Working and playing

Working
The Vizsla is a working dog. It was originally bred by the Hungarian aristrocy to hunt fur and feather, i.e, various game such as upland birds, deer, wild boar (isn't all boar wild?), rabbits. Neither my husband nor I hunt but our dogs are trained to hunt and compete in hunt tests and they sure do a lot of hunting on their own whenever they go outdoors or for walks. As the saying goes, you can take the dog out of the hunt but you can't take the hunt out of the dog. When our dogs aren't being trained for hunting or doing something else like competitive obedience, agility,. or looking pretty or handsome in the show ring, they sometimes get creative about the work they perform.

Years ago, our now dearly departed Sasha began picking up his metal food bowl and bringing it to me after he had finished eating. In return, he'd get a treat. This game eventually turned into a daily job for him. In addition to picking up his own bowl, I'd send him around the kitchen to fetch the other dogs' bowls, saving me time and energy. He was most enthusiastic about his 'job'.

Sasha with bowl (photo courtesy of Corrine Sellars)

Sasha kept up this line of work well into his 14th year. Only in the last two months leading up to his death did he fail to perform it daily. And, that's when his daughter, Miska, started taking over - and sometimes with a vengeance. (Many obedience trainers say that dogs hate to pick up metal which is the composition of one of the types of articles used in the Utility ring. Not in our dogs' cases.) Miska's a fast eater and would then beat Sasha to the bowls. I'd have to take one of the bowls she just fetched and offer it to him just so he could get a reward.

At times now, Miska can barely wait for another dog to finish its dinner or breakfast before she tries to snatch the bowl from under its nose and bring it to me. She absolutely loves this job! That's Miska in the two photos below and in the video.

And Miska's sister, Katya (another of Sasha's daughters), who lives in Ithaca, NY, also does the same thing? Is there a 'bowl fetching gene" in these dogs I wonder? Tyro is the only other dog in our house who has attempted this job but he's not very good at it right now because he doesn't bring the bowl to me. Instead, he takes it over to a dog bed and continues to lick it out. Or worse, he drops it on the tile floor and it makes a very loud clatter which drives my husband crazy! I'm working on his 'hold'.

Playing

It's not all work in the house. The dogs also like to relax and play. Here's Miska with the TV remote control about to settle down for some relaxing and below is Tyro watching TV.