Monster Match

This was my second time entering my dogs at the annual Hallowe'en Monster Match at Companion Dog Training where I take my dogs for competitive obedience and agility training while in Canada.  I entered Miska and Tyro in rally-obedience (excellent) and Miska in Open obedience.

Miska getting ready to do the heeling pattern in Open.

Last year Miska went as a bunch of grapes but this year I didn't have time to make any creative costumes so my good friend and fellow Vizsla owner, Corrine Sellars, loaned me some stuff. This year the dogs dressed up as marathon runners.  I tried to dress Tunder up in a cheerleader's costume but he kept tripping over the skirt part so I removed it & left only a lei around his neck. Sheesh - the things we do to our dogs!!! No wonder they sometimes turn around and bite us!!

Tunder, Miska, Tyro

Disappearing puppyhood

Tunder (aka Mr Black) who was born May 31, 2011 is growing up - fast!  Just seems whenever I look at him that he's added another pound or two. My prediction is that he will be a very good looking male with a gorgeous head.  He's already got a wonderful temperament so no worries in that department. Anyway, it won't be long before he's all grown up.  These photos were taken in the last week when he was 21 weeks of age or 5 months old.

Tunder at class with his bro, Bodi in the distance

Tunder, big sis Diva & Uncle Tyro

Tunder - nice, nature stack

Tunder with Uncle Tyro, mom Miska & big sis Diva

Tunder's face & head at 21 weeks

Flying nun ears

Unfortunately I am old enough to remember the TV series called The Flying Nun which starred Sally Fields. The series originally ran on ABC from September 7, 1967 to September 18, 1970.  Besides the comedic nature of the program, the most memorable thing about it was the habit worn by Sister Bertille (played by Sally) and specifically the heavily starched headpiece called a cornette seen in the photo below. These cornettes were especially popular in the 15th to 17th centuries and also worn by married women of the urban middle class and adopted by the Daughters of Charity nuns and worn until the mid-60's. The ends of the cornette were either turned up or down.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:S%C5%93ur_Jean_Gabriel_Batke.jpg

Anyway, the whole point of this post is that sometimes when our Miska holds her ears up really high as in these photos, she reminded me of The Flying Nun. And so I was surprised and delighted to see her daughter, Stella, born May 31, 2011 exhibiting the same trait and ability.  I call them their Flying Nun ears.

Miska as a young puppy; the tongue  just makes this photo even funnier.

Miska (L) with her brother Hudson, 5 months old

5 mo-old Stella, Miska's daughter

Miska about 1.5 yr of age

2010 Rally & Obedience standings

Well, I never thought to check Canuck Dogs (canuckdogs.com) for anything other than conformation standing until today.  What a surprise I got when I checked the rally-obedience standings for 2010!  Tyro (Ch Varazs Napkelte Tyrone) was #1 Vizsla in Canada, Miska (Ch Varazs Kiralyi Kedvesem) was #2 Vizsla and Miska's sister, Shandy, Ch Varazs Artemis Vizsandy was tied for #5.  And in obedience for 2010, Milo (Varazs Mokany Ficko was #8.  Well done to our Varazs-bred Vizslas!!

What a great finish!

This past weekend in Camrose Alberta, Blaze earned his last point for his Canadian Championship title.  Blaze was Mr Blue in our June 2008 litter between our Miska (BIS (Veteran) Am/Cdn/Int'l/UKC CH Varazs Kiralyi Kedvesem FDJ, FD, NAVHDA NA Prize III, JH, Am/Cdn CD, Am/Cdn RE, Am RAE, CGN) and an Australian import named Ozzie (CH Hubertus Quality Control FDJ). Not only that, Blaze also took a Group 4th placement in the Sporting Group under Puerto Rican Judge, Roberto Velaz-Pico!  Taking a group placement is like having icing on a cake.  It was a great way to finish a championship weekend! Congratulations to Blaze's owners and to Blaze.

Fido Casting Call - VOTE!

Fido Solutions, a Canadian cell phone company,  is donating $1 for every Fido Casting Call vote to Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides, up to a maximum amount of $200,000.  A Vizsla named Clay that I know has responded to the Fido casting call.  Please click on the link below as it will not only push Clay higher i nthe rankings but every click will help to add $1 towards a great cause.

Please VOTE!

http://www.fidocastingcall.ca/dogs/6731

Darling Diva

Today was a beautiful fall day to take pictures.  This is Diva, our 3-year-old female whom I snapped in our garden.

 

 

 

 

 

Miniature Vizsla?

Bentley's owners (Bentley is out of our Brick-Miska breeding born May 31) sent me a recent photo of him with his family and their other Vizsla, Jasper who happens to be related distantly to Bentley. They had visited beautiful Jasper, Alberta for a few days and took this photo there.

As his hu-mom wrote, "Bentley is doing wonderful, he remains the world's cuddliest Vizsla and we are sad to report he is growing up!! (we were hoping to keep him little for much longer!). He is quite attached to Jasper our 11 year old (from Rex & Rose) and has a hard time keeping up to him.....he is a VERY fast runner and no walk is ever long enough. Bentley remains an easy puppy, he frequents all laps in the room on a rotating basis and never shies away from the kids unending mauling of pets and kisses." I think most of us would love that our almost 5-month old Vizsla puppies stayed this small size (around 25 lb.) for quite a while longer. Of course they will grow bigger but thankfully, they never outgrow their cuddly, kissy personalities which is wonderful.

Dog cookies

Today, the weather is miserable - cold, wet, rainy and windy. A good day for baking. Since I was almost out of dog cookies, I decided to bake some. This is the second batch I made up this week. Unfortunately 1/3 of the cookies got burned in the first batch when I set the oven at the wrong setting. (Our 23 year old, convection oven is very iffy and we do need a new one.)

Nifty pet ID

I just learned about this nifty pet tag, the PetQRTag™, which utilizes a 2-dimensional QR (Quick Response) Code that contains an encoded web address where your pet's information can be quickly viewed and/or shared. It can be read by any smartphone and will link with the webpage that the owner creates with recovery information to be reunited with the pet. Unfortunately (or maybe not), I don't own or use a smart phone but I think it's a great addition to other forms of ID that the pet should wear (licence tag, rabies tag, embroidered collar, etc.). Definitely worth checking out.

Mobbed at the market

Tunder gets a hug

We have a wonderful outdoor farmer's market in Milton, Ontario.  Unfortunately it's now finished for the season but last month, I took 3-month old Mr Black aka "Tunder" to the market 3 times. My purpose was two-fold: 1) to buy wonderful fresh vegetables and baked goods and 2) puppy socialization.  This market is almost as good and perhaps even better than dog shows for socializing puppies and dogs. While I've read a few complaints from the general public in Milton about dogs being brought to the market, it hasn't stopped people from doing it. I've never seen a negative incident involving a dog so I hope they (dogs) are never banned from this event.

The first time I took Tunder it was blistering hot and humid and the market was really busy.  He showed a little fear when he saw a coloured person but after that, he became confident. Then he was absolutely MOBBED by people and kids stopping to pet him and to say hello.  And of course there were other dogs, big and small, black and brown, for him to see, smell and nose.  The second and third times, it was 'old hat' for him.  What's more cute and handsome than a Vizsla puppy?  Nothing!!

After you click on the photo below, you can select slideshow the photos will run automatically on your PC.

2011-09-10 Tunder at Milton Market

Pets on Furniture

Karen Johnston (one of my puppy clients) long ago gave up on the idea of keeping her Vizslas off furniture (haven't most of us?). While she dog sat my Miska and Diva during our vacation, she snapped a photo of Miska, Diva and Miska's son Will(iam) on one of her couches and submitted it to the Desire to Inspire Blog.  Click on the link below and continue scrolling down until you see the backs of 3 Vizslas on a grey sofa (4th photo from the bottom of the post).

http://www.desiretoinspire.net/blog/2011/10/10/mondays-pets-on-furniture.html

Vacations

When is our mom coming to get us?

Anyone who owns a Vizsla knows this breed doesn't do well when placed in a commercial dog kennel - unless you own multiple dogs and your Vizsla can board with its canine family members at the boarding facility (or dog spa as many call it).  When possible, I try to avoid kenneling my dogs when I go on vacation, although this isn't always possible.  Recently, we took a 12-day trip to Galapagos (more about that later) and had to find spots for our 4 Vizsla family members.