The bitter-sweet marathon and barbet love

Some personal reflections from my breeding experience

Raising a litter, from the moment of birth, when you assist the tiny helpless creatures to take their first breath, to the day you see them leave in the arms of their new owner, is like a 9 week long marathon. Towards the end you are totally exhausted, you have given all that you have and you are approaching the finnishing line. But the medal is bitter-sweet... Sweet because of the joyful expectations you see in the eyes of the new owners that have been waiting for so long for their barbet love. Bitter because with every puppy that leaves a piece of your heart is ripped out.

Breeding is a passion. My husband sighs and says there must be other ways of doing this, that leaves some space for normal family life, where the house does not have to be turned into a gypsy mansion and the garden into a djungle. Where we can have an undisrupted night's sleep and be able to eat breakfast together, without the odours that come with infants... But when I look into the sweet trusting eyes of each individual barbet that I have been given to care for, I know that there is no other way. Not for me. They deserve my full attention, my love and care day and night. I love each one of them so much and to see them go causes a lot of tears and eats up my energy. Does it really make a difference, my husband carefully asks, if you do all that for your puppies and let them be an integrated part of your daily life and totally invade your heart? Who can tell... but I believe it does.

But now you must imagine the grand feeling when you walk down the stairs in the morning and 20 glimmering eyes are looking up at you with love and hope for a day filled with adventures and cuddles and fun, their little bodies jumping from joy and making funny sounds. Or just imagine the feeling when 10 soft bundles of love fall asleep on and around your lap, snurking while you scratch their ears... And imagine as days pass by, mails and photos arriving from the owners of your little angels with love stories, telling of how much joy the new family member brings to everyone, how he trusts everyone, how quickly he learns and how much goodness, loving kindness and gentleness he spreads...

Do you understand now why I breed? Despite the bitter feeling this last week of the marathon, the joy is overwhelming. Your heart is filled with love. 

Thanks Sonja Klopper Son Pictures, for the photos!