Our dogs are part of our family and they all live together as a happy group. Temperament and health are essential. When we breed a bitch, we have done much research and hope to produce the best puppies possible. The puppies are lovingly raised in our home and receive a great amount of socialization and experiences prior to moving on to their new families.

A few of the criteria that we consider before a breeding:

• Health testing done on all breeding stock. Knowing the status of the hips, elbows, eyes, general health, and temperament helps us make the best decision on breeding combinations and produce the kind of dogs that we desire in our home. We also utilize Embark genetic testing in our breeding dogs.
• Exhibit correct conformation and breed type, proper movement, and happy, stable temperament. We exhibit our dogs in AKC, CKC, and UKC shows and trials not only because we enjoy the competition but to show that our dogs have been assessed by many qualified, experienced judges. The dogs easily handle the travel, the hands of strangers, the different venues, and motel living as a testament to their high quality.
• Have no disqualifying faults. We will not breed animals with bad bites, bad temperament, or any trait that would be excused in the show ring.
• OFA hip and elbow testing done. If the stud dog’s information and health results are not known, I am not interested in using him.
• The coefficient of inbreeding is low. In a rare breed such as the Barbet, it is nearly impossible to find dogs who do not share some genetics in their pedigree. If you look through Barbet pedigrees on the Pawpeds database, you can see that some of the dogs currently being used have COI of 20%. Our goal is to keep the 4 generation COI near or below 5%, and to lower the COI in every successive generation.

Puppies are sold on a spay/neuter contract, although I encourage owners to wait until the dog is at least one year of age before having this surgery done. Many health concerns are being attributed to the early spay/neuter program in the US. Do some reading on the benefits of waiting for this procedure. We do not ship puppies; all puppies are picked up at our farm. We offer lifetime support for our puppies. We expect that our puppy families will devote significant time to raising and training their puppy to be a responsible member of society, and that their Barbet will be a great ambassador for the breed as well as a terrific companion.