...a little bit about us
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We are a family with three adult children. Our two daughters, Malin and Emma, are 20 and 23, our son Leander is 25 years old. In addition to our dog, the family also has a few cats. Our house is located in the city triangle Cologne, Bonn, Aachen, in a small village near Zülpich in Germany. The house has a large backyard that borders directly on a small forest and the fields. Luckily for us, the Zülpicher water sports lake is only a 20-minute walk from our house, so the ideal conditions for a water dog.
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My husband and I grew up with dogs. A shepherd dog accompanied him for part of his childhood, with me it was a wire-haired dachshund and then a poodle/schnauzer mix.
It was always clear to us that our family should have one or more dogs. So in 2003 we brought our first dog into the family, the unforgettable Hilda, a Parson Jack Russel Terrier. Hilda was a prime example of her breed, with a good portion of hunting instinct and a stamina that after an one-hour bike ride she only asked: "What do we do now?". We only learned from Hilda what it means when the description of the breed says "a lot of temperament".
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In 2006 the haven of peace and my good companion through everyday life with three children moved into our house: Luise, the Landseer dog. Huge and full of love and kindness to everyone, always unobtrusive and kind. Only when she saw her friend Hilda threatened by another dog (usually Hilda was the aggressor, but that didn't matter to Luise), did she become furious and lay down on the attacking dog with her 60 kg. Well, what is there to say?
In 2018 Hilda died of old age at the age of 15 and only 10 days later we had to let Luise go. She was almost 12 years old. A painful loss for all of us.
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It was clear that we couldn't go on without a dog and so we started looking for a breeder. I had discovered the Barbet breed in a book a few years earlier and immediately fell in love with it. A smaller dog than Luise, but just as friendly and easy to train.
After researching on the Internet, I regularly followed some breeders from Germany and Switzerland on their websites. Knowing the rarity of the breed, we braced ourselves for a long wait. But amazingly, we were lucky with the second request and so in the summer of 2018 Pompea di Casa Odina, whom we call Ms. Sippel (although the ladies of the family usually call her Sippi), came to the Schmidt family house.
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Kennel name briefly explained
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If you study the history of the Barbet, you will always come across more or less famous contemporaries who are said to have owned a dog of this breed.
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According to legend, Napoleon Bonaparte was also a friend of the Barbet. His dog "Moustache" is said to have always been a loyal companion to him.
Whether the story is part of a fairy tale or based on true events, we liked the idea of using our kennel name to emphasize the faithful companion Barbet and the name "Moustache" on his behalf. We also love the beard (French: barbe), which gave the barbets their name. We especially like the mustache, which is slightly lighter in the case of our Ms. Sippel.
Of course, our breeding will start with our Ms. Sippel as the founding bitch and so she should also have the honor of standing out in the name of the kennel. After all, she also has the most influence on the appearance and behavior of her offspring. The bitch's upbringing style has a far greater impact on the character of the puppies than is often assumed. Of course, we accompany and support her in her work to the best of our ability, but Ms. Sippel deserves the most credit.
So we hope and look forward to a multitude of small, temperamental mustaches - to Sippels Moustaches!
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