longer and were covered with wool, but the muzzle, a little longer, was almost bare; long hair did not cover the eyes, as is found in almost all barbets.

The barbet, such as I know it, is of average size, strong enough to bring back a hare; its body, is entirely covered with long wool which falls down in front of the eyes. The ears are long, less long however than those of the poodle; though very squat, it is higher on legs than the poodle. The foot is large and broad. The eyes, set round in the head, when one sees them under the hair which hides them, have a strange expression which reveals much intelligence and kindness. I have never looked at the eyes, so full with devotion, of a poodle or of a barbet without feeling attracted towards him, without stroking him.

Barbet pedigree dogs

I am always happy when the paperwork arrives, and even happier when it is all correct and I can send it on to the owners of my pups. So my last litter with Bepop and Jedi are now all official.  

Novaforesta Demi

Always such a pleasure to see my little Demi

Hallie and Martha...Barbet girls on their best behaviour

Martha retrieving a dummy rather than waiting for others to get it for her.

A little discussion about who would get the dummy!

Hallie loving a bird retrieval

Hallie posing, she is quite a diva

Spoilt dogs

Bless them, they were cold, wet and very tired and too little to leave to drip dry in the utility room.

Barbet dog and interesting facts

I have been thinking about how committed some people are to the Barbet,we are lucky as there are now so many websites and so much more information available in the UK as well as overseas. But actually the majority of work involving a rare breed is rarely mentioned as it is rather boring and not really news worthy. Breeders can spend hours looking at pedigrees trying to find a good male for example, and then once decided approach the owner only to find out the male has already been booked for use by others and is not available, or the owners are on holiday when you think you may need to use him.
Although I have a list of jobs to do, today I sat down and worked out how many miles had been driven by the three foreign owners that have now used our three stud dogs in the UK.

In 2012, 4554 miles or 7328km is the combined mileage to use a UK stud dog by the 3 breeders. I am impressed as having travelled now 4 times abroad for matings, I know how difficult and costly it can be, and sometimes you don't even have any puppies :) so folks when you look for a Barbet puppy, and you find that a male has been used from a different Country, those breeders show commitment, they are looking ahead at the future.
It is a nice thought, Eton, Dudley and Duplo are desirable males and I certainly hope that in the future they will be sires that I will be able to use, but obviously not with my little Hallie......    

Hallie at 15 weeks

 Hallie is growing fast, she is such a delight and such an easy puppy, she even asks to go to bed at night, although I think that may be related to the bonio she gets before bed . She has made some good friends at puppy classes, a labradoodle who is a little smaller than her, a chilled golden retriever, and a wonderful spaniel/labrador cross. Its a lovely class, and the puppies have a structured play session rather than a mad romp which is so much better than puppy classes I have attended before. So Hallie is easy, but I had forgotten that owning a pup is hard work and very time consuming as it is vital to socialise them as much as possible especially the more intelligent ones.She has a good run in the forest only twice a week, the rest of the time we are walking the streets or attending an event. Last Saturday she sat outside Sainsburys trying to get votes for Nightstop a local charity, today she will attend a Country fair at our local town.

What Hallie does do with relish is eat horse/cow poo, so she is not perfect and the strange thing is, she is fussy about which pile she eats. I can only think that as its not the texture that attracts her so it must have something to do with what the animal has eaten. Luckily it doesn't seem to upset her stomach, nor  do the unripe greengages that she eats in the garden

Novaforesta Demi

Demi in the New Forest at 10 weeks



Demi looking guilty at about 7 weeks

Demi a wonderful dog in my opinion, one of the best barbets in the world but then I am very biased. She is the daughter of Caya and Bepop, and spent most of her puppyhood when we had visitors hiding under a cot, people would remark about the fact that there should be 12 puppies and they could only count 11. She reminded me of a babybird rather than a puppy, but when she looked at me I used to melt.She was called Demi as she was half the size of the biggest pup at birth, and we thought rather than interfer with nature we would let her fend for herself for the first few days. After about a week, she was losing ground to the other 11 pups, so we used to top her up with milk and she also got first feed from Bepop, something that the experts say not to do but hey.....   
I thought I would never find the right home for Demi,how wrong was I? She has had her moments of being hard work, but her family are devoted to her, as she is to them and if you want to meet Demi she will be at the CLA Game Fair this year, there is something special about her, honest! and its always such a pleasure to get a 'Demi' welcome when I see her so I can't wait.

Novaforesta Demi June 2012

Barbet Puppies 7 weeks

I definately don't have all 14 in the photo, but I can say they are lovely puppies and an amazing achievement to have raised them and see them all together. Bonnie is looking great, and Julie and Richard who are coping with these 14 rascals are also looking remarkably normal. They are all sold, so all will soon be joining their new owners and starting new lives. 

Rustic barbets

I have had an awful thought, I last groomed my 4 dogs before Ooli and Alba mated, and today I have read that she is on week 7 of pregnancy which means I should have my wrists slapped. My dogs probably think they have died and gone to heavon as 7 weeks + and no grooming is almost as good as being a short haired dog!. Tomorrow is already planned as we will be in Windsor to see the Queen (I hope) and so Sunday if its raining I will be doing 'extreme dog grooming', if its sunny I need to plant seeds at my allotment or we will have no veg this summer. I have to say my  very rustic barbets,( its a better way of saying neglected!) look rather good, but I also know that between the 4 of them I have an entire city garden lurking in their coats.   

    

Another Muddy Grandma

As promised this is 'Grandma Betsy, taking the old French expression ''., Être crotté comme un barbet'' in hand. Did she smell bad? absolutely those who were there will remember well. This was the day of the Barbet Club photo shoot with Nick Ridley and before they were required to pose in front of the camera we thought they should have a run in a field, it was a dry day and we had a DRY field. Anyway a quick dip inbetween posing dogs and she was as good as new, and some of the resulting photos  are being sold as 'stock' photos for the breed so it turned out to be a wonderful day. 

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.

Barbet puppies at 5 weeks

The rain stopped and the 5 week old pups at Annettes were released into the bigger world of outside. When you see this photo you can't help but think they are longing for the next stage which is 'the field'.
Tomorrow I am going to see them again, so although I will say 'goodbye' to my temporary puppy residents, I will also get a few puppy cuddles with older pups. Having so much puppy time is almost as good as having my own, but it has made me realise its time for more puppies at the Preston house, its been far too long.

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.