Out and about for a morning walk, I am doing my best..
Coccolina 15.8 years of age..
Hello, it’s me..
Tag Archives: Raceur du Barbet; lignée
Times flies..
I had not realized there had not been any posts for so long.. I am still every day doing “Barbet” but not always here!
Dylan Da Capo ( 14 years old) from Germany Nancy Sinatra de la serve de la chapelle d’Alexandre ( 3 years old)
I have something extraordinary to share with you. This is a photo taken last weekend in Finland. This is what dreams are made of. I had hoped for a long time that a picture could be taken of 2 Vieux Griffon Barbets of 2 different breeders…Just to show you they did exist before they all started looking like BIIIIIIIIIG POODLES .. Working on keeping an old breed alive is not a money making venture, that is why you see so few. They are near extinction.
This is proof again, that the man on the moon did not just fall there and that a Barbet Modern has nothing to do with a Vieux Barbet/Authentic Barbet/ Vieux Griffon Barbet.
My 3 musketeers 3 years later
Here’s the short version of the 3 lil’ musketeers who grew up happily.. well, 2 of them since the 3rd disappeared off the radar. Everyone is happy to get their pup and so happy to have a real Barbet of the old line.. and Barbet 2 on D-day starts to negotiate the price..so, she won a few€ for her pleasure and off she went. A few weeks later, I get a call at 9.30pm..her vet said a testicle was not there and blablabla (not true).. and I said, “well, I’d have to see it.” And off the radar she went. So, morale of the story? If someone does it now? I send them straight to our professional breeders who will sell by color, and a female if you want. No no, no go with me. I get these calls regularly and off they go to get a dog by the name of Barbet Moderne. Ladida. I ask them and do not even spend time answering. And yes, I do understand that they have not a clue beyond the word “Barbet”..and the name is all they want. Not for me.
Trucking along… wonderful Coccolina!
She is happy, aware, eating well. So far, so good. I hope she makes it to 15 1/2..and beyond. She is in the pedigree of nearly 3000 dogs todate. I’d venture to say she is the biggest contributor to the old breed/Vieux Grifffon Barbet..alive today. The old breed will die, but it won’t be for her not contributing, but from very improper selection ( just to refresh Poodle blood).
May Day..May Day.
One of the pictures was found on the net, on a public page. It is so sad to see what people do to breeds. It has left me speechless ( not for long, tho). I happen to know all the pedigrees in the breedS ( Vieux Griffon Barbet/Barbet Moderne). When I see a strange picture, I start wondering how the dog came about. I can visualize the dogs in the pedigrees. This is 15 years of work and archives to study.
If more worried about what they were producing and selling, it would not be such a mess.
On the right Ashley and my Coccolina. They both measure 50cms. The curly black and white male on the left is Ashley’s son. He is on the small side and the light structure comes out in the picture at the top (another male, with Coccolina in the pedigree). If you do not know what you are working with, you end up with these catastrophes and the breed degenerates. Then, it all goes haywire. After 5 generations of selection and work for the old/Vieux Griffon Barbet, I can sort of say.. I do not need a database to know what is going on. Why are people not more interested in facts?
Breed killers..all of you.
They are all over the world from Sweden to the UK, The Netherlands and of course grand winner Switzerland (who deserves an Oscar for best performance) and through the Us of A..that means everywhere in between. They make money by killing breeds. Then they move to the next one. That has a name, doesn’t it?
The following article is taken from the Dutch Dogworld Magazine “De Hondenwereld” with permission of the author and the publisher as it is an excellent description of what is happening to my Breed: “the Irish Softcoated Wheaten Terrier” , as well.
A silent breed killer
(Illustrations are forthcoming)
Did you ever notice how easily judges, exhibitors and breeders get used to changes within a breed? In many cases it even goes so far that these changes are gradually lifted to the level of required characteristics. It is mostly dogs of well-known breeders / exhibitors that start a certain change (read: set a trend) within a breed.
There is for instance the somewhat bigger Miniature Schnauzer with the terrier “look “; the some what leveller, elegant looking Shih Tzu with its long neck; the Weimaraner who becomes bigger and bigger and more impressive; the “American” English Springer Spaniel, to name a few breeds.
As soon as a dog with of a slightly “deviating” –type starts winning, the ball start rolling. The dog goes to the ring of honour, the one judge bends over to his neighbour and says; “have you seen that beautiful dog?” Breeders and exhibitors notice that judges like that particular dog and start trying to breed or to buy that type of dog. At such a moment the original Breed Standard does not seem to be of importance to some exhibitors, winning in the show ring is all that matters to them.
When after some time you are sitting at the show ring looking at that breed again, it could happen that you see in a class e.g. 5 dogs of which 4 are “deviating” (deviations) from the standard next to a correct “standard” type of dog. At most shows the (correct) (complying to the) “standard” dog will be considered to be the “odd one” and the true “deviating ones” will be placed behind the boards 1 through 4. For those breeders that adhere to the Standard this is a very frustrating experience.
The temptation is of course very big. Many of the deviating dogs are often very flashy looking ones, and often show a gait, exterior and motion that looks more spectacular than the movement of the “standard” dog. One has to be very strong and come from a good breed conscience background to resist the temptations and keep on preaching the true belief and keep breeding in compliance with the standard.
Often the appearance of difference in type in a breed leads to polarisation between judges and breeders alike. One of the hallmarks of this polarisation is that certain characteristics of the dogs are even more exaggerated to make it stand out and be recognisable.
So one can observe that and conclude that the non-adherence to the standard of many breeders / exhibitors and judges poses a direct danger to the existence of our breed population.
Except for getting used to trends within a breed, the getting used and the acceptance of inherited faults is a problem of the same kind or even worse.
When judges repeatedly reward dogs with these faults with an “excellent” and also give them their championship tickets, breeders will not be challenged to improve the breed: they are already winning! In such cases only the die-hards and true idealists remain faithful to the breed and try to improve on it, but how many of those people do we have within one breed?
Accepting without any objection of changes that please the eye but are against the standard is an open invitation to the “silent breed killer” to do his job and carry out his devastating work within the breed
Seen from the perspective that breeding is nothing more then passing on genetic material to the next generation, allowing this to happen means that one wilfully accepts and helps spreading of genetically deviating material in an irresponsible way that will pollute the genepool (hereditary material).
Would it not be good if breeders and judges would, at least once a month take the standard at hand of the breeds they are entrusted, and what would it be valuable to organise regular meetings with breeders and judges to discuss certain trends and “faults” that creep up in a
breed. Never forget that the only guideline during judging and breeding should be the FCI-approved breed standard.
So, behave and act as true disciples and spread the gospel according to the original breed standard.
not.. as some looking for fame and fortune who have not a clue what they are talking about, but do speak well, with forked tongue..supported by many who know better, or do they?!
Wisedom speaking:
It’s not only the money; it’s also a blind submission to some kind of group spirit, the impression of pseudo-self respect or how it may be called, envy, idiots who don’t know anything better than trying to earn honour bt meaningless distructive actions, and many more envy, underdeveloped or degenerated awareness buttons in brains. Degeneration may be the best term to describe this symptome.
Vieux Griffon Barbet: 100 left in the world..and dwindling.
When I got into the breed, of Vieux Barbet or Vieux Griffon Barbet..I was told to stay away from the Poodle lines. They go back 100+ years ( we’re talking Wycliffe/Apiele et al).
Not all lines had Poodle in them, they do now. It’s a question of getting the type out.
An F1 litter when crossing lines as one does today is going to be a pot-pourri of all the breeds in the 2 dogs. They will be cuteandnice but useless down the…line. Unless you know your lines and not many do.
Not all lines have SWD. You can see which do.
All lines have PWD.
Some lines have IWS. It is the only line that helped as it is similar to the Vieux Griffon Barbet, when you know how to select. I know all the pedigrees back to when they made the first ones.
You don’t always inherit from the parents, but from their siblings. Keep that in mind if you do not know what they look like.
There is a bunch of still, hidden stuff like there was in ALL breeds many years ago. Suffice to ask Pro- breeders. They know. By that I mean OLD breeders not recent ones.
I have always tried to keep one or two puppies of each litter ( I have not had many, it’s not possible) to see how they grew under my roof, not dispatched and brought in for breeding.
Dealing with a nearly extinct breed is a sacrifice and passion, contrary to what some may think, is not a money making affair. It’s trial and error.
Here you have 60 dogs in my line which comes from the oldest line which is Italian, along with the one which was in the south of France.
I can go back to the 30’s with type and you can go further with history. I have.
If you use Poodle history you will be hard put to claim a line. That’s is unless it is a Poodle line>> Barbet Moderne. It is not an ancient breed…it was created in the 1980’s in France.
Now if you breed, and claim “genetic diversity..”.. I would ask of what? Why?
What is your breeding goal and do you have a breeding plan, down the line and why have we never heard of it?
That is, with the fact there are less than one hundred of the Vieux Griffon Barbets alive today.They are not easy to come by.
Last but not least I have DNA going back 7 generations. My oldest Barbet is 15 and my youngest is 3.
It’s been 20 years now. I have most of the archives and 5 generations under my roof, going on 6, I hope.
it’s a labor of love and devotion.
The man on the moon, didn’t just fall there!
From France to Sweden via Finland : Happy 3rd Birthday!
5/7 have kept in touch..It’s Always nice to get news on such a lovely litter.
Neo Mahler in Sweden
Nancy Sinatra with the antler she found, in Finland
Narco at home, in France
Mom Iabada and Nat-King
Napo out and about in France
Silent breed killers? Breeders…
A SILENT BREED KILLER written by cynolog and judge Mr. Hans Hilverda. An important food for thoughts for you all!
A SILENT BREED KILLER
Did you ever notice how easily judges, exhibitors and breeders get used to changes within a breed? In many cases it even goes so far that these changes are gradually lifted to the level of required characteristics. It is mostly dogs of well-known breeders / exhibitors that start a certain change (read: set a trend) within a breed.
There is for instance the somewhat bigger Miniature Schnauzer with the terrier “look “; the some what leveller, elegant looking Shih Tzu with its long neck; the Weimaraner who becomes bigger and bigger and more impressive; the “American” English Springer Spaniel, to name a few breeds.
As soon as a dog with of a slightly “deviating” –type starts winning, the ball start rolling. The dog goes to the ring of honour, the one judge bends over to his neighbour and says; “have you seen that beautiful dog?” Breeders and exhibitors notice that judges like that particular dog and start trying to breed or to buy that type of dog. At such a moment the original Breed Standard does not seem to be of importance to some exhibitors, winning in the show ring is all that matters to them.
When after some time you are sitting at the show ring looking at that breed again, it could happen that you see in a class e.g. 5 dogs of which 4 are “deviating” (deviations) from the standard next to a correct “standard” type of dog. At most shows the (correct) (complying to the) “standard” dog will be considered to be the “odd one” and the true “deviating ones” will be placed behind the boards 1 through 4. For those breeders that adhere to the Standard this is a very frustrating experience.
The temptation is of course very big. Many of the deviating dogs are often very flashy looking ones, and often show a gait, exterior and motion that looks more spectacular than the movement of the “standard” dog. One has to be very strong and come from a good breed conscience background to resist the temptations and keep on preaching the true belief and keep breeding in compliance with the standard.
Often the appearance of difference in type in a breed leads to polarization between judges and breeders alike. One of the hallmarks of this polarization is that certain characteristics of the dogs are even more exaggerated to make it stand out and be recognizable.
So one can observe that and conclude that the non-adherence to the standard of many breeders / exhibitors and judges poses a direct danger to the existence of our breed population.
Except for getting used to trends within a breed, the getting used and the acceptance of inherited faults is a problem of the same kind or even worse.
When judges repeatedly reward dogs with these faults with an “excellent” and also give them their championship tickets, breeders will not be challenged to improve the breed: they are already winning! In such cases only the die-hards and true idealists remain faithful to the breed and try to improve on it, but how many of those people do we have within one breed?
Accepting without any objection of changes that please the eye but are against the standard is an open invitation to the “silent breed killer” to do his job and carry out his devastating work within the breed.
Seen from the perspective that breeding is nothing more then passing on genetic material to the next generation, allowing this to happen means that one willfully accepts and helps spreading of genetically deviating material in an irresponsible way that will pollute the gene pool (hereditary material).
Would it not be good if breeders and judges would, at least once a month take the standard at hand of the breeds they are entrusted, and what would it be valuable to organize regular meetings with breeders and judges to discuss certain trends and “faults” that creep up in a breed. Never forget that the only guideline during judging and breeding should be the FCI-approved breed standard.
So, behave and act as true disciples and spread the gospel according to the original breed standard.
Author: Mr. Hans Hilverda
There are around 100 Vieux Barbets left in the world…so whatever you are breeding has nothing to do with the true standard. Get real…If your dog does not look like a Griffon, a Wooly Griffon.. it is of no use in “saving the old breed”..
My trooper number one!
A short brisk daily walk..they are creatures of habit and do not understand why things would be otherwise.
