Mating plans for Barbet Hallie

Well folks, we are off tomorrow to Germany on a mission to mate Hallie with the rather splendid Cooper. All being well I will be flooding the blog with x rated photos!
Pi is coming with us for her first trip to France, she has never done a road trip so to her the car just means the forest or vets so it will do her good to spend at least 8 hours in the boot.
I am very excited at the prospect of meeting new Barbet owners and after a year of thinking about Cooper, finally meeting him.
I will update as soon as I have more news or if I get a connection it might be worth looking at Novaforesta Barbets on facebook if I can work my phone out..

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.
 

Netis Jitterbug aka Pi

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.  

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 :)

Barbet puppy training

I seem to be stuck in the world of puppy training, but before you feel sorry for me it is of course by choice. Every puppy is different, so I always try to get to know the puppy and settle the puppy before I do any training of any sorts. The very first thing I noticed about Pi was that with any toys that trailed she would fold them if possible to carry, this impressed me as I like dogs that think.
Pi is just coming up to 4 months old and is a bit of a tearaway, if she finds anything that she can pick up then she is off like a rocket, and by the look in her eyes it is most definitely planned. She will be a quick learner, a good hunter and I am hope a good retriever. The hunting skills are already showing, most nights without fail she finds our resident toad,and  by her tail wagging it is easy to spot what bushes contain birds, and then we have the goldfish situation ( a blessing really as it does occupy her time) and being rather positive we have a very fit toad in the garden and very fit goldfish.

Anyway, as you may have seen she has taken to swimming like a duck to water, and learnt the sit and down with hand signals and words and I have just started working at her retrieving the dummy to hand.
Pi is still a young puppy, I only do 5 minutes a day training with her, but that 5 minutes I expect her to listen and to work out what I expect of her, that way training is fun as she always looks a little disappointed when it is over.  
 

Barbet puppy chaos

Meet our new addition, NetisJitterbug now 3 months old. When you get a puppy it takes time to get to know them, she spent the first couple of weeks next to us at night but now has settled well with some of the older dogs downstairs, she is not crated as there has not been the need. I do have a puppy pen in the kitchen which she visits when she gets too hyper and starts to bite and generally is just over tired. The puppy pen also means a safe place for her numerous toys, as with older dogs who like nothing better than a soft toy to destroy it is nice to be able to provide her with some entertainment.
She is swimming well with no signs of panic

  Her biggest fault at the moment is the speed she runs when she takes something she shouldn't, you never chase a puppy but it is almost impossible to remain calm and wave a treat at her when she has a possible fatal object in her mouth! once I really understand what is going on in her head, then training will be easier so at the moment I am just learning what she responds to.
More importantly for a puppy is to go out and meet other dogs and people, so we are trawling the streets and finding the odd cafe or pub that takes dogs, she is very confident so this at the moment is easy as nothing has phased her, actually tell a lie.....she expelled her anal gland when Julian started the petrol mower, and she does hang out on the back door step when the neighbours mow the lawn, so we will have to deal with that.