Claude's Renezvous

On the 16th November 2015, Claude and I set off early in the morning for the Euro Tunnel we had a slight detour first to pick up our trusty co-pilot from Southampton, then onward for our trip to Belgium and for Claude to meet his lady love Coco (Coco de la Colline des Violettes).

When we arrived at the Euro Tunnel it was eerie to say the least, a few days before there had been the awful events that happend in Paris and it seems that most people had decided not to travel and either cancelled or postponed their trips.  When you see an empty car park and terminal and you are going to be travelling miles under the sea it does make you worry a bit but nothing was going to stop us.

Empty Car Park at the Euro Tunnel

We had no problems at all and didn't even get lost which for us on one of our road trips is most unusually. We even managed to find the hotel without a wrong turn. Sylvie, her lovely mum and Coco were waiting for us there.

We checked in, settled into our room and unpacked the most important items of all when travelling the kettle, coffee and teabags, what could be better?? We even had our very own bathroom, posh or what!!

Annette Chilling

The Trusty Kettle

Enough tea and relaxation Claude was anxious to meet his lady love Coco, so off downstairs we went,  met up with Sylvie and a short drive later we were at friends home who had kindly agreed to let us use their garden for the mating.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect.

 

      The Mating Game

We were delighted as a successful mating took place and just before it started to rain, perfect.  Sylvie's friends own one of Claude and Coco's daughters from their first litter Milou, so it was lovely to be able to see her and get a photo of her with Daddy, as you can see it had started to rain heavily then.

We had a lovely evening with great company, good food and of course champagne to celebrate the reunion of Claude and Coco.  Then it was back to the hotel, it had been a very long day for us all but a successful one, and it was lovely meeting up with Sylvie again.

The next morning we found out that the beach was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel,  so it was a great place for Claude to stretch his legs and of course the usual photo opportunities.

Claude having Fun

The Love Match

 Annette was adamant that she was not leaving Belgium without trying their Belgium Waffles, so we found a cafe and went in and ordered.

Yummy

Annette in Heaven

The big question was did she share them with me or did she eat the whole plateful herself??? Of course she shared she is a nice person.  Poor Claude on the other hand was out of luck they were to good to let him try them. What a horrible owner I am.

Poor Claude - No waffles for him not even a crumb

On the way home I confess we did make a slight detour round a very small country road for a couple of miles, OK I took a wrong turn and got hopelessly lost but never fear the trusty SatNav got us back on track. 

All was going well until one lane of the motorway started to back up with lorries we weren't sure what was going on but eventually we were all filtered into one lane and taken off the motorway for random car checks by the police. Fortunately, we were just waved through, so onward with our journey to Duty Free and Pet Passport Control!!!

Tail Back

Road Block

We all had a lovely time and it was great to see Sylvie and Coco again.  Bring on the next road trip!!!

The Miracle Litter

On the 20th July 2015 Claude had a visit from a new lady friend called Moet (Moet de l'Espirit de Bonte) and her lovely family Elisabeth and Bart, the first mating went very smoothly.

For the second mating Elisabeth came up to the house on her own, while Bart was slaving away in the kitchen making a delicious lasagna. After the mating and a lot of chatting Elisabeth set off on her way back to the holiday cottage the family were staying in. Unfortunately, a van coming the other way was going to fast and cut the bend and hit Elisabeth's Volvo head on, the Volvo was a total right off, Elisabeth and Moet were lucky to walk away from the accident. An ambulance was called and Elisabeth was checked out although she was very sore there was no serious injury (thank goodness) and Moet after the initial shock took everything in her stride she even got to sit in the Ambulance with Elisabeth until Bart came.

Nobody was sure if this would affect Moet and the potential babies she could be carrying although it was very early days, you just never know.

The good news finally came on the 18 September 2015, that Moet had given birth to 6 babies, 3 boys and 3 girls, hence why they are named the Miracle Litter.

All the puppies are now in their forever homes with their new families and Daddy Claude wishes them all a happy and fun filled life.

A HAPPY ENDING

General

It has been a long time since I entered anything on the blog but I am not technical at all and every time I tried to log in to update this thing it kept telling me I was not an author, Ummm what does that mean then, to cut a long story short it helps if you are entering the right details in to the blog in the first place, its only taken me 4 months to figure that little fact out :)  Anyway I am up and running again now, till the next time!!!!!

Garden Invasion

For those of you who don't know my Mum and Dad live next door to me in a beautiful Barn Conversion on the hill, over the years my Dad has waged war on moles who to be fair did make a mess of his garden, which he is very proud of.  The moles finally got the message though and vacated his garden for pastures new, mainly my orchard!!!  He now has some new interlopers to contend with - The Gang have found a way in :)

The last 2 weeks my Dad has been out in the garden in sun, rain, gale force winds trying to find out were the gang are breaking through.  He has fixed holes with whatever he can lay his hands on. He has even taken to hiding in the shed to see if he can find out the exact area they are breaking through.

I have to say Mum and I have been very entertained while all this has been going on and I think secretly the Gang are laughing to. Unfortunately Dad I think it might be back to the drawing board!!

The Score so Far

The Gang 10 - Dad 0

Show Time

National Gundog Championship Show 

2nd August 2015

Not sure where the last 6 months had gone but suddenly Malika's first show had arrived, the Show was National Gundog at Malvern Showground. Did excitement prevail at home, NO, although she had been well socialised we had been to no ring craft classes and it had been 3 years since I was last in the show ring in the UK. It was going to be an interesting day!!!

It was an early start but I am used to that, however, I don't think Malika was too impressed, especially when we got to the car park at the showground and she flatly refused to get out of the car, with a little bit of coaxing and lots of bribery (treats) success at last! Still not sure what it was all about to be honest because the minute she got out her tail was wagging and she was happily meeting and greeting everybody she could.

We both had a lovely day meeting old and new friends and Malika loved the show ring, she was such a good girl and got 2nd which gave her a qualification for Crufts (added bonus).

 Thanks Linda Mayne for these lovely photos of Malika in the ring.

Pembrokeshire County Show

18th August 2015

I had entered Malika into the Open Dog Show so we could both have a bit more practice in the ring, because there was no Spinone classes, she was entered in AV Gundog Puppy, I was so pleased when she was given 1st in her class and then went on to be awarded Group 2 in the Gundog Puppy Group.

After showing we had a lovely time walking round the show having a look at all the stalls and watching the judging in all the rings for cattle, horses, etc. We enjoyed a picnic watching the show jumping and Malika who by then had met lots and lots of people, had her photograph taken numerous times, enjoyed an ice cream decided it was sleep time for a bit.

Next year I must remember to take my camera.

Welsh Kennel Club

23rd August 2015

This was always one of my favourite shows, I love the drive to Builth from where I live really pretty scenery and it is the closest Championship Show to me.  Unfortunately the weather was awful on the Sunday and just got worse as the day went on, but an added bonus was meeting up with a good friend that I hadn't seen in a long time, so major catch up with gossip was in order, just got to be done :).

Malika who by now has got used to getting up early in the morning and being whisked away in the car to strange places again did me proud by winning 1st Minor Puppy Bitch. 

Getting placed with Malika at the shows is always special and lovely, but this little girl with her huge personality gives me a bigger gift than that, she makes me laugh every day with her antics and that to me is priceless.

Barbet Training Day - 12 July 2015

I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday than with some old and new friends on a Barbet Training Day, unfortunately the weather wasn't brilliant but you can't have everything.

Just to be different I took Malika, not a Barbet I know but Anouk thinks gun dog work is beneath her and Claude has been there done that and got the T-shirt. She wasn't the only Spinone there as Annette had taken Italia.

The morning session was spent at the lake retrieving the dummy from the water, which the Barbets did with ease and so did Italia, Malika although she enjoys the water does not yet like to go out of her depth but with a bit of practice and lots of fun play I think that will come.

Barbets doing what they love to do!!

I have to say a huge thank you to Mick Cleverley from Corunna Gundogs our trainer for the day, who was fantastic, I learned such a lot and will be carrying on with her training at home.

Mick showing Malika how it is done :)

Italia enjoying a swim

Malika escaping from the wet stuff

After the lake it was time for a well deserved lunch break and gossip and then back to training, unfortunately I haven't got any pictures of the next bit, I left the camera in the car :)

Malika definitely enjoyed the next session as this was the retrieve from land and she seems to have a natural instinct for it.  They all passed the gun shy test with flying colours and Malika retrieved the feather dummy each time she was asked to.  

I may be a little biased but at 5 months of age I thought she did really well on her first experience of gun dog training and more importantly she loved it.  I must just say she had plenty of rest and didn't do too much because of her age.

The Group Photo

Thanks Annette and Jimmy for letting me crash at your house again!! 

Douai Trip

The trip to Douai seems to becoming an annual event, it is a great 2 day National and International Show and normally there are a few of us Brits that make the trip, this year was no exception. Unfortunately this year my co-pilot wasn't able to come and anybody that knows me also know that my navigational skills are sadly lacking add that with driving on a different side of the road and the added complication of Tolls , not a good combination.  However, I had a cunning plan and arranged to meet Wendy and Julian at the Euro Tunnel and followed their car all the way to Douai - No Problem!!!!

We arrived at the hotel around about 6pm, checked in, fed and walked the dogs and then decided to go to the local supermarket and stock up on food and drink for the evening.

The hotel definitely deserves a mention, the rooms were great, the staff could not have been any more helpful, breakfast was lovely, it was very dog friendly and all at a reasonable price.

Some of us Brits enjoying a bite to eat at the hotel on the Friday night, a happy bunch but before I could take the photograph they had hidden the bottles of wine that we had been consuming,

Anouk settling in for her first night in the hotel,  we were both shattered but at least she left me some room on the bed.  And yes people that is my kettle in the background, can't go anywhere without old faithful.

Saturday was always going to be a busy day, first the National Show with some great results for the British Barbets, Pi and Anouk were confirmed, which was the reason for my trip to Douai this time.

Then a short walk over to the lake for the TAN Test, not all the Barbets were doing the TAN but we all went along as the cheer-leading section.All the dogs did their owners proud and passed with flying colours.

How could we take a group of Barbets to a lake and not let them have a dip especially on a very warm day, that would be too cruel.  To be honest at one point I nearly dived in with the dogs to cool off.

Anouk and Pi

Anouk and Boris (young love)

Sunday was again another successful day this time for the International Show, all the results in more detail can be found on the Barbet Club of Great Britain website. Before Group judging started in the main ring we had a small get together with old and new friends.

The Dog Whisperer

Before setting off on the long journey back to the UK, we took the dogs for a final swim in the lake and of course us humans had to have an ice cream.

Cooling off

Me & Anouk

Finally arrived home around 2.30am on the Monday morning, at least there is very little traffic on the road at that time.

It was great to meet old friends and new and again a great weekend trip to Douai, roll on next year.

Anouk sporting her R.C.A.C.I.B Rosette