Hunter (Chandon de l'Esprit de Bonté) had a happy summer and sent us some pictures!

I received news from Finland during the vacation and Meru (Cristal de l'Esprit de Bonte) has passed the Finnish spaniel hunting aptitude test (SPA)! Congratulations and well done girl!

This time of the year one must not miss the beautiful moors covered with heather in the Hilversum area! We spent the morning there with Brigitte Waller and all her dogs. She just started up a Dogwalk service, Dog's Furry Tales, and all together there were 7 curly dogs running around - and getting lost - in the heather! Yes, Matz, an 8-month old puber male took off for some tempting girl we guess! Luckily we found him rather quickly. Moët layed down to rest, only her head sticking up, which caught the interest of both Fraise and Mouse who went to give her a kiss!

Today was the final hunting training session for Yatzie for this season. A sunny evening perfect to take a few shots!

Moët was Best Barbet female and thus received her first CAC in Rotterdam today. This was her first show and I am so content with her performance. She is such an easy dog to work with; stable, makes contact, follows. We had only done one ring training, just the day before, but she ran perfectly by my side. And even though she dislikes to have her head touched (like many dogs) she accepted the judge's hands checking her teeth and ears etc. These are the words written by the judge:

• Typical and harmonic
• Beautiful head
• Beautiful top and bottom lines
• Correct angulations
• First-classy movements

Congratulations Moët! And congratuations to Cousteau von der Leibrücke who received the BOB!

A whole month of vacation without blogging but with sooo much to share! The most fantastic news - Yatzie and Moët were the honoured bridesmaids at Bart's and my wedding in Lapland on Aug 11!

We have just arrived back home and connected to the Internet world again! I will be sharing photos and stories from our wonderful weeks in France, Norway and Sweden step by step as time allows.