We were lucky to get snow on Christmas Day! My barbets love it and get very energetic! Yatzie must roll around in it at least three times every time we go out!

Yatzie and Moët got more gifts than the kids as usual! Yatzie is so sweet, she gets totally excited over gifts, just  like a little child. We had to put the smelly gifts apart of course, or they would have been gone by the time Santa Claus arrived! 

Santa is taking us in his sleigh to Rabbitland! Hope you all will have a great Christmas too!

I love this new fire place sheep skin and so does Yatzie!

Yatzie and Moët play a little every day. Yatzie is not the most playful barbet, but Moët who is very playful, keeps her young! 

A sunny afternoon walk around the Nedereindse lake. Not very Christmas like in this part of the world.... 

This past weekend Brigtte and I were promoting the barbet and the barbet book at Barbet club stand at the Winner show in Amsterdam. Made this roll-up that sure did its job to catch the attention! 

To catch up on some relaxation and quality time with the dogs Bart and I took a long weekend off and went to the island Texel on the Dutch west coast. It was my first visit there so I was curious. The visit fulfilled all my expectations!  The lovely beaches and dunes were wonderful for the dogs to roam around in, and for us to enjoy long walks. We found a lovely B&B called De Heerlijkheid van Texel that was a small paradise! See photos at the end. I am quite sure we will come back soon!

You just know it is gonna be a great day when these loving eyes meet yours in the morning!

Oscar, Yatzie's light blue puppy, lives in Utrecht with friends of ours! We had not seen him since the summer and what a sturdy young barbet he had become! Very loving and playful! He lives in a family with three young children, so he has a busy life! He does very well with the small kids, and enjoys their company. But most of all, this day, he enjoyed the walk with his mum and halfsister around the little lake Kleine Plass! 

We had  a lovely sunny weekend in Groningen, north Holland, where Jolie lives with her dog friend Fladder. Jolie is a very happy and sweet dog, and she totally recognised all of us! 

Balou (Phanuel de l'Esprit de bonté, was best puppy at the Dutch Club Match this weekend! He had hard competition from his brother Frits, who was placed as no 4. In the female class Luna and Yeye competed together and Yeye was placed as no 3, and Luna no 4! A fantastic result for all of Yatzie's children! Well done!!!!

During the past two years my spare time has been filled with writing a book about the barbet, with co-author Brigitte Waller-Rengelink. In April I started making the book design and a few weeks ago the book was finally ready to be sent to the printing house. Now we are eagerly waiting for the delivery of the books which should be the coming week if everything goes well! The book is made in two language versions: English and Dutch. With the help of many barbet lovers from all over the world we were able to gather hundreds of photos of different barbets! THANK YOU! See more about the book here: www.barbetbook.com and www.barbetboek.nl. 

As much as I want to thank everyone that has contributed with photos I want to thank Yatzie and Moët for their patience with me during this work. They were an active part of the production by lying next to me or sitting on my lap while I was writing and designing on my Mac, to get just a little bit of the attention they were used to get -  and to bless my work! 

During the last phase of proof reading, the book came along with me and the dogs everywhere, even on our walks! I would sit down somewhere reading, reading and reading while the dogs were running around and coming to check on me once in a while... Even to the beach I brought the big bunch of papers! Now things are back to normal and I am enjoying more time with my beloved dogs again - not to mention time with my darling husband and children of course. Writing and designing a book while working full time (and having puppies during the same period) is not to recommend ;-), but it has been fantastic to write about my passion, and to present that passion with text and images, spread by spread, in this book. I hope you will enjoy the result!  I'll let you know when the book has arrived!

Beli (Ambeloui de l'Esprit de bonté), Yatzie's daughter, is pregnant! She was mated to Billabong de Pré de Redy on Sept 21, and puppies are expected end of November. Beli is a lovely working barbet, with a soft character and a silky, wavy barbet fur. She lives in Poland with her devoted owners Irek and Marzena. We are looking very much forward to see the sweet barbets from this special combination. See more about the development on Irek's website: www.barbets.pl

If you are interested in a puppy from this litter you may contact the owner on e-mail: ireneusz.szczepanski@barbets.pl

Moët is crazy about water! Every day she takes a dip once, twice or three times. She flies into the water, never checking out the ground or how cold it is first! And she really needs to cool off, because I have never seen such an active dog - she runs like a gazell over the fields and through the forests, never seeming to get tired. After a refreshing dip in the water, she again takes off on her investigations of the wild nature where she belongs!

Today we did some ring training with Yeyezel, our puppy from Yatzie's second litter, and her co-owner Wouter. Yeyezel will be shown for the first time at the Barbet Clubmatch at the end of October. She is a very lively young dog, 8 months old now, that still finds it really hard to stand still and follow around in the ring when other interesting things are going on around her! She is a lovely barbet though and hopefully the judges are used to this kind of behaviour in young dogs. We will practice some more before the Clubmatch!

It was a lovely warm fall day and we took off with the doggies to the large dunes in Soesterduinen. It is such a wonderful place for both dogs and their owners, and after a long walk we sat down all together in the sand under  a tree. I am so happy to be able to spend more time with my doggies now that the barbet book is written and designed - a challenging and wonderful project I undertook that asked a lot of time from me over the past 6 months (or in fact 2 years..)! It is being printed now! I will tell you more soon!

Enjoy some shots of Moët posing in different angles by our rental house in the Ardennen!

What could be more precious in this world than real quality time with your dogs - and hubby;-) ? Bart and I took off to the Ardennen for a long weekend. We rented a very cosy house in the forest and were quite lucky with the weather. I just share some impressions from our days there.

We went to Malmö to celebrate Moët and my common birthday. An hour before the big party Bart and I took the dogs to the dog area on the beach where they could run freely. And freely they ran, and Moët who is the wilder and most courageous of the two dogs, and with a woollier fur more easily attracting twigs and such,  came out of a bush totally full of big thistles. They had gotten totally twisted into her fur, so bad. Bart and I spent at least half an hour together trying to free her of them...  

On the beach we met a Black Russian Terrier, a breed I had never seen before that has some similarities to the barbet when it comes to fur and build. Wikipedia says: it is believed that about twenty breeds were used in its development, including the Airedale, the Giant Schnauzer, the Rottweiler, the Newfoundland, the Caucasian Ovtcharka and the now extinct Moscow Water Dog.

Celebration times! It is three years ago that Yatzie's Champagne litter was born - and our sweet Moët was the first one out! How many fun days with happy memories that we have had together already! Moët you see a lot here on the blog, so instead I present her sister Ambeloui, in Poland. A beautiful wavy barbet with a rustic look! Happy 3-year birthday to all the bubbles around the world!

Yeyezel, our bitch from Yatzie's last litter (living with our guest family), came to stay for some days. She is a very energetic little girl, that still has not learned to relax like her mother always does! Moët and Yeye play nice together, though after a while Moët wants to stop but Yeye just goes on forever!

After 18 days without my barbets we are together again. I missed them enormously! Now they will get cuddles and kisses in abundance!

Blog break and vacation! For the first time in my life I will spend my vacation without my dogs... It's hard. But we are going off to Thailand where Bart's father lives... Yatzie and Moët will be staying with friends and will be well taken care of so that helps! Here some nice photos from the last days! See you back in September!

Glad we have a large Volvo these days! 

Visitors must be spoiled! 

Yeyezel is getting a very good socialization experience at the zoo and getting a sweet kiss on the boat!

We have the joy of having 4 barbets in the house (ours + TumTum and Oscar) and a bonus labradoodle (Mus)! Friends are on vacation and we are not! So we open the house for these darlings. But Bart and I still like to eat out sometimes, and we don't like to leave the dogs at home. So we took them along to a favourite restaurant last night - Belle van Zuilen, in Oud Zuilen. No problem, you can sit in this corner, was the friendly answer from the staff when I carefully asked if it was possible to bring 'a few' dogs. They were admired by many and behaved perfectly!

We got a summer greeting from Frits (Cherubiel, the dark blue boy) today and these lovely photos! His beautiful head has mama Yatzie's straight look! Rianne tells that he is a lovely, friendly dog that is loved by everyone and plays well with other dogs. Of course - it is a l'Esprit de bonté!

When Moët wakes up early and the goes to say good morning to everyone. If you are lucky she jumps up and stays in bed for a while! I can't imagine a nicer wake-up call! Bas loves it too!

There was a sports day at the nearby school and as Yatzie and Moët passed by all the children wanted to cuddle the cuddly dogs! Both of them enjoy the attention, even though Moët can be quite reluctant to start with. Yatzie never has any doubts about anyone!

Yatzie is crazy about cats. She has respect for them (she was once injured on her nose by one when she got too close) but if she gets a chance and if the cat starts running the inclination to hunt the cat takes over. We were recently visiting a neighbour whose cat was outside the kitchendoor window. Both dogs were totally excited by being able to stand nose to nose with the cat for a long time. The cat was just waiting to come inside to her friend Winnie.  But to keep the house in order I suggested we wait with letting the cat inside until Yatzie and Moët were safe on a leash!

Last week we had a nice weekend visit from Sweden! One day was spent in Amsterdam and the dogs came along! While all three girls had our nails painted at Bijenkorf the dogs took a nap. It is so easy to bring barbets along everywhere - they just adjust and relax! One day the weather allowed for a visit at the beach as well -  a favourite for everyone!

Despite her broken leg Luna yesterday got her obedience diploma! What a corageous girl she is! Congratulations!

Since Yatzie's last litter she has a new habit of sleeping. She has found out that Bart's wardrobe is the perfect resting place; small & cosy and it smells lovely arround the shoes of ocurse! This morning I found her with her head under the rail of the wardrobe sliding door... 

In Holland you hardly ever find solitude and quietness, but when that happens while the sun is setting in a lake and there is no wind it becomes an unforgettable magic moment. But of course it would not have been the same if my Yatzie and Moët had not been there with me! 

Our Yeye, who just turned 4 months, already swims like the l'Esprit de Bonté spirited waterdog that she is! I must admit I am very proud of her! And of her dad Wouter and brother Jurian who swims with her in the cold water! 

The water was so clear one could perfectly see Yatzie's swimming movements when retrieving a ball in this small lake. It looked so nice I had to film it. 

The heat wave has reached Holland and it was time for Yatzie and Moët to put their summer costumes on!

Moët in a typical barbet posture - totally relaxed and with no worries in the world! 

June 6 – the Swedish National Day! When you live abroad those kind of days become even more important then they were when living in your mother country. So the flag is swaying on the front of our house and of course Yatzie and Moët had to pose in front of it! Honestly - they just stood in this amazingly respectful and proud pose all by themselves! In a second the photo was made. 

Today I am planning to make a typical Swedish summer dessert - rhubarb pie – to celebrate! 

The adventures of Dante, Yatzie's male puppy in Sweden, you can follow on this link http://ohejdat.bloggplatsen.se/2014/06/. Only in Swedish but there are also lots of photos! 

The grass at our favourite place is very high these days. Moët and Yatzie disappear in there. Moët has a very agile way of rushing through the high grass with high jumps that just look so amazing - she moves like a dear! In this video she is looking for Yatzie but can't find her! Back home I realized that both dogs had their furs full fo dry grass seeds .After what happened to Moët last summer in Italy, where a dry pointy grass entered her paw and caused a serious infection, I spent the evening clearing their fur and shaving the hair between their toes, where a lot of dry grass was stuck... 

I have never seen a puppy behaving like Yeye does in the water! Look at this crazy funny little thing!

New forests are always exciting for the dogs! This weekend we visited an area near Apeldoorn where the dogs totally enjoyed their freedom and ran around like crazy for half an hour. Here they are waiting for the go-signal! See the perfectly hooked tails that Yatzie and Moët have.

Yeye is very energetic! She runs aorund and plays all day long. But if you are lucky you can catch her for a short cuddle, like Bas here!

Yeyezel came to stay with us in the weekend! Everyone enjoyed it so much - Yatzie the most! They play so sweetly together still. Saturday morning all the dogs came along to the hockey field, where Yatzie and Yeye enjoyed a tug-of-war. All three dogs were tumbling around, stealing the attention of all the hockey kids!