The Briards helped to get along easier with the painful loss of Marko. This four pawed friend has a very special place in my heart, the more so as he had been the first dog after nearly nine dogless years.

To be busy all around the clock and to be attached completely I decided at short notice to import a black girl from France: On October 1st, 1995, Yazoo came to this home and with her more life than with all the others put together. :-) This "lady" was a very special Briard - she was the one who put my experience around Briards up side down and taught me new things about this breed. Yazoo cannot be described - you had to meet with her to know what we mean.

To enrich the family with another kind of animals, at Easter 1996 two Chinchillas entered the house. That was not really planned, it just happened. I felt sorry for the two in a pet shop where I stumbled upon them. Their crate was placed in the middle of the shop, which was absolutely against nature of these night active animals. Oh well, they were bought and at home I hurried to build a huge cage to be placed in a calm room. These two were tame and so they were allowed to run around. A short time later we adopted four more - two mothers with their sons, all of them neutered. I don't know how old these animals had been, and last year I lost two of them. The other ones are healthy and active as soon as evening twilight hour comes. To watch their jumps and gymnastic exercise was lots of fun.

For Aristide, the male from the first litter, who was still with us, we found a great home completely unexpected - but with a tragical background: A couple had met Aristide when having come here for information around Briard - and they had fallen in love with him, but I did not want to part with him. They got a Briard male from Germany, but that puppy died with Parvovirosis at the age of 16 weeks. To have a new puppy in their house was impossible because of the infection risk, and so I decided after a long talk with the vet and some prophelactic treatment to give Aristide the chance for a calmer life, not being one among several dogs, but only the second one besides a German Shepherd girl. Aristide had gone through Marko's "school" and was therefore attached very tightly to German Shepherds. The girl and he met and were a heart and a sould from beginning on.

Probably I was missing something or was not owned fully by my Briards, because in spring 1996 I heard about a Briard male in Belgium - nearly the same bloodline as Yazoo. I did not have to think for a long time, and as soon as I heard that both parents were grey the decision was definite. On May 1st, 1996, a second male came to this home, Samson, with the mental reservation to probably have a second stud, which even was fitting perfectly to Yazoo.

Yazoo was thrilled about the new little playmate and tried with all her means to teach him how funny life is here. She did not succeed completely because Samson allowed us human to "influence" him.

In fall 1997 another black stud came to this kennel as an enrichment. This boy was nearly five years old at that time and had been rather successful in showing. He was out of the kennel of my friend Monika from Slovakia: Ch. CAMIL Kasiterit. This stud has then turned to be the most successful Briard of Austria ever at the age of 6 years. The pain about his tragical loss in his prime on June 26th, 1999 - in his seventh year of age - is too much that I can write about it. At this point I can only say that Camil has left behind a big hole in some lifes, and this hole will only be filled partly time by time.

End of July 1997 girl Arwa B was bred to Dartagnan (Samson's grey sire) in France. Unfortunately the litter out of this breeding, born on October 4th, 1997, the second litter in this kennel, was only a single puppy, but a very lively girl - Batida de Coco. And to make this litter a very special experience for me, Batida had to be given birth with a c-section, and besides that Arwa B was spayed by the vet - I still don't know the reason why. Not only Batida is now living with a family with long time experience in Briard, and also her mother Arwa B had decided herself to go there. The circumstances about this fact: In December 1997/January 1998 Arwa B spent a 3 weeks vacation with her daughter Batida and their owners. When she came back home she was no more the one she was before - she was silent and sad after having spent a wonderful time during those 3 weeks with attention for 24 hours a day, and she was the alpha dog there, not only one besides several in our gang. It was a hard decision to imagine that we better let her live with her daughter and these kind people, but we believe it was the right decision and the best we could do for a wonderful Briard girl which has brought lots of fun and luck to us for more than 5 years. Knowing that she's cared about perfectly, and that I can see her any time together with Batida makes it a bit easier.

Arwa B DID have a wonderful life in her new loving home for more than 5 years. She loved life and was a funny and happy dog till her sudden unexpected death. Thank goodness she did not have to suffer - she went to the rainbow bridge nearly as fast as her dad Sándor.

In March 1998 the first litter out of Yazoo and Samson, the C's of kennel de la Maison du Garde-Barrière (3/3 black), was born. Out of this litter only two males remained in Austria, the other ones are scattered over the world. On August 26th, 1998, one of the two Austrian males - Chivas Regal - came to death in a tragical way. His litter mates in the foreign countries were shown successfully, and with this litter we had the first champion in this kennel, Celine in California. Her sister Champagne chez Cacharel in Australia has turned to be Champion as well, the second sister Chloé turned to be Canadian Champion in August 2000. In the beginning of October 1998 I got the chance to visit Chloé in Canada, and in May 2005 I visited Chaos and his wonderful family in Sweden. Unforgotten visits and adventures.

Shortly before I went to Canada a parrot owner who had turned to have a baby parrot without intention searched for a nice home for a hand raised youngster who was handicaped a bit from birth on (two missing toes and two missing nails on two toes) and probably a bit clumsy. This is how a second parrot came here, this time a Kongo Grey who was called Nurmi (born on April 17th, 1998). He was very funny and receptive, you could hardly see his handicap. In case he really dropped from his branch or dropped when climbing up and down he did not see a problem in it - he got used to it since he was born. Nurmi's vocabulary is enormous. He loved to imitate Gunki and the older one had lots of fun to teach the "small" one nonsense, and he could say all the dog names perfectly.

Again there were no problems in the relation between the hairy and the feathered members of this family, as can be easily seen in the picture of Samson and Nurmi.

In October 2004 Nurmi turned to be sick seriously and had to stay in the Vet. University Vienna for 21 days. During the first days we really feared for his life as his condition was really bad, but he got through it and came home healthy and funny. Since April 9, 2005, Nurmi lived together with a parrot girl who lost her partner. Although we loved Nurmi dearly we also wanted to offer him a life which he could not have here. Therefore a friend tried to "nationalize" him with her parrot girl Jakobine and it worked from first second. Nurmi had a beautiful and free life as the huge cage was open all day long and he could - whenever he wanted to - go out to the veranda which has been made for the parrots.

Unfortunately Nurmi could escape through a window one day - even though the curtain was closed, but with his handicaped feet without nails ..... Nurmi never appeared again even though he was "called" by Jakobine for many days.

To do the breeder of Camil a favor, we imported the tawny, 3.5 years old girl ELLIS Kasiterit, which did not get the Slovakian breeding conformation, and with her - since she fulfilled all the necessary conditions for breeding in Austria - we had the D-litter (born November 25th, 1998) after Ch. FALCO Kasiterit: 6/1 tawny puppies. Non of these puppies has remained in Austria - one boy, Dubonnet, went to Canada and joined Chloé, the other ones have been splitted up in eastern Europe. Some of them were show dogs, some pets and beloved family members in their new homes.