Barbet dog

It was so windy on the beach in France, poor Martha

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!,  ,  

Reeds Fowling Amelia- Barbet dog

Look at this beautiful Barbet, she is the sister of my Martha.....

Charamese Hector

Charamese Hector is the son of Novaforesta Eton and Novaforesta Dora, and is the brother of my rather fat Hallie (Charamese Hermione), his tail didn't stop wagging for the entire dog show, he is a lovely male, moves beautifully and if I can persuade Julie would definately be a champion male in the Barbet world.He is not a big male, as he is about the size of his Mum, so about 57/58 in height. In hindsite, he should have been shown with his Mum as a brace.....but maybe next time.

Dog shows in France-Calais 2014 Novaforesta Dora

Well what a result, Bonnie (Novaforesta Dora) came 2nd in group 8, our fist podium win for a Barbet born in the UK.....well done Julie, and well done Bonnie as they both looked good in the ring. Charamese Hector, son of Bonnie and brother to Hallie got the best male, so the challenge for Best of breed was between Mother and Son, how cool is that? A very proud day for Julie and Richard.
Another achievement was the wild child Rugby (Novaforesta Investigator) was confirmed, and he was actually rather well behaved, and looked fairly relaxed in the ring

  

I can definitely say that Calais is an easy show to get to, and well organised by the Club St Hubart du Nord and the judge Mme Van Brempt was just lovely with the dogs so a good visit with an excellant result. I will save my news about showing Martha and Pi......

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.

Martha and her friend Herbie

Don't tell Martha but I think Herbie finds Pi more playful, he is a lovely boy who is kept perfectly groomed by his owners and he gets his walks in the forest so how they keep him so white I cannot imagine.