Starting Your Puppy the Wildrose Way

My son Sam has a field-bred Labrador who he is currently training and I bought him the book Sporting Dog and Retriever Training The Wildrose Way: Raising a Gentleman's Gundog for Home and Field for Christmas. Wildrose has a big program in the retrieving world and although the gundogs are not my primary focus, I have a huge appreciation for the work that they do. Much of the basic training that Wildrose covers can apply beautifully to a well-raised Barbet puppy. I highly recommend this book. Wildrose also has a new line of short puppy training videos, with another released each week, added to their extensive video library. Check out these links for a great perspective on raising a well-mannered sporting dog.

http://uklabs.com/puppy_training_videos.php

https://www.youtube.com/user/WildroseKennel/videos

Barbet Puppy Pictures

The puppies are now one week and two days old. Everyone is doing so well. I am thrilled with the consistency I see throughout the litter and am really looking forward to seeing them grow. 

Pedigree of the Puppies

Blue Girl

Green Boy

Orange Girl

Pink Girl

Purple Girl

Red Girl

White Girl

Yellow Boy

Canine Chronicle February 2016

Spinone Miffy OH Win Pics from AKC/Eukanuba Week

Judge Karen Hynek awards Miffy OH Group 1

Miffy on the Move

Judge Karen Wilson awards Select and Best OH to Miffy

We are so honored to have Miffy win these honors in such incredible competition. Thank you!!

Miffy Best of Breed at Eukanuba

GCH Nodessa dal Podere Antico and Erica Sanden Cross with Judge Mareth Kipp after winning Best of Breed at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in Orlando, FL. We are very appreciative of this honor for our sweet brown Dutch import with a full tail. Coupled with her Owner Handler Group 1 at Central Florida KC, Miffy's 2015 Eukanuba week was a dream come true.

Spinone Miffy and our Barbet Pups

We have had an unbelievable week of weather, with temperatures in the mid 70's. How I wish this was our usual November weather. The dogs have really enjoyed being outside so much. Today Spinone Miffy came for a bit of grooming and time to play with our dogs. Lots of fun seeing them together!

Miffy

Marlee

Solene & Marlee, Mother & Daughter

Marlee

Kit

The Search For The Perfect Barbet Puppy

The first in a four-part series written by guest poster FLA, the owner of a 6 month old Barbet puppy

The Quest Begins: Finding the Right Puppy Is Not Easy

Not too long ago, I was the typical inexperienced puppy buyer. We wanted a pup with the qualities we loved most in our last dog, a joyful rescue with a calm temperament who enjoyed our active lifestyle.  Finding one would be easy, or so we thought at first.

Once our intention of launching a puppy search was made known to friends, the advice came pouring in. 

‘Go to the shelter and just pick one.’

‘There are great puppy finder sites online.  You can get a good dog a lot cheaper there.’

‘My friend knows someone whose dog had puppies.  Want me to ask her?’

‘Don’t spend too much, that would be crazy.’

‘Get a doodle.’

And on, and on.  Everyone had an opinion, but the variety of advice left my head spinning.  So we launched our own search.

Weeks were spent visiting shelters in person and on their websites, checking in daily for just the right match.  For many reasons, we began to understand that what we were looking for was not likely to be found there. 

Our next step was to run online searches for puppies.  The results were shocking.  Pretty pictures and cheap prices were hiding an industry I soon realized we needed to stay far, far away from.   Deeper digging revealed pictures and information that I wish I could forget, but cannot.

Next, I listened to the voice of popular opinion that labradoodles are the way to go.  Finding one was easy.  Sifting through all of the information was not.  The more I read, the more disheartened I became.  A discussion about why I did not get a labradoodle is a long and detailed story though, and too far off topic for this post.

I slowly began to realize that if we wanted a quality puppy, we had to look for the people and not the dog.  

To read the rest of the article, click here

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

ShowSight Spinone Miffy

My sister Jan's lovely Spinone is the #3 Spinone and #1 Bitch in the US with very limited showing!

New UKC Barbet Champion!

Announcing the second UKC champion for Solene and Bosch! Congratulations to Maggie - Hickory Tavern Secret Garden - owned by Mark and Renae Bertagnoli, Lynn Vogt-Kinsey, and Leslie Woodward. We are proud of our babies! Maggie also won a Group 2 out of 25 entries!

California Barbet Girl

Silly Annique is now 9 months old and having quite the time in Santa Barbara, CA. She enjoys her time playing outside, and especially loves the plumbago bush in her yard! Annique is from our Claire-Obie litter and she looks so much like Claire!

Meet the Barbet Puppies!

 Now 5 days old, we present the Solene/Bosch babies in their birth order:

Black boy, white shield on chest, white chin

Brown boy, small white spot on chest

Black boy, white stripe on chest

Brown girl, no white

Brown girl, no white

Brown girl, small white chest, white chin

Black boy, white stripe on chest

Black girl, no white

Black boy, white triangle on chest

Spinone Puppy Miffy at Her First Show

At the end of May, Miffy and I showed in a 6-9 month Puppy class for some good experience in the ring. She was a bit like Jello standing, but she sure can move! After she matures a bit, she will be back in the ring with her big, long tail. Miffy is an import from Holland, where tails are not docked. She is really a beautiful girl. Thanks to Jenneke and Trudie!

Miffy is owned by my sister, Dr Jan McMaster.

Canine Repro Seminar with Dr Hutchison

A lot of great advice from Hutch!

Dr Robert Hutchison, widely recognized as one of the preeminent repro vets in North America
Northview Animal Clinic, N. Ridgeville, OH
Transcript: Canine Reproduction Seminar



DrHutch: Good evening!
PCFFasDog: Good evening and thank you all for being here! We are very excited to welcome Dr. Robert Van Hutchison to our first Canine Reproduction Seminar.
This free seminar is sponsored by Veterinary Perinatal Specialties, Inc., home of the WhelpWise service. Please visit their website at http://www.whelpwise.com, and show your support for their sponsorship of this event!
Many of you already know Dr. Hutchison or have seen him speak in person. He is one of the leading canine reproduction experts in the world, and a favorite speaker at specialties and dog club events all over the country. It's a great honor for us to welcome him here tonight. Dr. Hutch is a Reproduction and Genetics consultant for the Veterinary Information Network, and is co-director of the Animal Clinic Northview, Inc., in North Ridgeville, Ohio.
He is also the president of the International Canine Semen Bank of Ohio, and advisor for College of Veterinary Medicine students interested in small animal theriogenology from Ohio State University, Virginia Tech, Purdue, Tufts, and Michigan State University.
Dr. Hutch is the author of many articles on canine reproduction in various breed journals and magazines, including "Canine Frozen Semen," "Improving the Odds of Having Healthy Puppies," "Treatment of Pyometritis in the Bitch Using Prostaglandin F - a Hypo-thyroidism," and "Female Reproduction." Dr. Hutch will open with a few remarks and then he will take your questions. To ask a question, just click on "AskDrHutch" in the right hand column, type your question, and hit "send."
If you have problems during the chat, just click on any of the names that begin with "@PCF" then type the question and hit "send."
I am very happy now to turn the seminar over to Dr. Hutch!
DrHutch: What a wonderful way to spend a winter evening! I thank everyone for their interest in canine reproduction. I especially want to thank Karen Copley and Whelpwise for their sponsorship and Christie Keith from VIN for her help.
For those that do not know me, I am tall, extremely handsome with wavy dark hair. For those of you who do know me, yes, I am still short, bald and dumpy! I do want to thank those who have attended my repro/pediatric seminars for their kind words on the message posts. Your questions have been excellent and very stimulating. I hope to cover as many as possible this evening.
For us to understand canine reproduction, we must realize that the canine, and especially the bitch, is a unique individual when compared to all other domestic species. While most animals ovulate into an estrogen bath, the bitch ovulates into a progesterone environment. This fact is why we cannot use estrogen testing, vaginal smears or breeding guns for other than general timing of the bitch's estrous cycle.
The use of frozen semen and fresh-cooled semen showed us the true facts of canine breeding. Many testing methods that seemed to work only appeared so due to the extreme long life of fresh semen in the bitch.
I always pictured Mother Nature looking at us dog breeders and saying "those poor, poor fools. They don't have a clue what they are doing!" Progesterone testing has allowed us to anticipate ovulation, determine whelping dates and to schedule planned c-sections months in advance.
Interpreting progesterone levels, unfortunately is still a mystery to many veterinarians and breeders. With these facts in place let's talk about your problems, concerns and interests!
Question: When you say "The use of frozen semen and fresh-cooled semen showed us the true facts of canine breeding. Many testing methods that seemed to work only appeared so due to the extreme long life of fresh semen in the bitch," what do you mean?
DrHutch: Basically, fresh semen lasts 5-6 days. Colorado state has found live semen ELEVEN days after breeding. This made up for a lot of our mistakes. Once we started using fresh cooled and frozen semen, which last only a few days or hours, suddenly things that seemed to work in the past no longer seemed to work. Now with prosterone testing, we can get 83 percent conception rates with FROZEN semen....
Question: Bitches who keep missing.
Several people asked a variation of this question:
I have tried a number of times to breed my bitch, both with natural breedings and with AIs. She has missed repeatedly. Where do you start when trying to understand and resolve this problem?
DrHutch: Basically there are only SIX reasons a bitch misses, and we run around testing thyroid and doing cultures, which are really only minimal reasons for failure.

• First, is the male sperm good.
• Second, did she ovlulate.
• Three, was semen put in at the right time.
• Four, did semen get to egg.
• Five, did fertilized egg implant.
• Six, did placenta develop enough to maintain (the pregnancy).

We have to work our way through the list to determine what the cause was. What we do is, first of all, have the male semen evaluated. That is NOT saying there is a drop of sperm on the slide, there is sperm or no sperm.
Normal sperm evaluations consist of 10 million sperm per pound of body weight, 80 percent motility, less than 20 percent abnormal, and if your male sperm meets those criteria, probably it's not the problem.
The other five problems have to do with the bitch herself, and progesterone testing the DAY of ovulation is the day her progesterone goes above 5 nanograms. Even though she has this three week-plus heat cycle, there is a three to four day window we have to hit that varies from bitch to bitch. With progesterone testing, we can be sure the semen is put in at the proper time no matter what type of insemination method we are using.

Read the rest of the article by clicking here

Dr. Hutchison gives his permission for breeders and dog clubs to reprint this article in their club newsletters or publications provided the following statement is included:
Copyright 2002 by Dr. Robert Hutchison and the Veterinary Information Network, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Dr. Van Hutchison can be reached at Animal Clinic Northview, Inc., 34910 Center Ridge Rd., North Ridgeville, Ohio 44039; (440) 327-8282.

Meet Miffy

This is Miffy, my sister's new Spinone Italiano puppy. Bred by Jenneke van Doorn and Trudie van Lieshout-Pennings in Holland, she is pictured here at 8 weeks.  Out of Montecani Cuba il Divo [Brando] x Isole e Olena dal Podere Antico [Mila] she will stay another 2 weeks before she will fly with Jan to the USA. I am looking forward to showing her next year. It will be interesting to show her with a full tail in a ring of docked Spinone.  Jenneke and Trudie breed lovely dogs and we look forward to welcoming little Miffy!