Blog about Barbet Yatzie & Moët

My life with the French waterdogs Yatzie born 2007 and her daughter Moët born 2011. Barbets are purebred, active, relaxed and allergy friendly dogs with a soft and loving spirit. I am Swedish but live with my dogs in Holland. I hope you will enjoy the blog! Enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

2011 > 01

Two magnificent Irish Wolfdogs made an impression on both Yatzie and me today. Yatzie, who is a middle sized dog, seemed like a papillion beside these two. She kept a distance at first, not having met this large breed before, but took courage and got friendly with the older one, the father of the other. The breed's name Wolfdog could give a wrong impression. I asked the owner of the character of the dogs and she said: They are the sweetest dogs you can imagine. I believe her - just look at those kind eyes and the smile!

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  • Märta • 17 februari 2011 07:48:59
    Vilket spännande hundliv.Yatzie tycks kunna umgås med alla.
  • margot • 12 februari 2011 10:15:35
    als je deze hond vergeleikt met yatzie is hij erg groot,
    en het is wel een er mooie hond.
Etiketter: wolfdog

A good old cheese fondue can be tempting for both humans and dogs! Who said dogs can not eat from a stick? No problem for our Yatzie who finally got to taste that delicious smelling, dripping bread! But dear Marianne - in most families only the dogs are allowed to lick the pots... ;-)

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  • margot • 12 februari 2011 10:10:48
    volgens mij was het lekker he yatzie nou smikkel nog maar lekker door hmmmm!
  • Marianne • 7 februari 2011 22:03:58
    Not in mine ;D. Special privilege for the only woman in our household. But then again, who wouldn't like to be a dog?

    xxx, Marianne
Etiketter: marianne, cheese fondue

Last Sunday the Dutch Barbet club organized a club walk in the great forest of Lage Vuursche. A grey day but we did not get wet. Apart from Yatzie who had a short swim in the cold water... Many Barbet families joined the walk, as well as some people interested in the race. We walked for two hours or so, in the most genuine forest I have experienced in Holland so far. Yatzie and I will definitely spend time there again! Two of the males got very interested in Yatzie who had a hard time keeping them short. But when I started throwing her dummy into the forest she liked retrieving it so much that she seemed to not notice that there was a guy on top of her back!

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  • sophie • 1 februari 2011 10:50:40
    hej elisabeth and yatzie.
    we had a really nice walk indeed!we must do this more often I think.everybody had such fun.(great blog you have by the way)
    hälsningar sophie jan and sera .
  • Yes Sophie, it was a really nice walk. And great to get to know more Barbet-freaks!

    1 februari 2011 11:45:42

Etiketter: barbet club walk

Our Saturdays always have a ball theme. Bas plays football, Margot plays field hockey, and Yatzie this Saturday played along with Margot and her hockey ball! By the football field Yatzie never looses eye on her flock whatever side of the fence they may be. She is never quiet inside when the flock is split. So when she gets a chance to show her affection to a flock member on the other side of the fence she does!

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Yatzie feels reborn in her new outfit - so young she made an outing to the playground nearby to have some fun! New sides of Yatzie come out in this slim look. Or is it just me seeing things differently? She is more joyful and expressive. Have fun Yatzie, be a baby!

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  • margot • 12 februari 2011 10:19:01
    gaan we verstopperteje spelen,
    mag ik ook mee doen, alsjeblievt jippi!
Etiketter: playground

The mats were getting out of hand. On top of that the mats and the long fur were not pleasant for Yatzie, she started scrathing herself a lot. Yatzie very easily gets hot, even in wintertime she is never cold. So I decided to shave Yatzie. All that fur is now in a bucket! Yatzie smells the fur and thinks - I know that dog!

How on earth can groomers ever make a living? The whole process took me 8 hours: detangle the mats and cut off the ends of the curls: 4 hours Shower: 30 minutes Blow dry and comb: 1 hour Shave: 2 hours Clean up: 30 minutes. Puuh! But now Yatzie is happily running around enjoying her new, easy outfit! And I am happy too! There are nicer things one can do with one's dog than spending two hours every night detangeling its mats!

Blow dry after the shower
Under the knife
Ready! How do you like my new outfit?

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  • Elaine Fichter • 26 januari 2011 08:56:28
    She looks...........perfect.
  • Joachim Svinhufvud • 24 januari 2011 11:03:31
    Hej Elisabeth
    Det var en trevlig film med Yatzie " performing tricks". Hon är riktigt duktig utom när hon spelar död. Sällan ser man en död vifta på svansen.
    När du nu har klippt Yatzie så fin, så undrar jag om även din hund får totalt spel när ni är färdiga och om det håller i sig i flera dagar ?
    Varför klipper du inte över ögonen så att Yatzie kan se obehindrat mot omvärlden ? Har man klippt hela hunden i övrigt och det inte blir någon utställning på ett tag, så kan man med fördel även klippa vid ögonen eller sätta upp håret i en tofs.
    Vi har märkt att det finns många fördelar med att "gardinen" är borttagen. Hunden ser bättre och mycket mer, den kan sända och mottaga signaler betydligt bättre, vilket också bidrager till att det inte blir några missförstånd mellan hundar. Jag vet inte hur många gånger som våra hundar har missat ett föremål just på grund av för långt hår runt ögonen.
    Hälsningar
    Joachim
  • Hej Joachim! Ja, visst är det roligt med svansen som fortsätter att snurra! Yatzie blir ofta spralligare dagarna efter att hon rakats, precis som om hon får en känsla av frihet. Jag brukar inte klippa runt ögonen eftersom den långa luggen är Barbethundens speciella karaktäristika. Men jag håller helt med om att det är viktigt för kommunikationen med andra hundar, att de kan se ögonen, så Yatzie brukar då bära tofs!
    Grattis till parningen - nu håller vi tummarna!

    24 januari 2011 11:54:18

  • KJ • 21 januari 2011 10:22:24
    Jag håller med; det är ett drygt och omständligt jobb för oss amatörer att klippa en barbet.
    Den där looken/outfiten känner jag också igen.....slimmat klädd kropp, bart bröst och imponerande hårman. Är det sångaren i Led Zeppelin ;-).
  • That's it KJ! Jag visste väl att Yatzie var kändis i sitt förra liv! Whole Lotta Love lever hon definitivt fortfarande upp till!

    21 januari 2011 20:31:24

Etiketter: grooming

Yatzie loves when she is asked to perform her tricks. I used a clicker to teach her all these tricks when she was young. She still gets a click and treat for each trick and she is so happy and eager to do it right. Sometimes she starts doing everything she knows in a row and forgets to listen to the command!  That is so cute. But this time she listens well, and gets most of it right apart from the Pang :-) which takes a few attempts. These are the tricks Yatzie is showing in the video: Serpentine, rear, bow, around, back, play dead, hands up, bark.

Enjoy the video, recorded by Margot!

Yatzie performs tricks in the park

Yatzies fur is now up to 13 cm long! I have never left it growing this long before, so it is a little experiment. The fur ends turn more and more into brown. They form beautiful curls, but under the surface... MATS!!!!! Yatzie has the silky kind of Barbet fur, not woolly, and it does not normally form mats. But now, especially on her neck blow the ears and by her hips, big areas of mats are forming. Today I spent 2 hours combing through just four areas of mats! I use the front end of a comb to entangle them little by little. The result - a big heap of fur and a very woolly Yatzie. Yes, after combing through the mats the fur gets a woolly feel and look. In a few weeks I have an appointment to groom her, I am looking forward to it because these mats are hard work!

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  • Anna Neld • 20 januari 2011 07:09:58
    Hej Elisabeth och Yatzie! Vi här hemma saknar er otroligt mycket och hoppas ni kommer hem så snart som möjligt. Jättefina bilder du har tagit. Många kramar från familjen!,,
  • Tack Anna, och vi saknar er också jättemycket!

    21 januari 2011 13:45:10

Etiketter: fur, grooming

Lately is has been raining and raining and raining here in Utrecht. Yatzie really hates rain so the walks have been shorter than ever. Instead she and Saartje are being lazy in my new office in Maarsen, while I work intensely, as well as enjoy the company of my new, nice, dog-friendly, Dutch colleagues. For the evening walks Yatzie comes along for about half a minute, then heads right back to the house. Saartje and I walk all alone, and find Yatzie happily receiving us by the door when we return fifteen minutes later...

Yatzie and Saartje in the office

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Etiketter: yatzie, saartje

In Holland small farm houses are situated in the middle of housing areas. This little farm was a nice surprise for both Yatzie and me during a walk last weekend - rabbits, geese, hens, goats, sheep and even a donkey lived there. Yatzie begged with her big dark eyes: Can't you let me in for just a minute? She of course already knew the answer. Just imagine what an hilarious reality circus a yes would have resulted in!

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Margot is showing dog training talents! Look how perfectly she is working with Yatzie in this training sequence. And when Saartje comes along she gets the right attention too.

 

After training - reward at the Rhynauwen pancake house! Holland is full of these cosy pancake houses. And in this one we met another young talent - the pancake cock who made Margot her favourite pancake with cheese and bacon on it!

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  • Ineke van Olphen • 13 januari 2011 20:18:01
    You are an artist, what a lovely photos. I put them all in my Iphotoalbum.
    It made me so happy to see Margot with the doggies. I miss you all very much and hope to come in the spring. Hopefully you will still be there (wishful thinking!)
    Love,
    Ineke
  • Maja Holmström • 10 januari 2011 22:21:15
    Vilka vackra bilder! Helt fantastiska!
    mvh Maja/Dixie/Lucy

Here in Holland all the snow is gone.... Yatzie is dreaming about the past weeks in Sweden, with snow everywhere, more and more every day! About her half sister Ruffa in the snow chase, the rolling around and around in the never ending snow, the deers outside the apartment... Was it real or was it just a dream....?

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  • Karl-Johan • 8 januari 2011 12:14:14
    Hej Elisabeth!
    Ja de två översta bilderna ser verkligen ut att vara klippta ur en drömsekvens. Riktigt häftiga och suggestiva - och drömlika. Den översta bilden kunde vara en modern och väldigt driven akvarell. Härlig livsglad snölycka.
    Här blir snötäcket bara djupare och djupare, och hundarna borrar sina nosar längre och längre ner.....
    Vi ses!

Today Yatzie made friends with a Friesian Stabyhoun during our walk at the Strijkviertel lake. Yatzie was not so interested in playing, she was very focused on me, but gave in to the sweet Staby's eager invitations. Then a magnificent, but dominant boxer bitch came along and the other dogs showed very low signals to keep her quiet! Even Saartje, who is not afraid of anything, looked a little more submissive than normally. Tupak, our neighbour beagle, came along aswell playful and fun as always. It was a cold, sunny day - great for motion pictures, as fast as 1/1600 sec on 200 ISO! Yatzie had a shower last night - see how her fur is shining!

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  • Marijke • 6 januari 2011 12:40:19
    You've done very well with the new lens. What a beautiful pictures.

    See you next time at Strijkviertel.
    Marijke (owner Frysian Staby Syb)
  • Hi Marijke,
    Hope to see you there another day!

    6 januari 2011 17:05:02

Etiketter: tupak, saartje, strijkviertel

Last year Bart and I by accident found the lovely Hyde Park in Driebergen. There is a great mix of open fields and forests of different kinds. This past weekend we visited again and I tried out my new 180 mm stable tele lens. I am now practicing to take pictures in motion. Still much to learn but sometimes I manage to catch a picture of Yatzie as she is flying past me!

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Etiketter: hyde park, saartje, bart

The first day of the year was warm here in Utrecht. A lot of the snow was already gone when Yatzie, Saartje and I went for a walk in the Leidsche Rein park. It is dangerous when the ice starts melting on the canals and I kept Yatzie, the wildest of the two, on a long rope. The park is also full of rabbits and pheasants and I did not want to start the new year with a big argument with my Yatzie girl. In the video below you can see her with her long rope getting rather entangled in the bushes, still able to explore the traces but not chasing. Then the two dogs posed nicely before the camera.

Yatzie and Saartje on a New Year walk in Leidsche Rein park

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Etiketter: saartje

Oliebollen is the most traditional Dutch treat at New Year. Yatzie was very tempted! She is more focussed on food than ever before in her life... Even the fireworks did not scare her, since I kept offering her nice treats as they cracked off - for like 45 minutes... Previous years she has been afraid hiding under the Christmas tree during the fireworks.This year she enjoyed the company of her labrador friend Luna as well as all the kids. Below you see Emma and Josephine.

 

The oliebollen are said to have been first eaten by Germanic tribes in the Netherlands during the Yule, the period between December 26 and January 6. The Germanic goddess Perchta, together with evil spirits, would fly through the mid-winter sky. To appease these spirits, food was offered, much of which contained deep-fried dough. It was said Perchta would try to cut open the bellies of all she came across, but because of the fat in the oliebollen, her sword would slide off the body of whoever ate them.

Birthday hug - Bas, Yatzies Dutch mini dad, turned 10 years at midnight! Hurray!

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  • Arno • 11 januari 2011 22:32:43
    Dear Yatzie and Elisabeth. Very nice pictures Elisabeth, I really liked the first one with the oliebollen! Thank you for your internatinal lessons in oliebollen-kunde ;-)
Etiketter: yatzie, bas, luna

A barbet book!

The first book about the barbet published in Europe is here! 308 pages, 300 photos, in hardback  for years of enjoyment. Order the book here: www.barbetbook.com. The book is available in English and Dutch and can be shipped to all countries!
Join the > Barbet Book Group on Facebook 
and share with other barbet book lovers!
Authours: Elisabeth Roest Kempemo and Brigitte Waller-Rengelink. 

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  • June • 4 juni 2016 16:31:26
    Beautiful Barbets! Has been a dream of mine for almost 10 years to have a Barbet of my own! Someday! ;)

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