Congratulations to New Canadian Champion Beau!!

Can Ch Hickory Tavern Fool For Brookberry

'Beau' is co-owned with Donna and Stephanie Forte and is handled by Stephanie

We are so excited about this young dog. He will be shown in the US while he works on his Certificate of Merit. He will also be siring his first litters this year. Beau is OFA Good Hips, Normal Elbows, Normal Thyroid, Normal Cardiac, and Normal Eyes. He also has a super fun and goofy personality. Beau is a beautiful moving dog with an outstanding front assembly. He reminds me so much of his Dutch mother, Nessa. Donna and Stephanie are doing a fabulous job with their first Barbet!

Happy Birthday Fools Day!

Happy second birthday to these special little Fools!!! Nessa and Murdoch had a very wonderful litter two years ago today. Happy birthday to Kit, Ren, Mallie, Addie, Marley, Beau, Flambeaux and a special memory to Remi, whose life was cut so short in a tragic accident. Nessa now lives with Remi's family, helping to fill the giant hole left by his loss.

Breeding generations of quality dogs requires a long-range plan. This week we were able to utilize a dog in our breeding program who I imagined for Solene when we first imported Nessa from The Netherlands in 2012. Hickory Tavern Fool For Brookberry was the pick male from Nessa's litter to Canadian Grand Champion Flacon d' Paris of Neigenuveaux. He is owned by Donna Forte of Brookberry Labrador Retrievers and he has grown past some of his adolescent gangliness into a truly promising young male. Solene has been bred to 'Beau' and we hope for a litter in early April. Our sincere thanks for Donna and Stephanie Forte for doing such a nice job growing up Beau, and to our friend Anne Plomp for sharing Alba's beautiful girl Nessa with us.

The pedigree for this litter can be viewed here. 

Hickory Tavern Fool For Brookberry

Hickory Tavern Fool For Brookberry

Congratulations to Barbet Addie and Michele!

It's so much fun when our puppy owners tell us about their new achievements with their beautiful Barbet. Last night, Michele let me know about Addie's exciting AKC Rally weekend. In the first rally trials ever for both of them, Michele and Addie earned the title of Rally Novice at the Atlantic Ocean Classic in Wildwood, NJ. Addie also placed high in the classes! We are so proud! Addie is almost two years old and is from our Nessa (Nuphar's Gift-Wrapped), sired by Murdoch (Can Gr Ch Ex Flacon d'Paris of Neigenuveaux). This litter was born on April Fools Day and all of the puppies have 'Fool' in their names :)

Congratulations to Hickory Tavern Fools Gold RN CGC and owner Michele Henry!

New Barbet Champion

Congratulations to Leslie Vogt Woodward and Ren (Hickory Tavern Fools Rush In) for finishing Ren's Canadian championship this weekend in Quebec with a Group 2 under judge Mike Macbeth. We are so proud of you!! Ren is 13 months old, and is by GrChEx Flacon d'Paris of Neigenuveaux out of our UKC BIS Nuphar's Gift-Wrapped. Ren is owned by Leslie Vogt Woodward, Lynn Vogt-Kinsey, Michele DeTour and Mary McEneany. Bred by us, Ren is a beautiful girl who is given the best of care by Leslie.

Can Ch Hickory Tavern Fools Rush In

Ren Best Puppy at Barbet Fanciers Specialty Show!

Congratulations to Leslie Woodward, Lynn Vogt-Kinsey, Mary McEneany & Michele DeTour for their BPISS win at the Barbet Fanciers of Ontario specialty show last weekend. Ren is beautifully prepared and shown by Leslie. She is from our Nessa-Murdoch litter and is already halfway to her Canadian championship! We are really proud of this puppy consistently winning in large entries.

American Barbet Weekend at the Canadian Dog Shows

Last weekend, we loaded up the RV and headed just over the Canadian border to Welland, Ontario where we met up with other Barbet from Wisconsin, New Jersey, Vermont, and Ontario. The weather ranged from sunny and beautiful to crazy winds and rain. We were thrilled with the results of our girls at the show.

Kit, Hickory Tavern Fool For Paris, is 6 months and one week old. She won Winners Bitch 3 of 4 days and earned 6 points towards her Canadian Championship. She loves to show and makes the judges smile!

Marlee, GrCh Hickory Tavern Secret Entourage, earned her Grand Championship title. In just 9 shows, Marlee completed these title requirements and becomes the first American bred Barbet to be a Grand Champion with the CKC. There are just a handful of Grand Champions in the CKC (her father being one of them) and we are very proud of our sweet girl!

We are super proud to have bred these girls!

GrCh Hickory Tavern Secret Entourage - Marlee

Ch Hickory Tavern Intl Intrigue x GrCh Neigenuveaux's Gambit

Hickory Tavern Fool For Paris - Kit

Nuphar's Gift-Wrapped x GrChEx Flacon d'Paris of Neigenuveaux

Daniel and William picked up Flambeaux early this morning and flew home to New Orleans.

Hickory Tavern Foolproof (Nessa's Orange Boy)

Fia is staying nearby with Angie, Leonard, Liam, Kate, and Jack
Hickory Tavern Final Grade (Claire's White Girl)

Magic is happy to be headed to New Jersey with Denise & Family
Hickory Tavern Fin (Claire's orange girl)

Beau hitched a ride with Magic to his new home with Donna and Stephanie
Hickory Tavern Fool For Brookberry (Nessa's Red Boy)

Remi with Kari, Fin & Jonathon (we missed you, Franklin!)
Hickory Tavern Fool For The Water (Nessa's Light Blue Boy)

Yesterday saw the departure of two more pups, including the first of Claire's litter to head to his new home. These pups are lucky to find such wonderful families to spend their lives with. I'm happy that both of these boys now live very close to us and will come back to visit and play.

Dallas and Sarah
Hickory Tavern Final Flag (Claire's Yellow Boy)

Barbet Kit

One of the reasons we can let our puppies go to their new homes is because we also get a new puppy! Our keeper is this girl, the green collared girl of Nessa with the white front paw. She was my initial favorite of the litter, but I'm not sure that I love how this white foot will look in the ring. For quite a while, I thought I'd keep a different pup, but this one kept catching my eye, over and over, until it finally hit me that this girl needs to stay, even with her uneven markings. Her broad head and muzzle are things I was trying to improve from Nessa, and her fearless attitude around the farm makes her a favorite. We named her Kit because the two white footed puppies were often referred to as "the kitty feet" pups, so she got called 'Kitty' a lot! We've shortened it to 'Kit' and we are super happy to have her with us.

Hickory Tavern Fool For Paris

CH Nuphar's Gift-Wrapped x GrChEx Flacon d' Paris of Neigenuveaux

Nessa's Pups Start to Leave the Nest

Three of Nessa's girls headed off to their new homes today. Always such a bittersweet time; it's hard parting with the pups who have been such a focus of our lives for months. From planning the combinations to traveling for the breedings, confirming pregnancy, whelping and raising the babies...I've barely left the house for the past 9 weeks, but the wonderful pet families who share our pups make it possible for us to raise the quality dogs that we love.  We wish nothing but happiness to the pups and their new families.

Adelaide with Michele & Family in New Jersey (Nessa's Blue Girl)
Hickory Tavern Fools Gold

Mallie in the Allegheny Forest with Barb, Bud & Family (Nessa's Pink Girl)
Hickory Tavern Fool For The City

Name TBD with Liz & Family in Illinois (Nessa's Yellow Girl)
Hickory Tavern Fool For You

MBIS Ch Nuphar's Gift-Wrapped

Here is my beautiful Nessa, taken today, just 8 weeks after the birth of her 8 puppies.  Nessa was such a wonderful mom to her litter, attentive and meticulous, and her puppies sired by GrChEx Flacon d'Paris of Neigenuveaux are a beautiful, cohesive group with really pretty heads, deep chests, beautiful fronts, and rears with good drive. They are all of very similar type and I couldn't be more pleased with the litter. Nessa is a bit of a goof, and I wondered whether she'd be able to take parenting seriously, but her instincts were perfect and I am so proud of her. Nessa will be back in the ring next month!

Today we took turns walking around with Ava. She is such a sweet and gentle girl; she's the perfect introduction for the puppies to meeting other dogs!

With the pups growing and the beautiful weather, I am having a hard time keeping this blog updated. 15 Barbet puppies keep me busy! Our routine has been a changing one as the puppies have gotten more active and independent. Instead of letting them all run around the yard at one time, I now find that it is best to take them in groups of 3 or 4 on our walks to the creek or through the yards. I try to do something new with them every day, and today's fun included a wild game of chase through the branches that I trimmed from the maple trees. There is also a 24 x 24 covered run set up for them, and they are able to spend hours outside running and racing. Some of their outside time is spent with all of them together, and other times they are separated into their own litters. We had a lot of puppy families visit this weekend, and I just cannot believe that next weekend will have the first of Nessa's pups already leaving here. This time has really flown!

A few of the pups went with me today for a walk down to the creek. Nessa's Red, Orange, Yellow and Purple pups made it out between the rainstorms. Hopefully tomorrow the rest of the crowd will be photographed!

Nessa's Pups

Claire's Red Boy
Kindly helping to remove dandelions from the yard :)

Claire's Blue Girl

Claire's Red Boy

Nessa's Purple Girl

Claire's White Girl

Today the puppies got a new toy, which they dove right into! 

Nessa's Purple Collar Girl

Claire's Blue Girl

Claire's Light Blue Monster Boy
He's a happy and confident guy

Nessa's Yellow Girl

Nessa's Girl

Claire's Yellow Boy
Still the smallest, he has a super confident personality and a sassy attitude. Love him!!

David and Nessa's Orange Boy
Everybody has fun with the pups!