This week I’m off work, and I’m really looking forward to relaxing at home with the pets. Since we don’t own a car, we decided to rent from a car share a couple times this week to get out of the city.
Today we tried out Jug Island in Coquitlam. It’s a short little hike with minimal incline and a great way to start the day. The highlight of the hike is a little beach that faces the Indian Arm and Jug Island. We caught (and released) some tiny crabs, talked to kayakers and just chilled. As a joke, Thierry tossed a stick in quite far into the water and Whiskey actually retrieved it! She swam out further than she’s ever been before, although it was a bit of a panicky swim back. We were so proud!
working on our agility (yes they made it to the top!)
our hiking group
Whiskey fetches and swims!
catching small crabs
we are going higher and higher with this little girl
On the way back we popped into a wild game butcher for pet and human meats (kangaroo, bison, venison, elk, ostrich, wild boar). I think we’re stocked for awhile now! At the moment I’m trying out various foods for Whiskey so we’ll let you know how our experimentation goes. We’ve got tons of kibble and even raw samples from Petapalooza.
a bison heart is enormous!
Continuing on our day, after we dropped the meat home, we took Whiskey off to the vet for her last set of shots (Rabies and Lepto). She was amazing and even got a little handkerchief. As long as she’s eating a snack, she doesn’t even feel the needles. So as far as Whiskey understands, the vet means lots of attention, pets, and snacks! I wonder if she’ll wise up eventually. The cat is under no such illusions.
Whiskey has no idea she’s getting a shot
After the vet, we drove to the off-leash dog area of Spanish banks where we met the cutest German Shepherd puppy. Whiskey was pretty tired but perked up for some glorious playtime, digging and sniffing. Then it was back home for a dinner of turkey hearts and gizzards, and we all fell asleep really early (except for Moo who then demanded attention).
Yesterday we met up with a fellow Vizsla owner Eric, and his 1.5 year Vizsla Yoffi for a romp in some fields. We drove 45 mins to arrive at this huge field in Maple Ridge where Yoffi normally runs and trains with birds. We didn’t have birds this time but thought the dogs would love to run and perhaps flush out their own.
As soon as Yoffi jumped out of the car we could immediately see the difference between a Vizsla from a hunting stock and one from a confirmation stock. Whiskey’s parents were both shown in confirmation shows where the goal is to conform to the breed’s published standards. In shows they are handled by strangers, shown in front of crowds, and need to stay relaxed in these situations. Hunting Vizslas are bred for their drive and endurance and are tested in the field. So while Whiskey is very mellow for a Vizsla, Yoffi shot out of that car like there was a free bacon festival ahead.
Yoffi pulling and ready to hunt
As we let the dogs off leash in the fields, Yoffi took off bounding around happily monster-trucking through the fields and bushes. Whiskey stayed close and sniffed alot, at first keeping close to us in an unfamiliar environment, then eventually running after Yoffi. Yoffi was playing pretty rough with Whiskey- more from held-back energy than anything else. He also headbutts humans for hellos!
Whiskey leaping over the grass like a rabbit-antelope
a huge space for dogs to roam
Ears flying, dogs diving
Vizsla play is full-on
Pros of Confirmation/Show dogs
-in general these dogs would be better for city life as they are bred to show well and have a temperament conductive to have lots of strangers touch and inspect them
-they must also show good character to be tested (no aggressiveness, shyness)
-they are bred for their looks so they are beautiful!
-they usually need less off leash running and roam closer to you during walks
-they don’t need to work as much
-these dogs will not be bouncing through the walls as fast as a hunting dog if they don’t get a walk
-might be better bet if you have small animals like cats in the house (although probably fine if grown up with one)
Whiskey’s Daddy
Pros of Hunting/Field dogs
-obviously if you want to hunt, you would look for a breeder that hunts and has Field Trail Champions
-these dogs are amazing to watch do the job they are bred for. They are still couch potatoes at home, but are on full “work” mode outside
-bred less for looks and more for personality and intelligence
-I’ve heard show dogs are smaller, more sharply muscled, noisier and more generally hyperactive (Whiskey is smaller, vocal, but very mellow, not hyperactive)
-you may have heard with other breeds, working dogs are usually healthier and living older because they are bred for physical purpose but Vizslas are a very healthy dog that has been much better bred than Labs, German Shepherds, Dachshunds for example. Check this article out!
Vizslas were never overbred and trendy like Dalmatians and are generally a very protected healthy breed. In conclusion hunting dogs have not been proven to be “more healthy” but they certainly have more endurance and energy!
Yoffi’s crazy energy in a picture
practicing “Whoa”
Best of Both Worlds
Of course confirmation dogs can be hunters and hunters can be confirmation dogs if you get the right bloodlines that is! I’ve shown examples of extremes, but every dog is unique and with a good breeder you should have a well balanced dog. For example Yoffi is a beauty with great muscles and amazing fur while Whiskey was pulling like crazy when she saw a deer and flushed out a little bird the other day on a walk. Also with breeding you are increasing a chance, of a specific trait and it’s not a guarantee at all.
So driving home that evening we reflected we were really happy we got a confirmation dog, as Whiskey is not “calm” but she’s practically comatose compared to Yoffi. With both of us working full time jobs and not hunters it would push our limits to have to drive out of the city everyday to exercise her. Of course we’re both avid hikers and Whiskey gets plenty of exercise a day. On the other hand, Eric says Yoffi wouldn’t do well in a dog park with other dogs and people around, and that he was really crazy as a puppy. So although Yoffi is an incredible athlete and intelligent hunter, we’re super happy Whiskey’s been so “easy” to fit in our lives. As I’m typing this, she’s sleeping at my feet.
My little Vizsla just got stung by a wasp at the park. I think it was karma for stealing someone’s last slice of salami just minutes ago. Missing the drama, I was working when she was out for a walk in the park and just got home to this:
She was stung on the right muzzle
Someone’s not feeling so well
Poor thing! Her swelling is going down and I’m just happy she got stung on her muzzle, not inside her mouth. Apparently she was off leash roaming the park as usual and came back with a swollen muzzle. Soon after she vomited, and needed to be carried home. We’ve been seeing several wasps in the area and I even got stung a week ago. My partner couldn’t find any stinger on her muzzle and just watched her carefully. After half an hour though her swelling went down and she didn’t have any other symptoms.
A little extra clingy tonight
By the time I came back home an hour later she was wagging her tail (though not rushing the door like normal). She ate a little wet food and I applied a mix of water and baking soda to her muzzle. Poor little thing! In the morning the swelling had gone down and she was back to normal. We just got back from the park and I had to pull her off from investigating more wasps in the grass. I guess puppies don’t learn!
We’ve just finished our group of puppy classes at Oh My Dog. I’m proud to say Whiskey’s improved so much over the 4 classes and was really getting the “heel, sit, stay, come here” we were working on. ‘Heeling’ to ‘sit’ was the hardest for us since she’s not looking at me most of the time.
This isn’t the first ‘school’ we’ve tried and it’s been a bit of a tough road the first couple of weeks. We’ve worked so much on training at home and in the park with other dogs around, but in a small indoor room environment with other young excited puppies, Whiskey only wanted to play.
Over the weeks though, she got better. Her concentration capacity extended and her brains kicked in. A couple tips that helped were
coming to class early so she could say hello first
try to get her walking at least 3 times before class with some offleash running too- get her as mellow as possible
from the last point, an evening class is easier than morning class
practicing the training everyday
don’t take everything the trainer says as gospel- you know your dog better so adjust
repetition
patience!
Treats vs no treats:
The treat class (first school we tried) emphasized the importance of treats but Whiskey wasn’t very treat motivated. She’s a hunting dog with a drive to run, play and chase unlike a hound who may be better with treats. In the end we found she’s much more play motivated (she will work for a stick or Frisbee) as well as agility motivated (she will interrupt play time for a chance to climb a log). Even using different kinds of high value treats didn’t hold enough value compared to playing with the other puppies so we felt so frustrated in the first class.
We know that working dogs are not trained with treats so we were curious to try training without treats. Oh My Dog classes used pets, cuddles and praise of owners instead of treats. I was pretty skeptical at first. On top of that, there was an emphasis on only saying the command once, and then forcing the dog through the command if it didn’t volunteer the action (pushing bum down for a sit). Bonus was the class also had less puppies enrolled and didn’t allow drop-ins (12+ puppies vs 4).
I have to say it was hard to stop all the treats and even harder to say the command only once (dog is usually looking away) and follow through. My takeaway from these classes was a middle ground. We still treat when teaching a new behavior but treat very little over time. I still keep some treats around for a good recall in the park with other dogs, and also when playing children are around. On top of these situations, treats are also very useful when there is a potential “scary” situation: new animals, loud noises, dremelling her nails, baths. But overall our “treats” have been reduced from 10 treats a walk to maybe 1. I find “play” motivation much better.
I’m always searching for more ways to keep my little one out of trouble. She has a super short attention span for games like fetch or simple training exercises but still has loads of energy to burn off. I wish we could spend all day in the park, but alas…not possible! If there was only an “off” button to these little zoomies!
So other than long walks outside, I’ve been looking for things to get her tired inside. We’ve trained lots of commands but can only do about 5 mins at a time. A couple weeks ago I looked up sniff training online and decided to try. With a smelly treat (lamb lung), I first let her sniff the snack, then used a hand towel and hid it under the edge of the towel while encouraging her to “find it”. She started sniffing! Yey! I had to help her locate it the first couple times and at the end she could find it herself.
In the beginning you’re just supposed to encourage any sniffing and help them to the treat after a couple seconds while slowly increasing the time and difficulty. I’m not sure how much more tired she is, but it can’t hurt! Over the past week she’s been able to “search” for longer periods of time before wandering away and giving up. Sometimes she just loses concentration and I have to tell her to “find it” again. Overall though she loves the game and will “work” (sit, lie down) to even play.
When they become an expert, you can start hiding treats in a variety of easy-to reach places and then switch to hiding toys too. I like smelly treats to start with, or large toys. Right now I also let her watch me hide it so she knows in which area to search for. Sometimes instead of fetch, we play the “go find it” with the toy game. It keeps her energy levels lower and her brain working.
at first just hide it on the edge of the towel
over time, bring it closer to the middle and see if they can lift the towel
learning how to get “into” the towel to find the treat
Boy oh boy! At first I wasn’t so sure about camping but I knew that if it worked out, Whiskey would be the happiest little Vizsla. We had a couple hurdles to overcome but leapt over each and everyone of them:
So we were supposed to start our trip at noon, but our driver was having her car fixed and it seemed like they took extra long with something. Finally, we ended up leaving the city at 5:30 during rush hour, a bit behind schedule. I was worried about Whiskey’s car sickness but she seemed fine after two walks, ginger gravol (the all natural one), and only a small lunch. We made a stop in Whistler where she was happily running up and down the lift area, then headed off to the camp site at Fountain Lake.
Once past Pemberton, there was a steady climb on the highway and that was where we started having car troubles. The car was losing traction, smelling bad, and smoking underneath the body. Over the next couple hours it got worse and worse. Finally, we were almost at the camp site, past the last town, Lillooet. At this point we were barely making it up inclines, and this was where the car just gave up. It was midnight when we lost all traction and the car rolled back down the incline with absolutely no power. After contemplating walking the rest of the way to the site, we realized we weren’t sure how close we were to the campsite (no cell reception), we had a puppy with us, and there were bears here. We were able to roll (and push) the car back to the Xaxli’p Native community so we weren’t in complete wilderness, then set up tent by the side of the road and went to sleep.
Five minutes later we were woken up by a concerned resident who was walking home. He insisted we camp on his property for safety reasons (camping by the side of the road wasn’t very safe) and also for protection against bears. Apparently a woman had been attacked not too long ago! The whole time, Whiskey had been quiet and took everything in-stride but this property had two large dogs and she wasn’t quite comfortable with these outside our tent. While we were sleeping, any noise outside would evict a growl from her, which we had never heard her do. She was on constant alert the whole night guarding us!
The next morning we found another helpful Native man that was kind enough to take us and our gear to the campsite where we finally hooked up with the rest of our group. After that, we had a wonderful trip. Within the first hour, we saw a mother bear and her 3 cubs pass really close (we kept Whiskey on a leash) and took a dip in the lake. When the bears weren’t close-by we let her go off leash and wander around, chewing on sticks, stalking ants, frogs and dragonflies, meeting horses, and (trying to) beg food from our friends. She had two other doggy friends on the campgrounds and they had loads of fun running around.
a family of bears
We had no problems sleeping together in the tent. It was a bit chilly at night and Whiskey would snuggle inside our sleeping bags, making her way down to the bottom section and sleep at our toes. I have no idea how she managed to breathe but she seemed quite happy and warm there. She also experienced her first thunderstorm (napped through it), developed an obsession for steak (medium rare please), and managed to jump high enough to catch half a raw chicken from an unsuspecting victim. Other activities included cleaning up some unguarded plates and rearranging firewood, shoes and socks to her liking. Fun times! We even got her swimming a little, fetching sticks from the water, and floating on rafts.
retrieving sticks in shallow water
All things considered, I can’t wait to go camping again with her. It’s amazing to see her so happy off leash, running, swimming, fetching, discovering, and just being a happy puppy. Of course, as soon as we came home to unpack, we turned our heads, and there she was peeing on her bowser bed.
whiskey had no problem with a tent as a home
Fountain Lake
sometimes she’d go in, then remember she didn’t like water
We are famous!! On a hike to Deep Cove a couple weeks ago we met a nice man who took a couple shots of Whiskey as she was romping around. We finally made it on his website 🙂
It was sooooo hard to get through the day today. My partner flew in with Whiskey on a 4.5 hour flight from Montreal. The battery on his phone failed and the connection was too spotty for a phone call at the breeder’s so I was just staring at the one picture he could send before he caught the flight (she’s small enough to be taken as hand luggage). I left work early and headed to the airport where I awaited…the cutest, tiniest little Vizsla ever. I’ve never met a Vizsla puppy and didn’t realize she’d be so small. Apparently, she was a trooper on the plane, going to the bathroom (on a peepad) without an issue and charming all the air hostesses.
She popped her little head out of the bag to say hello and immediately wanted out (who could blame her after the flight?). We had a bit of an issue grabbing a dog friendly taxi (even if we kept her in the carrier) and then we were on the way home. As soon as we got home, I realized the cat had gotten into the drawers and ate half a bag of freeze dried chicken while shredding the rest all over the kitchen. Sigh, such is a life of family pets.
Already Whiskey was very attached to my partner and I was jealous! We introduced her to her playpen area (sectioned off with baby gates) and she was really quiet and super cute. Moo was very curious and observed the circus from her high view points and made a face when she smelled the dog. Dogs are very smelly compared to cats! Ewww.
We just spent the night cuddling Whiskey and playing with her new toys. She ate dinner without an issue but it took a bit of patience to get her to pee outside in the alley (she’s used to grass in the countryside). We live in an apartment on the 2nd floor, so for now we are carrying her outside by taking the stairs. There was a bit of whining when we put her in the crate, but otherwise success!
Oh man!!! We are so excited!!! You can tell by the amount of exclamation marks 🙂 So we’ve done a bunch of research over at least a year and have settled on a breed (Vizsla, obviously), breeder, and we await our first puppy together. My partner has had dogs his whole life with his family but this would be my first ever dog, and just a couple months ago we got our first cat.
Moo is a rescue that came to us from VOKRA. She’s been the perfect pre-puppy since she’s pretty much a dog in-disguise. We quickly discovered she’ll do anything for treats and we’ve already had her successfully trained to “come” “sit” “lie down” “roll over” “paw” and go to where we point. We choose a confident cat, and have made her a bunch of cat shelves she can escape to in case of stress, though we know that it would take awhile for any cat to get used to a crazy puppy.
So with the cat trained up, we’ve been reading a couple books and watching tv shows (Ian Dunbar, Ceasar Milan, Victoria Stilwell), talking to friends, stalking Vizslas and their owners in dog parks, and going on dog-supply shopping sprees. Who would have known it could cost so much before getting the puppy? Cats are practically free! Here is our puppy list:
