Congratulations to Ambeloui de l'Esprit de bonté who became a Polish Beauty Champion this week!

This sunny weekend Yatzie and I participated in a rehearsal agility competition at the club where we are taking lessons (URV, Utrechtse Ras Vereniging). 4 or more years ago we took classes in Sweden and last week we started anew. Moët aswell. She learns quickly! And Yatzie remembers it all. But we did not win any trophy I am afraid. I managed to collide with Yatzie when she came rushing out the tunnel... And she needs to learn the slalom perfectly. She misses a pole now and then. Must practice a lot more both of us! When the competition was over Yatzie and Moët played wildly on the field together!

This weekend 23 barbets met up at the Dutch barbet club gathering on a camping in mid north Holland. It was a colourful and lively group of barbets that trained, played and relaxed together. At the camping was a stable agility course and the owners themselves are experienced trainers in agility and tracking. Thus Saturday everyone got to try out agility and Sunday we did some tracking exercises first on a grass field and then in the forest. The owners, who had not worked with barbets before, were very impressed by their intelligence and ability to quickly pick up new tasks. Especially their tracking skills stood out. Yatzie out performed by perfectly and full of enthusiasm following a forest track from the owner in a speed that I had a big problem to follow! The trainer said You must continue training this dog in tracking – she is a talent! Moët, who just started agility training the past week, did very well on the course and jumped the obstacles and ran through the tunnel as if she had done it many times before!

After her long birthday walk Moët got her birthday present - a big fresh filet of beef! If you only knew how much love, joy and laughter you bring us! We all love you crazy! Happy Birthday darling!

Moët's favourite birthday gift could be nothing else but a long walk in a forest where she can run around loose, so we took Yatzie and her to the area of Bos n'Duin. Fall has arrived here in Holland as you can see, and in the forest we walked on a beginning carpet of colourful leaves. I love this time of the year! Even though you get wet most every day!

In the sand dunes Moët was admired by a big and beautiful Labradoodle. But Yatzie helped to keep him on a distance when he got too close to Moët!

It is already two years ago since the 10 little puppies of Yatzie and Chico were born. What a joy that day - my own birthday as well as the birthday of the puppies! All the dogs are healthy and doing well, loved by their families and spreading the spirit of goodness, loving kindness and gentleness around them (l'Esprit de bonté). Below I post some photos of the dogs that I have had a photo of recently.  Happy happy birthday to all!

We spent a nice day together with Moët and Yatzie's cousins - the cavaliers Slons and Tipi. They live near the heathers and we made a nice walk all together. Slons and Tipi are not used to leaving the house for walks, they live on big premises, so for them it was an adventure. They did very well though! Moët and Yatzie were happily roaming about as always!

Moët is almost 2 and has reached her final bouw. Yatzie and Moët have the same short fur now, which allows for their body structure to show very well, so I made comparitive photos of them. I also measured them to make a detailed comparison between mother and daughter. Below are the results: 

 
In general Moët is "one size smaller" than Yatzie, she is 1,5 cm lower and her body is 3 cm shorter. She weighs only 20 kgs compared to Yatzie's 24. Still I must feed Moët 50% more than Yatzie because of her higher energy level! Moët distinguishes herself with a higher neck. Both tails are well hooked, but Yatzie's hook is more apparent. Below I place a photo of their tails in excited pose as well, where they have exactly the same expression. Ears and tails are correctly placed. Their hooks are well angulated. Both have big, wide noses. 

Just as in their appearence their characters also differ very much! Yatzie is open to human strangers, Moët reluctant in the beginning. Moët is more open to other dogs than Yatzie and more playful. Moët has more energy and runs faster. Yatzie likes to sleep in but Moët is early up (and earlier in bed)! They both love to cuddle, but Moët a little bit longer than Yatzie. Moët loves to sit in our laps and jumps up herself. Yatzie accepts it with some reluctance when we lift her up but loves to sit near us on the couch. Yatzie is more stubborn than Moët and has a higher level of independency. Both are as loving and loyal to their family and kiss our faces forever when we let them! We love them both as dearly with all their differences!

Yatzie is now almost 6  1/2 years old. Her fur is more stable in its structure, thinner and silkier than Moët's. She has nice curls on her body and her head has the typical wavy fur that one often sees in the the barbochos line. Her black fur has a tint of brown. 

It has been 2 1/2 months since I shaved Moët almost down to the skin. The fur that has grown is even thicker than before and she has lovely curls. The colour is interesting: chocolate brown mixed with golden yellow and some grey hairs in between. I find it very pretty. When I shaved her I saw that the colour of the fur was more brownish by the skin. And that is what now shows. But now the colour of the fur near the skin is again more greyish.... This is an interesting fur that keeps changing! Here some photos of how Moët looks like now.