Poor behaviour by fellow competitor

Sadly on Sunday at the AKC hunt tests, I witnessed a competitor get very angry at his dog. The reason? His dog wanted to find/hunt birds in the woods instead of in the bird field according to one judge and his dog wouldn't come when called. Many of the quail flew into the woods after they were flushed so that's where a lot of them were roosting. This dog, a very keen English setter, could smell them there. The dog did a great job the day before, finding and pointing a lot of birds. But on Sunday, the owner/handler became enraged because of his dog's behaviour which didn't result in a pass. Near the end of their session, the dog came running out of the bird field, away from his owner (smart dog!). Someone caught the dog and the owner put the leash on him but then jerked him so hard that he slipped out again. After being caught a second time, the owner rushed the dog to his van yelling "bad dog" to him. Well, at that point, I had to say something and did.

Then I witnessed the owner pick up and throw his dog into the back of the van and yell, "no water for you" and then took his water bowl and threw the bowl and water at the dog. Depriving a hot dog of water can result in heat stroke. I began to get hot under the collar as I saw what was happening and told the owner that his behaviour was totally inappropriate and unsportmanlike and that it certainly wasn't the dog's fault. I wish I had done more for the dog. The guy was just so mad at his dog. He jumped into his car and drove off. As he passed me when I was walking down to the starting line with my dog, I told him that I had found his leash in the field which he had dropped and lost the day before. He couldn't muster any civility to thank me at all, so great was his anger at his dog. I had hoped that this comment would help to cool him down but it didn't because he just said, "aah, forget it" and drove off.

This type of behaviour puts a pall on everyone and it most unacceptable. No matter how your dog performs - win or lose, pass or fail - it's still a great dog. Guess what - it's usually OUR (the human's) fault when our dogs fail to perform. Many times, we simply haven't trained them well enough or we haven't figured out what methods work best for them. They are "Man's Best Friend" and give us unconditional love, no matter what. Yet sadly, this is how many are treated.

The club officials briefly discussed how to deal with this man's behaviour. I don't know what they decided but at a minimum, I hope he's informed that his behaviour was unacceptable.

3 new Jr Hunter titles!

Nova and her 2 kids - Miska and Vadasz - from her first litter had a great weekend at AKC hunt tests at Darien, NY. All 3 dogs finished their Jr Hunter titles! And what beautiful rosettes the German Short-hair club of Western NY and of the US give out to dogs with qualifying scores! (Photo below: Left - Right: Vadasz, Miska and Nova.)

All 3 were handled by Sylvia. Nova finished her title on Saturday - only befitting since she's mom of the other two. And then on Sunday, Miska finished hers and Vadasz was the last brace and he completed his title. The AKC requires four qualifying scores for a JH title. Nova did hers in 5 tests and the other two in four straight tests.

Conditions were quite wet on Saturday. It had been raining throughout the night so I took lots of gear for wet weather and extra clothing to change into. The entry was small - only 6 Junior braces on Saturday and 5 on Sunday and I was in 3 of them so I did a lot of walking. Although I had some type of water resitant pants to cover my jeans, they weren't resistant enough against the moisture and not only were my jeans soaked by the end of the morning, everything wicked down into my boots and my feet, socks and boots were also soaking wet. From past experienc, I have learned to take a lot of extra clothing, boots, and shoes to outdoor field/hunt tests and agility trials and in some cases, weather for all 4 seasons!

Miska was out of shape because of her maternity leave this summer and an awful winter. As well, she hadn't had any recent practice or exposure to birds. So she didn't run as well as as fast and hard as her brother and mother who had run in tests in June. But Miska still did well enough with most scores ranging from 8 - 10 in each category to pass. (In her first two tests, she scored 9's across the board). On Saturday, I thought she should have score higher than 8 for hunting from the way she ran. The judges gave her a 10 for trainability and I couldn't understand that because she didn't always come when I whistled to her. But she got 2 passes so I shouldn't argue but sometimes one wonders how the judges judge your dogs! On Sunday, Miska was the first brace up and it was sunny, hot and there was little wind so she only found 1 bird which gave her a lower score of 7 / 10 for bird finding. But all she needed was 1 bird to pass but it would have been better to found more birds. On Saturday, it was very wet and the birds were hiding in deep cover and not flying . But she scored 8's and 9's in the other categories.

Vadasz worked very well for me considering his owner, Gary, just dropped him off the night before. On Saturday, Vadasz had good scores: 9 (hunting), 8 (bird finding agility), 9 (pointing) and 9 on trainability for a Q. By the time his brace ran on Sunday, conditions had improved from the first four braces. It had become overcast, it had cooled and there was a little bit of wind. He found a lot of birds and scored 9 on hunting, 10 on bird finding, 9.5 on pointing and 9 on trainability. Fantastic!

Most judges are very nice I find. And most also try hard to get your dog to pass. They took the time to give me some feedback on my handling. I learned to move in in front of my dog when she's on point, rather than from behind where she can't see me. This makes for a steadier dog on point. Second lesson - always fire the pistol, even if you think the dog is on the same bird that was just flushed. I was told to let the judges decide/figure out whether it's the same bird or not because they don't always know. One judge gave Nova credit for a bird even though I hadn't fired the pistol because I was sure she was simply pointing the same bird that she'd chased. It's always good to accept feedback and improve for the next time.

All in all, I was very pleased and thrilled as these 3 JH titles are the first one I've ever personally earned on my dogs. It was rewarding to handle them myself.

Reunion with Mr Black (now Gunner)

Miss Yellow (now Diva) and Mr Green (still has no name) were taken to Oakville, Ontario where Mr Black (now Gunner) lives for an informal 'puppy party' and reunion on September 3rd. Puppies had just turned 11 weeks of age. Needless to say, the puppies were absolutely tired out by the end of the night and slept like babies.

From Reunion with Gunner

Wild turkeys

At about 6 pm tonite, I glanced out of our kitchen window & spotted a wild turkey on our lawn by the house where I have my agility equipment set up. Then I saw a second one! I ran to the other side of the house & tried to quietly 'shout' to Michael to come see them. Then I ran to get my mother-in-law. At that point, they probably heard some commotion in the house (turkeys have very good hearing) and were starting to turn and head into the woods. Then the dogs barked and they disappeared into the woods. My mother-in-law missed seeing them. But they were absolutely huge! I'd estimate about 3 feet tall while walking fairly upright. We are getting more of them around here now, after the Ministry of Natural Resources started releasing them into the wild many years ago. I see lots of tracks in our woods in winter but it's been many years since I've seen them so close to our house. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera handy. But it was very exciting to see them so close up. Turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce, anyone?

In memory of Buster

It's hard to believe that it's been seven years (August 29) since our Buster (Can/Am CH Kezdet's Adrian Buster Can/Am CD CGC TT) departed this world and crossed the Rainbow Bridge. (Sept. 6, 1988 - August 29, 2001). Buster was our foundation male Vizsla and father to our beloved Sasha. Buster, I hope to see you again one day on the 'other side'.


The photo below was taken one day before he died. He was just one week short of his 13th birthday.

Happy 13th Birthday to our Second Litter

Dogs from our second litter (DOB August 22, 1995) turned 13 years young on August 22. It was a breeding between CH Maritza of Kezdet Nekah CD CGC and CH Harann Envoy to Earnescliffe. Of that litter of 6 puppies, three dogs remain: Bob, Jester and Winston.

Below are 2 recent photos of Jester (thanks to his owner Lorie Hrycuik) who lives on Vancouver Island, BC.

Below is a photo of Winston (foreground) meeting Corrine Sellars and Milo (also one of our dogs). Winston lives in Toronto, ON.

Swim time

Green & Yellow puppies (gotta get names for these 2!) the two remaining pups here accompanied Tyro to aquatherapy. After Tyro was done, Nicky Snook took our pups, one by one, into the heated pool for a short "swim". True to form, the female pup was more relaxed and confident even though Green doesn't hesitate to jump into and wade around in the kiddy wading pool we have set up outdoors.

I can't yet decide which of these two pups to keep. Both have wonderful conformation and temperaments. Some days I lean to Green because I love the boys and of course, I want a boy who will be just like my Sasha (he's the maternal grandfather). On the other hand, I also love Yellow as she seems a lot like her mother, Miska, and is full of confidence and is likely to be a good hunter with even better conformation than Miska. She's smart, quiet in her crate, and just lovely. But I am not interested nor have the energy to do much more breeding in future (except perhaps 1 more litter from Miska), so why keep Yellow? I would like Yellow to remain intact because she represents three lovely lines coming together that are unique here in North America (Australian, British and American). And if I don't breed her, perhaps I could take one of her pups in future. Some people say keep both but neither is that a good idea for the pups nor for our family. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

2 more pups leave the nest

On August 20th and 25th, we said farewell to Mr Black and Mr Red. Mr Black is now known as "Gunner". He lives very close to us so I'll see more of him. In fact, I'll be showing him in dog shows once he's old enough. He joins a wonderful family with two teenaged boys and a 9-year old Labrador Retriever named 'Boomer". They have already learned how ingenious a Vizsla can be as Gunner managed to pull himself up onto a chair and then climbed onto a table, all by himself! That's not something most Labs try but being very agile, Vizslas are game for almost anything.

Gunner

Mr Red boarded a plane for California and so I won't be seeing much of him. But I have a standing invitation to visit the family, who owns two female Vizslas, to visit and I will take them up on that offer one day. Mr Red is now known as 'Andras". The new owners love going to dog shows so their new puppy will be a show dog. Here are photos taken of "Andras" at the Air Canada cargo area. I had to arrive 3 hours in advance and because he was being flown to the US, additional security screening procedures were in place. I have never seen so much paperwork attached to a dog crate in my life! Of course, they had to inspect the crate to ensure there were no explosives or drugs. What interesting and sometimes very sad times we live in now. It was a long journey for Andras but he arrived safely and has now met one of the 2 female Vizslas who will become his new 4-legged family.

Red departs for CA

Better to forget this day

The day started well enough but then I noticed 3 bumps right by Tyro's nostril. Figured it was from a sting or bite or scratch from a puppy, so vowed to watch it. Fed him his breakfast and then shortly later, found some vomit. Thought it might be from Miska regurgitating food for the puppies which she had done on occasion even after they have been weaned. However, then I noticed that Tyro had some hives. Gave him a Benadryl, consulted with my vet and then gave him another. Later he started throwing up and wouldn't even keep Pepto Bismal down.

In the meantime, one of the puppies had ventured near a wasp nest and came racing back with several yellow jacket wasps clinging to him. I hate wasps! Each year it seems one or more of our dogs gets stung but thankfully, no one has had any type of reaction. However, a puppy getting stung several times is no laughing matter in my books. Since my vet had left the office, I consulted one of my veterinay books which said to apply a baking soda taste to the stings to relieve pain and swelling and there would likely be no effect after 24 hours. Well that worked because 2 hours later, the swelling had subsided and he was racing around again.

Tyro was a different case however. More and more vomiting so I finally took him to the emergency vet clinic. The hives had almost disappeared by the time I got there. The vet gave him an injection for the allergens and for the vomiting and he was quite sleepy by the time we got home. He said to give him Benadryl for the next 24 hours. From time to time, my dogs have had an outbreak of hives and usually it never repeated itself. We never knew what caused those cases. Hope that's the case with Tyro too.

Photo of the week

I have three recent photos that I like or that I think are funny.

1. The expression on Mr Red's face.

2. Follow the leader off the teeter.

3. Ying and Yang (Mr Black on the L and Miss Yellow on the R).

Mr Blue meets his new family

Mr Blue is now known as "Blaze". He has been a fabulous puppy from the moment he was born and I had a lot of difficulty giving him up. But sadly I can't keep all the puppies we breed.

Blaze was scheduled to fly to Calgary, Alberta to his new home on August 15. I got to the airport cargo area at 6:30 AM for his 8:45 AM flight & after cuddles, kisses and tears, I had to say goodbye to him at 7:30. I hadn't been home 10 minutes when I got a call to say the 8:45 flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems and he was being put on the 11:30 flight. I quickly calculated that it would mean he'd be crated without water and food for over 8 hours and there's no way I wanted that to happen. So I booked him on the 3:15 PM flight and headed back to the airport to pick him up. He wasn't brought back to the cargo area until almost 10:45 AM.

I never thought I'd be seeing him again so soon but I was thrilled! I took him outdoors to pee and then packed him into the van to return home for a short while. But by the time I got home - after being delayed by yet another accident on the highway (3 that day that affected me) - I realized we'd only be home for about 20 minutes before having to take him back (cargo requires that anything being shipped by freight be checked in 2 hours in advance of the departure time). So I decided to reschedule him to Saturday morning. Later I learned that the 3:15 flight was delayed by 45 minutes - probably due to yet more bad thunderstorms and torrential rain. So I was really glad that I rescheduled to the next day. Poor little guy would have been very traumatized.

It was a lot quieter on Saturday morning and for once, the weather was sunny and dry. So, once again, I had to say my goodbyes and shed more tears when Blaze was taken away. No cancellations, no delays, no bad weather - smooth flying. When I finally got the message that he had arrived and all was well, I was happy.

Blaze's family is now thoroughly delighted and have fallen in love with him. They will be showing him in conformation and also doing field work/hunting and perhaps obedience and maybe even agility. I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot more about him in future.

Bird work

I took a frozen quail out to our front field to see how the pups would respond to it. There was virtually no wind that day so none pointed. All were curious and eventually picked it up in their mouths. Blaze (Mr Blue) started to run off with it in his mouth; he definitely wanted it for himself.



Click on the album below for the same photos which you can download or print.

Bird work (Miska's pups)

5th Anniversary of the Big Black-out

It was five years ago today (August 14, 2003) that much of southern Ontario, parts of Quebec and some US states were plunged into darkness with a major electricity black-out. I remember it very, very well as I was returning home after getting Nova's 10 puppies in her first litter (see photo) tattooed. It was late afternoon and the only thing I noticed was that traffic lights were out but I didn't think too much of that. When I arrived home, Michael told me about the major black-out and the suspicion that it was another terrorist attack (i.e., 9-11, 2001). Well, that was a scary thought although it turned out not to be the case, TG.

Anyway, almost 50 million people were without power, some for a couple of days and some for a week. Our outage lasted about 2.5 days. With 10 puppies to care for, it wasn't fun having no electricty or running water for so long. Plus, it was hot as can be that summer. My biggest concern was letting the pups outdoors late at night, with coyotes in the woods, and trying to keep track of our little critters by flashlight. They were almost 7 weeks old then so they were motoring around.
Fortunately nothing bad happened to our puppies but it was a very stressful, hot and sweaty 2.5 days.

The biggest thing I missed was not being able to take a shower or bath, especially since it was so hot. Just made everyone realize how totally dependent we are on electricity for everything, including water too in our case. Since then, we try to ensure we keep candles, flashlights, batteries and bottled water on hand in case of an emergency. But really, it was a wakeup call but little is being done to lesson our dependency on electricity. Hopefully, nothing like this will happen again.

Pups rock climb

It's important to provide challenges to developing puppies. In our garden, we have several 'nature' challenges. The puppies learned that there's one way to climb up but different ways to get down. Enjoy!

Week 8

It's amazing how much development and growth has occured in the last week. Pups are going further afield, exploring more, being more adventurous and just plain growing. Michael's mom arrived from Europe the same day the pups turned 8 weeks of age. She's very good with our dogs and loves the puppies but of course, we have to be very careful to ensure she doesn't fall or trip when they are around. So, she's ordered to "sit, stay" and then we spray her feet and shoes with Bitter Apple so the little devils (darlings) don't bite her.

Rowan meets our puppies

Rowan is the 18 month-old son of Kristi & Michael who own Lloyd (CH Varazs Nyar Cigany), an uncle to our puppies. Lloyd is one of Nova's puppies from her last litter and that makes Lloyd a half-brother to our Miska. Lloyd is a full brother to our Tyro. Lloyd joined the family before Rowan and so guess what Rowan's first word was? It wasn't "mama" or "dada". It was, "WOOF!". How precious and wonderful is that?!

Kristi and Rowan came to visit our pups last week. The pups were exploring with their mouths so that didn't make Rowan all that happy and he cried a little but later Rowan splashed in the puppy wading pool and got all wet so that made up for those awful biting machines.

Rowan meets Vizsla puppies

Tyro is our newest Champion!

Our 2-year old Tyro became a Cdn Champion today, taking Best of Breed to earn his final 2 points. He's now officially known as CH Varazs Napkeltei Tyrone and becomes our 43rd champion of the Vizslas we've owned and bred. Tyro is also the 7th out of eight puppies in his litter to become a Canadian Champion. His dam, Nova (CH Ferngold Varazs Innovation Am/Can CD, Am/Can RA, Am RE, FDJ, CGN) had 18 kids and 14 are now Champions.


Only dog show people are crazy enough to show outdoors in the pouring rain and mud which it was both days at the show. Saturday was worse with thunder, lightening and torrential downpours at times. When we arrived at the show, it was merely raining but the rings and areas surrounding the rings were ankle deep in water and mud. There were delays because of the lightening but the show still went on. On Saturday, Tyro was merely "Best of Opposite Sex", meaning he was runner-up to the Best of Breed and because there were no other males, he didn't pick up any points on Saturday. But we had another chance on Sunday.

On Sunday, the rings were an absolute mess and I couldn't believe the hosting club didn't bring straw bales to scratter on the wet and muddy ground. There are many great things about owning a Vizsla and the fact that they have very short hair and are rust coloured, means they don't look too bad when they get muddy, unlike the coated breeds or any dog that is light-coloured. There was no way on earth that those fluffy, furry, clipped and groomed foo-foo breeds like the shitzus and pomeranians or even the golden retrievers or samoyeds were going to stay dry and clean. I saw 2 pristine white, poodles being carried from the car to the ring in the arms of its owner. Problem was, the ring it was about to enter was a mud bath and so I couldn't help but chuckle. Anyway, Sunday's judge picked Tyro as his Best of Breed over the other Winners Female and that gave him his final 2 points. Way to go Tyro!

First pup leaves for her new home

Miss Purple, last-born in our Miska-Ozzie litter, who started out in life with lilac-coloured ric-rac which then became a purple collar, so identified in honor of her grand-dam Nova who sports purple, left Sunday August 10 for her new home in Hillsburgh, Ontario. She is now called "Piper" - what a great name!

It was a sad day for us and for some other potential owners and other people who fell in love with her, but a joyful one for her new humans. Reports from her new family were that the 45-minute trip home was quiet (a rawhide chewy did the trick to occupy her attention) and the first night at home was also pretty quiet too. So all in all, a great start for her new life with a new family. Thanks to Greg Howell for some of the photos in this album.

Teeter-totter videos

The link to the teeter-totter videos in my Picasa album didn't actually run each video so I'll have to upload each one. Here's one of them.

Gosh - MORE soggy doggies!!

Michael awoke me at 7 AM this morning (I was in a deep REM sleep with a thumping head-ache) saying he heard rain so I had better get up and get puppies outside before it got bad. I struggled out of bed and the rain was coming down harder. Had to push the puppies outside as they sure didn't want to go out. Then it just started teeming & I was out there with no umbrella or rain gear, getting drenched - yet again. Puppies didn't want to do their business so I carried 2 of them to a treed area hoping that the shelter of the trees would help. All they wanted to do was hide under my legs. I dashed into the house for an umbrella, let the others in and when I got back outside, I couldn't find those 2 puppies! Panic set in. Where were they?

I yelled to Michael, "I need your help NOW. Puppies are peeing and pooping inside and 2 are missing outdoors. Come quickly!" Michael leaped out of bed and we both went outdoors in the teeming rain. Our garden is so large and those pups could be anywhere. We searched and yelled and then finally found them hiding under the giant hostas by the side of the house. They had followed me when I raced back for the umbrella but didn't come all the way to the patio door to come indoors. Needless to say, they were soaked and shivery but safe, thank goodness! This rain is just getting to be a royal pain in the you-know-what. It's sure not doing my house-training program any good. I'm sure we're going to set another rainfall record for the month of August!

Here are some photos and video of the puppies playing indoors (warm, dry and safe!).

Here's the link to the Picasa album for larger pics.

Pups, wk 7 indoors