Yesterday the sunny weather tempted us to pack all the dogs in to the car and take off for the beach for the first time this year - and for the first time ever for Moët! I of course brought the water dummy along and was very eager to try it on Moët. Yatzie never feared the water and the waves and Moët showed great courage too (though it decreased a little after her first wave shower...). She totally loves water retrieving! It is such a joy to watch her and Yatzie in the water. Of course, having two Barbets, that both love the water and retrieving can cause some issues... there was always a big fight over the dummy and about who was going to bring it back to me to get the reward! Moët, despite being only 6 months old, shows a tough attitude and dares to challenge her mother. Yatzie is still very allowing. What a joyful  hour we had all together. Old Saartje still goes into the water to retrieve her beloved tennis ball, but she moves with some hesitation. She can not always trust her legs to carry her nowadays. But she is still at her happiest on the beach!

A sunny Sunday spent in the lovely forests of Zeist. Moët and Yatzie played nicely together. Then a young long haired dachshund turned up and the intensity of the play increased. Moët is a dog that plays well with all other dogs. She is a bit careful when she first meets a new dog but as soon as they have greeted the play starts. And it goes on forever...

Whoopi is a young and playful Barbet and her and Moët were having a big laugh together chasing each other around and on top of a large heap of bark. Whoopi was also the one that saw the herd of birds before everyone else and got to chase them away! Big fun for a Barbet!

I have until now always shaved Yatzie myself, a few times a year, with my Oester shaver. This time our Barbet friend and trimmer Judith (de Hondenkapper, Almere) helped me to give Yatzie a Barbet hairstyle. Cutting a dog is art. I have to say Yatzie's shape looks even more Barbet like now. Thank you Judith! I learned a lot and tried to remember as much as I could about the way to cut, so that I can do it myself at some point. But I am afraid I will need a few more lessons before I will dare to try it. Moët and Judiths Barbet Whoopi became good friends and Moët got to sit on the table with her for a while just to get used to it.

This is Missy (Tsarine) - a stubborn but smart Barbet doing very well in her 2nd puppy class!

Today it is half a year since 10 little puppies were born from Yatzie and Chico! Now they are all half grown, with long puppy Barbet fur and eager to discover the world. Happy half year birthday sweet hearts all over Holland and in Sweden, Finland and Poland! Beli in Poland will be the example of the puppies and how they look today, since I just received these great pictures!

Moët and I started a clicker training class for hunting dogs at KynoQuest. I started training Moët with the clicker at an early age. It is such a superb tool for efficient training. At the first theory lesson the trainer Let Stevens, used Moët to demonstrate learning a new command - touch. She was very apprehensive and learned quickly! We will now be going twice a week.

In this video Yatzie is quietly sitting in the sofa, not at all in the mood for a wild play with Moët. So she decides to give her IKEA teddydog a match! 

Yatzies fur looks different after she had her litter. It has smaller waves so to say. Her fur has been changing all these years. It is interesting to see. First it looked a lot like Moëts does now - large waves. At the age of 2 it got more curly. Now again different. It is very soft and nice to sleep on, says Moët! We all think so too!

Just a nice shot of Yatzie at her best!

A weekend at our good friends in Groningen, north Holland. Together with Fladder, their Dutch partridge dog, Yatzie and Moët had a fantastic time.  The fields in the area are wide and open so Yatzie and Fladdder ran a lot! Fortunately Moët still stays more or less near us, and does not take off for adventures as far away as Yatzie does. What we did not know was that together Yatzie and Fladder made a perfect hunting team and at one point we heard some noise - Fladder had caught a hare... First time it ever happened and we were all in chock. Yatzie as well (she is not fast enough to catch a hare herself even though she is crazy about running after them...). But she was also proud and would not leave until she had shown me the spot. Moët was very brave and started pulling the warm hare along the field. Filled with double feelings I was still glad to see that Moët naturally retrieves wild animals, not only birds.

Moët retrieved her first bird some weeks ago. Some of you might have read about it on my facebook page. I had not been training at all, other than retrieving a ball and so, I just threw the bird and three times she brought it back to me. Just like that! I was so proud of her. It is apparently very natural to her. Well done my hunter Barbet! We will start hunting dog puppy training next week. Looking forward to it!