There are moments, even for an amateur photographer, when everything goes right. The light, the timing, the camera settings - and, when working with dogs, the object to be captured behaves! A minute later the magic was gone.

As the sun was setting last Sunday, by the river in l'Isle sur la Sorgue, Yatzie started sniffing intensely in the bushes by the river side. Deep into the bushes she went. Yatzie has a very good nose. I knew there was something. And then for a second I caught a glimpse of it, inside the clear water - a 20 cm long, 7 cm thick, grey, hairy water animal that quickly hid in a safer place. There are moments when you wish your eyes were the camera and you could just blink...

What could it have been? Anybody knows? Yatzie did not see it, but she is happy by the excitement of sniffing itself. Later when I called her out of the bushes she did not come, she just stood there... Her fur was totally entangled in the thorny bushes and she could not move at all. That is what you get with a curly Barbet by your side!

This morning the lovers Yatzie and Django had a chance to play around in the frosty fields under a clear blue sky before saying au revoir. It was a joyful moment, rolling around and playing the way Barbets do. You can note in the movie to the right that they have a similar kind of body language. Yatzie does not play this way with any dog.

Geneviève, Djangos owner, and I shed a tear when parting. She is an adoreable woman, who pours out her sweetness and love not only to Django but also to foreign new friends! Thank you Geneviéve, we both will miss you both!

...over the hills and everywhere! Yatzie will be a mother! Three days of excitement! The details… belong to Yatzie and Django alone. Now three weeks of waiting before the confirmation – it seems endless… Yatzie has been so sweet in this process, so focussed, determined. A new side of her has come out. She deserves to be a mother and I believe she will be a very good one.

What an adventure we have had. We have met wonderful people and made new friends. We have seen beautiful parts of France. We have done nice things together Yatzie and I. I will update you on more of our adventures back in Holland. The internet connection is really bad from this hotel. It has been special to be in Yatzies home country for the breeding. She is after all a French lady. I am also glad I had many days to emotionally get ready myself for this big event in Yatzies and my life.

So good bye France, we leave today. Hurray to Yatzie and Django!

Django is fabulous - but is he ready for Yatzie? That is the question. They met last night and Yatzie did everything right, she knew what this was about. She really wants to be a mother. But it did not happen yet. They were so sweet to each other, they do like each other, but though Django tried a lot it did not work out... We will give them a new chance... Hold your fingers!

For the rest we had a great birthday dinner for Elaine. Geneviève, Djangos owner, cooked us a terrific meal. Clams, legumes from the garden. Her house on the country side is a dream! Brigitte, friend of Elaines was there too, who is an experienced breeder. She said Yatzie knows she is a dog. That may sound strange to you, but I understand exactly what she means. When dogs are so close to humans as they are they sometimes get too independant and need reassurance from their master about what to do. Yatzie did not need that. She was so clear in her mind. I was glad to see that since I am often told I treat her too much as a human! Yatzie was so sweet in my eyes, the way she acted. She charmed Django, playing, laying down for him, rolling around. We just have to wait and see what will happen this weekend...

At 10.16 the test was ready - light light blue! Tomorrow Yatzie will be redy and willing said the vet! It may be hard for someone who has never planned a mating to understand all the thoughts and feelings around it. Will it work out? Will they like each other? How will she react? Yatzie is like a child to me and I feel her so close. But in this case I must leave her to do her job - it is pure nature after all.

So we packed and left Cluny. Snow had fallen during the night, and the surrounding mountains were white. It was so beautiful. And more and more beautiful it became as we approached the south of France, to the destination outside of Avignon. Met a fabulous black swan at one of the resting places. You see him in the gallery. Yatzie was curious, had never seen one before.

Must rush now, will tell you more soon. Cause now I am leaving the hotel to meet Django for the first time!

Spent an hour in the old monastic grounds of the Cluny Abbey today, thinking back at the times 800 years ago when these corridors were full of zealous monks aspiring a higher life. Now there are zealous young arts students with the same kind of aspiration I guess. I hope you enjoy the photos. I also found an old chapel in the garden that had amazing acoustics and I could not help but sing a little there. I share a small piece with you so you can hear how the sound is bouncing around the arches.

It started snowing tonight! They say I brought it from Scandinavia. Yatzie and I found a cool bistro earlier this week, and had dinner there tonight. They have a male dog and he came running when Yatzie entered. But the owners remembered that she is on heat and locked the excited dog up. I love the atmosphere in these local restaurants. It is like a big family in there. Everybody seems to know each other. They all greeted me "Bon appetit" and also gave Yatzie a few strokes. My French is getting a little better.

Yatzie spent the evening watching Flash playing and following her wherever she went.

Yatzie is getting more and more friendly with Flash, the kitten. This evening Flash was playing with Yatzies ears. Can you believe that Willemien? Take a look at the video. It is so sweet to see them together.

My daily breakfast in La Maison des Gardes. Look at all the cheeses, fresh croissant, homemade confiture, yummie yummie. The area of Cluny is known for its chèvre. But Yatzie can not taste any of these... The vet said she is chubby! 2-3 kg too many. And it is clear to me too after having touched all of Elaines dogs. Well, maybe she can use a little extra for the puppies!

This morning Yatzie made friends with Jabolou - the guinea pig of the house. She has never been so close to one before, only sniffed from the outside of a cage. Now they even touched nose to nose. Usually Yatzie is totally stiff around guniea pigs, tail straight up, but today she was more relaxed. Maybe because Api was there too and Api and Jabolou are best friends!

Today Yatzie and I were invited to Elaine Fichters home. I was so much looking forward to seeing all her seven Barbets, that I have read about and seen on Elaines website for many years. They were thrilled to get a new visitor and wanted to check me out and cuddle and cuddle, like Barbets do! Yatzie waited in the car the first half hour since, well, you know why! Tried to get some nice photos of the whole group, but it was not easy...

Yatzie was very shy to enter into the tight pack of dogs (no males around now). I had to carry her and put her down inside the gate. I did a goody rain to distract the dogs so that Yatzie would feel more relaxed. It worked fine and I think she handled the situation very well. It is never easy for a dog to enter into a big foreign dog family.

All the dogs were so sweet. Coming very close to me, asking for and giving love. Elaine does a lot of research on the history of the Barbet and showed me some of her documents. If you are interested to know more there is a lot of interesting information on Elaines site.

On our way back to the hotel, after a nice riverside dinner in Macon, Yatzie and I had a walk along the river by the old Macon bridge! See her posing in the gallery below!

Today Yatzie joined the hunting training in Noorderpark for the first time. This is a more advanced hunting training than the one in Almere that we also attend, and here real birds are used in the retrieving. I myself have struggled with the idea of real animals, but have decided to let go of that moralistic viewpoint and give my dog the joy of experiencing what is in her genes - the retrieving of birds.

The trainer, Richard Bosch, was impressed with Yatzies performance, and someone commented - she did better than the rest of the dogs!

The training started with some obedience exercises, walking in a circle, stop, sit, serpentine between the other dogs and not be distracted. I used my clicker a lot and Yatzie did well. She has a good basic obedience and with the clicker she is always alert.

We were then asked to play and have fun with our dogs and as we did that three shots were fired 20 meters from where we were. I was worried she would react, since I have not trained her with shooting before, she noticed the shots, but did not get nervous about it.