Enjoying Spring at Hickory Tavern Farm

 Beautiful Calla Lily

 Napa and Ava exploring the farm. Ava is always a wonderful nanny to the puppies.

 Solene enjoying the river ducks in Pittsburgh during the Pittsburgh Marathon

Stunning Napa at 9 weeks

Barbet Puppy Fun

Yesterday we had some lovely visitors who came to visit the Barbet (and brought us delicious chocolate chip cookies!). Baby puppy Napa enjoyed a special moment with June, who had just turned 2 the day prior.

Although having a singleton puppy was not ideal, I cannot say enough about sweet Solene's devotion to her little sister. From Napa's early weeks through the present, Solene has always played at the appropriate level and Napa has a positive, confident attitude toward every new encounter. I am so proud of this girl.

Here is Napa on the left and Solene on the right when they are both 8 weeks old. I am so pleased with the quality and consistency that we got from using Bango du Pre de Redy as the sire of Claire's litters. Although sadly small in size, her litters presented us with a wonderful next generation to further the advancement of Barbet in America.

Barbet Puppy Napa is 8 Weeks Old Today!

At 8 weeks, our baby Napa continues to thrill us with her beautiful conformation and bold and brave personality. Big sister Solene and 10 month old Nessa enjoy playing with her. Breeding Claire and Bango has produced exactly the kind of puppies we were hoping to get from this combination, and we really look forward to their future contribution to our breeding program. Working with the American show and breeding system in the infancy of the Barbet in the United States is very exciting and rewarding. Breeders throughout Europe have made foundation dogs available to North America and we are very proud to be continuing on with the development of the Barbet in America.

Barbet Solene OFA Prelim Results: Good!

Yesterday I received very good news in the mail from OFA. Solene's OFA Prelim xrays received a rating of Good. Even though she won't receive her permanent rating until she is 2, it is good to know that her hips look great as we make her future breeding plans.

Barbet Puppy Napa

Napa is now 7 weeks old and is such a beautiful puppy. We are really enjoying her last weeks here with us!

Barbet Grooming Shape

I am often asked how the Barbet is to be groomed for the dog show. Many styles are seen in the ring, from fully blown and brushed out to an ungroomed, untouched appearance. I prefer a moderate style, nicely shaped but naturally presented. This picture demonstrates my preferred Barbet appearance for my dogs.

Barbet Puppy Napa Outdoors at 5.5 Weeks

Napa has been enjoying the warm weather and being able to play outside. She's such a smart and sweet puppy.

Bob's New Agility Titles

What a weekend we've had at the Mountaineer Kennel Club Agility Trials. Bob won his Novice Agility Preferred and Novice Jumper Preferred titles, and qualified for his first legs in Open Standard and JWW. Training and working with Bob to learn Agility has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. He tries so hard and is always smiling. I wish I had started in Agility years ago, but I'm happy that we did finally give it a go, and I plan to get some of the other dogs ready while continuing to work with Bob. As always, none of this would have been possible without the patient, excellent coaching from Irene Barrie. Next...agility with a Barbet!

Barbet Puppy Napa at 4 Weeks

This weekend baby Napa's new family came to visit with her for the first time. As they live quite a long way from us, we appreciate having such a great puppy family who are willing to commit so much time to their tiny girl. Thanks for the great photos, Courtney!

Fun Photo Day

Even though it's spring, we had 5" of snow overnight. It was fun taking Bob out for some jump practice. Calla was happy sleeping on her pilow, and we had fun with our beautiful puppy, who is getting very big!

Barbet Sisters

While Claire was outside stretching her legs, Solene had the perfect opportunity to hop in and meet her little sister. Solene was so excited as she had been hearing the mysterious squeaks and she was finally able to see who was responsible for the noises! Baby Napa was quite surprised to have another dog with her, but Solene quickly settled in to gently wrestle with the baby.

Solene's OFA Prelims

Today I took Solene to my vet for her OFA Preliminary xrays. Although OFA does not give permanent hip scores until after a dog's second birthday, prelim xrays on a dog over one year of age are quite reliable in determining permanent scoring. Solene's xrays looks great to me and my vet. Soon we will have the official result from OFA.

Barbet Girls Solene and Nessa

We are so pleased with the progress of our young Barbet girls. They are maturing into lovely examples of the breed, both having excellent conformation and movement.

Solene

Pupdate

We try to give her many snuggly places to sleep

She's now sitting up for a visit with mom

Big stretch!

Premier Top Ten Invitations!

This was an exciting day at the post office. My mailbox was stuffed full with big envelopes from the UKC. Inside there were certificates for my dog's rankings for 2012 and invitations for them to compete in the Top Ten Competition at Premier in Kalamazoo this coming June. I'm really excited for this year's Premier show with the first UKC Barbet specialty and the chance to show in the Top Ten Competition. It will be the first time that Barbet have ever appeared in the UKC's Top Ten!

Solene

Nessa

Claire

One Week Already!

Already one week has flown by and we are really enjoying our little girl. Claire is very proud of her!

Birthday Bob

It's Bob's 8th Birthday! This has been an exciting year for Bob. We started training in Agility and he has proven to be an excellent student! He is focused, enthusiastic, and so much fun to work with. Proving that an old dog can learn new tricks, Bob has two legs toward his Novice Agility and Novice Jumper title after just two trials. I'm looking forward to us learning more together.  Happy birthday, little guy!

Pseudo Sibling!

A singleton litter presents some concerns, and one of the ways we are helping is with a SnugglePuppy, a warm sibling with a beating heart, that gives our little girl a soft place to curl up or drape over.

Daily Pupdate

Claire's little girl is up to 558g today and is doing well at 48 hours old. Claire is such a super mum.  As an only child, our puppy has a variety of stand-in siblings. This little bunny seems to be telling her a secret!

Good morning!

Our Newest Baby Barbet Puppy

Today was a very special day for us. Claire had her single, sweet puppy and she weighed in at 395 grams, just under a pound! She's a solid black girl with a lot of coat, just like Claire. Mother and daughter are doing great, and we will be posting lots of pictures as this young lady grows!

Baby Girl, just two hours old

Tiny puppy, snuggled in with mom

Bob's Agility Debut -- Wow!!

Bob's First Trial Day Results in Two Blue Ribbons

Wow, what a weekend. At almost 8 years of age, Bob competed in his first Agility trial and won 4 first place ribbons in Novice Agility and Novice Jumpers with perfect 100 scores. Since both Bob and I are totally new to Agility, we did not really expect such a fantastic result, but our months of training with Irene Barrie have really paid off with a solidly prepared dog ready to compete! He now has two legs toward each of his Novice titles with only one more to go. Then we'll be on to Open -- Yikes! Our next trial is in early April. We better get back to training!

Bob Looks Handsome in Blue!