In The Amsterdamse Bos was an area with tall reed which was a perfect place to do a Seek - Retrieve exercise with Yatzie. She loves to seek for things, her tail wags wider than ever and her intensity is great. Nowadays, with all the hunting training we are doing, she is also very good at bringing the dummy back. I try to always bring my blue mini dummy along when we are out walking, it fits in my pocket. It is like a real one, just smaller. Yatzie retrieves it with much joy. It was difficult to catch a clear photo of her behind the reed -  this was the closest I got to sharp but I thought it was rather effectful anyway! And then I got to experience photographer's joy when the swans in the canal performed a love dance in front of my lens! See the heart?

South of Amsterdam is a wide recreational area with forests and gardens called the Amsterdamse Bos. After a business meeting, on the way back to Utrecht, Yatzie and I stopped there for what was supposed to be a short walk. It was such a lovely spring day that when we returned to the car I realized almost three hours had passed! But then the last half hour was spent on walking back from the car back to a clean water area to throw Yatzie in again because she was more brown than black with branches tangled into her fur and tail. I do not know in what kind of puddles and bushes she had been enjoying herself the few minutes before she arrived! But that is what a joyful dog life is all about - for the dog I mean :-) !

This morning Yatzie heard some sound by the door and gave a warning. No need to warn - it was our friends from the other day, the two white Shappendoes Manoi and Tjintin. The owner told us Tjintin had been looking for Yatzie ever since that day when they first met. So all four dogs played together in the front garden.

Cleo is a lagotto who lives with 4 barbets and another lagotto at Quaciendas kennel. Four weeks ago she had her frst litter and now the time had come for a visit. Four sweet cuddle balls were waiting for attention - and sure got it! All the barbets were cirkelling around the nest and when they had a chance would help cleaning the puppies. The first weeks Cleo did not allow any of the other dogs to get near her puppies but now she accepts it.

In Holland dogs are allowed even in the bowling hall - or maybe nobody requested such a strange thing before! I did not know it was the disco-bowling-hours, but Yatzie who is used to going with me everywhere, did not complain. When one of us made a strike she parttook in our joyful shouting waving her tail congratulating us with a kiss.

Thanks to Yatzie I get to enjoy nature in all its beautiful expressions. It was getting late but I wanted to give Yatzie a longer walk at a place we do not visit so often. Both of us need some variation. I did not expect the dusk to be this fabulous. As we walked around the lake in Nieuwegein we stopped at different spots admiring the beauty, Yatzie sniffing happily. Can you see her in the first picture?

Don't worry - it is a dummy! Yatzie retrieved her very first rabbit dummy at our Sunday morning training in Noorderpark. I told the trainer that Yatzie had never retrieved a rabbit dummmy before: Ok, let's test her first, he replied. So he pulled out the dummy and played with it with Yatzie. She showed interest and curiosity. So we decided to do the retrieving exercise with her. She did a fantastic job! Brought it back, sat down and let go of it on my signal!

We also trained retreiving from the pond. Yatzie was going crazy when she had to wait for six other dogs to retrieve before her! She was soo eager to go for the dummy! She flew over the first small canal, but then at the shore of the pond she started barking at the dummy. Soon she understood that barking was not the way to get a hold of it - so she jumped into the water, fetched the dummy and ran back with it to me. People comment on the fact that Yatzie expresses a lot of joy when working, which make also me joyful!

Below is Cisca, a Barbet of Greet Los, who is also a fond retriever!

Last week Yatzie and I had a long walk in the Vuursebos together with Brigitte and her two Barbet dogs Toutes and Fraise. Brigitte also has a lagotto and a spanish stray dog that came along. Yatzie knows Toutes and Fraise from before, and likes them. They had a lot of fun, and we two-legged enjoyed the sun that we had not seen for weeks. Brigitte is a Barbet breeder and after a while we bumped into Toffee, one of her puppies who is 6 months. A sweetie!

There are dogs that can stand on their two front legs - Yatzie can stand on one! Well, this is a camera trick of course but maybe it will be our next challenge to learn it! Yatzie and I were doing retrieving training at the hockey field. A great afternoon it was: Margot playing hockey in the field beside us - Yatzie tirelessly fetching the dummy - my finger constantly on the release button!

Two white hair balls passed by our house today. Yatzie heard them playing when she was laying lazy in the sofa and started her warning woff. "Shall we go out and see who it is?" I asked her. So we did. The two male dogs, one a young Tibetan terrier and the other a mix of Tibetan and Schappendoe, were both very interested to play with Yatzie. Soon the black and white was entangled in a nice Yin and Yang formation. Yatzie remembering her friend from her first year, the Tibetan Alva, who stayed with us once a week for a year or so.

Every Friday morning Yatzie and I go for hunting training at the Jachthondenschool Almere. Ever since we started hunting training last year Yatzie's interest in the dummy has increased steadily. Today she did her ever best performance, retrieving perfectly, joyfully in 10 different situations. The group of dogs can vary each occasion, since a punch system is used where one buys 10 tickets that can be used over a period of some months. Very convenient for us who are in and out of the country. Dachshund, flatcoated retriever, weimaraner and stabby hound were some of the participants this time. And after 1½ hour of training also the owners need a reward - a nice, hot cup of coffee!

On the misty Sunday morning in Groningen we went for a cold, muddy walk. It was such a mysterious atmosphere, which intensified with the Scottish highlanders appearing in the mist.

The family's sweet dog Fladder, one year old, was eager to play with Yatzie. She is of the breed Drentsche Patrijshond, a spaniel-type hunting dog from the Dutch province of Drenthe, south of Groningen.

All the mud in this area is a result of the Dutch people constantly waging war against the water using dikes, dams and impoldering. For a year the canals in this area have been under reconstruction, to ensure that the land will not be flooded, which happened not long ago.

Along with the Barbet cows lived two goats. Yatzie had never been so close to goats before, only watching them from the other side of the fence, and this new opportunity to face the goats was very exciting for her. The white goat was sweet and friendly, as you can see on its face and smile, but the brown goat made attacks towards Yatzie. Yatzie kept a distance at first, looking into the goats stable from behind the door. But after a while the curiousity took over hand for both Yatzie and the brown goat and they almost touched nose by nose.

I had never heard about the stripy Barbet cows before. See how hairy they are, eyes looking out from under the bangs. These cows are of Scottish origin and the family we visited this past weekend, in Groeningen in the north of Holland, keep them as pets. Not in the house any longer (they enlarged the house some years ago and turned the stables into a living room!) but on an enclosed field on the premises, just outside the kitchen window. They do not even milk them - just enjoy their company and their beautiful appearance. And just as beloved children have many names so do these Belted Galloway cows: police car cows, panda cows and Oreo cows, and now also - Barbet cows!

Reply with a comment if you know the answer: WHO IS the Barbet cow and WHO is the dog?