Jessa at 10 Months

Little mud faced Jessa was happy to help me pick up sticks in the yard today. She is now 10 months old and is growing up nicely. We don't plan to show her until later in the year when she is more mature but she enjoys our daily play and training times and is a pleasure to live with.

Hickory Tavern Take the Long Way Home 

"Jessa"

AKC Puppy of Achievement

Can Ch Hickory Tavern Fool For Brookberry CM x Ch Hickory Tavern Wish Upon A Star CM DS FDC

Here's a quick video of Flynn and her ten beautiful babies who are enjoying their feeding time.

Solene's puppies are almost here!

With a week to go, our sweet Solene is really showing her pregnancy. Her belly is huge and she looks like she'll be giving birth any minute! At this point, we just hope for a safe delivery for the babies and Solene. She still feels great and enjoys her time outside. Only a few more days until we meet her Pascal pups! This will be Solene's final litter. Her other two litters have produced beautiful puppies with special personalities and we're excited to learn what this litter brings us!

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!

Pupdate!

The Calla & Tanner puppies are doing great at 3.5 weeks. They have started to eat solid food and play together. All of them are so beautiful! Calla is a really good mom although she is starting to spend less time with the pups. Soon we will start taking them outside for short play periods. Bruce and Margot now weigh over 4 lbs. Bruce is next and little Tina is the smallest. She is growing faster with the addition of solid food and we are really pleased with the entire group

Russell

Margot

Tina and Bruce

Calla's Puppies Are Here

Just after midnight on July 29th, Calla went into labor. Her contractions were consistent, but sadly her first puppy girl presented breech, out of the sac, and stillborn. Calla then delivered a girl and two boys in quick succession, took an hour break, and delivered girl #2. Immediately her instincts kicked in and she began to care to each of her perfect little puppies. After her huge appearance, we expected a large litter and were very surprised that Calla's size was only from 5 good-sized puppies. We had a quick vet trip for an xray to make sure that no other puppies remained, and Calla has now spent the day attending to the new crew. We are so excited to see these pups grow and feel blessed that Calla has successfully delivered these beautiful new babies.

Calla immediately loves her babies

Boy #1

Girl #1

Girl #2

Boy #2

Claire's New Puppies!

Our wonderful foundation girl Claire has whelped her final litter and she has given it her all! With 8 puppies total, we have 4 black girls, 3 black boys, and 1 brown boy. All of the pups are very similar in look and weight, and were whelped very easily! We expect this litter to excel in temperament as both Claire and Pascal have super sweet and confident personalities. We are really excited to watch this beautiful litter grow.

Can/UKC Ch Neigenuveaux's Ermagarde x Can Ch Northrock's Athos Pascal

Claire is the first Best in Show winning Barbet in North America, and she has won Bests in both AKC and UKC. She is our special girl who started our love affair with this breed!

Fall On The Farm

Fall is a wonderful time to have a litter of puppies at the farm. Yesterday we all walked out to the fields after the soybeans have been harvested. The pups really enjoy investigating the farm, and their mom, Claire, merrily trots along with her group in tow. Even though the pups no longer need Claire for nutrition, she still provides guidance and leadership to her little troop. It is heartwarming watching her playing and wrestling with her beautiful babies.

Claire in the Cornrow

Bodhi, Hickory Tavern On The River, will soon be heading to Virginia

The puppies make their own corn maze

Grey girl (Wendy), White boy (Bodhi), and Green boy (Louie)

Hickory Tavern On Deck  'Maverick' shows his beautiful sidegait. Maverick will be staying close by in Pittsburgh. We are very excited about his future!

On Tuesday, all of the pups were loaded up and taken to the vet for checkups, immunizations, and microchips. They were excellent little travelers and there wasn't any crying in the car. Everyone was very brave! 

The Pittsburgh Pups

Today's four puppies are special to me because they are all staying in the Pittsburgh area and I will get to frequently see them. In fact, two of them will be living on the same street (completely by coincidence; the families did not know each other prior to the litter being born).

Maverick, the Red Collar Boy

Miss Purple, who sends her best wishes to Elizabeth and Andrew on their wedding day!

Louis, The Green Boy

Madi, the Blue Collar

Here's the rest of the herd during their outdoor time today

Thursday Morning

Finally it has stopped raining long enough for the pups to get out before more rain comes this afternoon. They are so wild and energetic when they go out. Watching them run through the tunnel, jump from the step, wrestle and play...it's the perfect day!

Today's Puppy Photos

Orange Boy

Yellow Boy

Grey Girl

Barbet Puppy Love

One of the true joys of breeding dogs is watching the puppy families meet the pups for the first time. This weekend we've started visits with our new families and I couldn't be more pleased with the reactions of both the puppies and the families.  It is really fun for me to share these beautiful little pups that we've worked so hard for with families who have researched breeds and waited patiently for a puppy to become available for them. 

Outside Fun

The weather is beautiful and the puppies are old enough to spend a few hours outside every day in their own puppy run. Unbelievably, they are 4 weeks old and are halfway for some of them to move to their new homes. We all enjoy playing with them so much. Of course, everyone loves a puppy kiss on the nose!

Barbet Puppies Outside Again

First Meals

This weekend the puppies were introduced to their kibble/goats milk mixture and it was a hit! While they're all figuring out the concept of licking and chewing for nourishment instead of sucking from mom, they end up wearing as much as they ingest. They are three weeks old today, and they're growing and learning beautifully. These next weeks are really fun as they play more and sleep less, and each day they are exposed to a new toy in addition to what they are already accustomed to. Here are some quick headshots taken this morning. Some of them are still wearing remnants of their food. They're getting to be so cute!

Orange Boy

Grey Girl

White Boy

Purple Girl

Yellow Boy

Blue Girl

Exhausted after eating, Orange Boy falls asleep in the bowl  :)