A Vizsla among Pit Bulls…

Saturday brought a new kind of adventure for Luna.  Thanks to a wonderful friend (Bosley’s mom), who volunteered to drive us, we were able to join the recently created Pittie Trails group on a walk. You can find more info about them on their facebook page and recap of the first walk on a blog post.

Basically it’s a local group of Pit Bull/Mixes owners who get together to go on a structured pack walk.  You may be wondering why on earth we joined in with a Vizsla and a Schnauzer/poodle mix… neither one of which are even remotely close to containing any Pit Bull in them.  Basically I went to support the whole idea of these walks (and they are nice enough to be open to non pit bull dogs too). If you read the blog post you will see that they actually have rules, it is not just a big free-for all for pittie lovers.  These walks require you only walk one dog per person, keep at least 5 feet between you and all other dogs, and do not let them approach/say hello to each other even if they know eachother. What this allows is a group of dogs from all walks of life to go on a walk together with minimal pressure on the dogs in training and their owners. It allows blind dogs, half blind dogs, leash reactive dogs, shy dogs, and confident dogs to travel together in a structured way.  Honestly we need more groups like this out there, both to promote the breed as a good stable breed when in the right hands, as well as to offer the opportunity for growth for those that need a little work.

Anyhow we had wonderful 50 degree weather that morning, perfect for a good hour and a half long walk through the woods and fields. Here are a couple photos I managed to snap while walking with Luna.

I put Luna’s little backpack on, in hopes of it wearing her out a little more.  This is honestly  a bit of a joke because the  pockets are not big enough for much of a water bottle, but it’s the thought that counts.

So most of the photos look like this, as I was trying to prevent a traffic jam and keep moving.  And since I did not want to eat dirt I did not chance walking backwards with her but once, and then almost ate dirt because of a hidden rock.

I did stop once to capture these two

But then it was back on the move

We had a group of about 8-10 dogs I think (I did not count)… and some of them were dogs I had known about from blogs

Like Lily the wonder dog… and her great backpack… and I do believe Ginger was there too from another blog, but I am not for sure.  You see keeping 5 feet between people does not allow for much talking, so I still need to get to know everyone.  In anycase it was a great morning walk, and we appreciate Athena’s owners for being our map/companions for our second loop around after everyone left. After Luna got to run a bit in the bird field that evening she was happy to lay around the rest of the evening.

Thank you for having us Pittie Trails! And great work everyone!  I hope to make another walk soon

Luna a show dog???: In honor of Westminster

So I thought today’s theme could be show dogs, in honor of the Westminster Kennel Club (click it to watch live) show that has been going on. Most of you know that Luna is not only a pet, but also a show dog (and a hunting dog… and trick dog… etc etc).  She has completed her CH title but we spent many a day in the ring.

Recently we even competed in a fun match as it was nearly in our backyard.

(thank you to Nicole for taking this shot of us)

It had been a long time (probably a year??) since I went in the ring with her, and even at a funmatch I was nervous.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to compete at Westminster. Anyway we had fun, we mainly went to support our family who you can see more of on the other blog), and I thought it would be a good way to wear Luna out a bit.  I think I ended up more wore out at the end of it. As you can see in the picture above, one must fly to keep up with Luna in the ring. I am literally not touching the ground, I am not even sure if Luna is.

After our turn in the ring was done we waited ringside as I shot more pictures. Luna was quite good at waiting, cheese helped as usual.

Showing dogs was never very interesting to watch, outside of seeing different breeds I don’t get to see in person, until I started to show. Then I really had a feel for what went on in the ring when I was watching on TV. I guess it probably is the same with Golf as I find that very boring to watch, but others love it (and they probably have golfed at some point). I still think teaching Luna the basics for showing was one of the easiest venues to teach her, though she had to mature into the whole waiting game… but as time went on I figured out how to work with her and keep her happy in the ring (can you say flat rat toy? AKA rabbit fur with a squeaker in it).  I am happy I tried my hand at it, and even put a couple points on her myself, but I was happy to eventually turn over the reigns as I found it too political for my liking (though what dog venue isn’t to some degree??)

Just finished watching the Vizslas compete. Congrats to Corrine with “Kato” for taking BOB!! Good luck in groups!! A beautiful selection of Vizslas who all did amazing. Now off to post more show photos of others on the Photo blog shortly.

(side note: I have actually competed with Corrine,  she is a local I believe. In any case she has been at several shows we have been to.  So have several others, so cool to see fellow handlers that you know in person at Westminster.)

To the Vet we go…

Sooo Luna and I made a visit to the vet yesterday, don’t panic, she will be fine.   It had been a while so I guess we were overdue.  If you know me at all you know I try to be my animal’s vet as much as possible.  I have always enjoyed the medical side of things, and am not really squeamish at all so I try and do what I can.

Warning: there may be some graphic words/descriptions to f ollow.. but it is for the sake of science and maybe helping others with some allergy problems.

For those who don’t want to read details… enjoy this photo of Luna staring at the horse chart at the vet office.

She is such a nut!  She notices things like this, charts, bugs on walls, shadows, clock hands, spots, fur on the floor…  Anything that was once moving or looks like it could move is game for her brain.  Cracks me up.

DETAILS:

Sunday we took the dogs to the canal for a walk, where the dogs got covered in mud while running through many trees and occasionally eating deer poop.  Needless to say they had fun, and Luna got a half bath when we returned.  Then we all settled in to watch the superbowl… only to go to bed early as neither were our teams (though I was happy the Giants won).  She woke me up in the middle of the night to let her out, which means she really needed to poop as she never fusses at night unless her stomach is upset.  Soooo happy I actually heard it and woke up.

Monday I noticed that her lady parts looked swollen and slightly red (she had just come out of heat in early Jan so I knew it was not that)… I also noticed a bump about half a pea in size on her back.   I checked it out but could not find any redness or bite area, it was simply a bump under the skin. I saw other smaller ones on her legs, the upside of having a tight coated dog, all i gotta do is smooth her hair and I can see small imperfections and feel thorns. Outside of the swelling and couple bumps everything was normal.  I gave her a half dose of benadryl just to help her itchiness.  But then she  woke me up at night again to let her out, I knew something really was bugging her.  But since her stools were simply just looser than usual I was not too alarmed.

Tuesday rolled around with much of the same.  Her lady parts looked slightly better though, but then I noticed another problem. She had swelling in her ears, well within her ear flaps?  Basically I pet her ears and noticed that it felt like there was a liquid filled area within it.  Basically I found out later it is simply edema of the ear. I then checked her all over yet again, saw some of the same small bumps along her legs, but her belly, armpits and everything else were clear.  I noticed a slight rash to her ear insides, but it did not necessarily relate to where the fluid was.  The fluid had me concerned though as I had not ever seen this symptom from her before, despite the allergies we fought early on. Normally her belly would blow up with spots that turned into pimples of sorts and would take the hair with them when they left.  I saw none of that time. Sooo in to the vet we went.

She was eating, drinking, and playing all like normal BTW.

They told me what I thought was probably already the case, it was some sort of allergic reaction.  They checked her feet, ears, and skin for other allergy areas but found none.  Normally when you see the allergies presented in the lady part area, or edema in the ears it is coupled with other allergy areas.  The reason it would show up there in the first place is because the skin is more sensitive there.  Luna yet again broke the rules by having edema of the ears but no other allergy signs.  We were sent home with an antihistamine with a slight steroid in it as well.

By this afternoon her ears had finally gone back to normal. Last night she did not wake me up, and she has been napping most of the day.   So I think the meds we were sent home with are working. Whoooo. I am glad it was nothing more serious and now I can add ear swelling to a semi-normal allergic reactions for my red girl.  I just wish I knew what caused it, as we were totally allergy free last year. Hopefully this was just a freak reaction and won’t be repeated.

After all this napping I sure hope we get an actual snow to wear these guys out in.  It has been snowing since noon but it just now started to stick to the grass. Here’s to an allergy free Vizsla romping in the snow with her lab brother!

More vizslas the merrier?

Recently we had the pleasure of actually being able to attend a local Vizsla meetup.  (back note, I am a member of a facebook group where local DC,MD,VA vizsla owners communicate and often setup meetups for our red dogs)  I have wanted to go to them often but between having 1 car during hunting season (= no car for me) , the distance to the meetups… and then Luna going into heat we simply have not been able to make many of them.  But finally there was one practically just down the road (20 minutes) so we just HAD to find a way to go.  And no worries, wyatt was allowed to join too as an honorary red dog, joined by a GSP as well.

We had upwards of 10 dogs to our group, but all did fantastic.  Here is a look at what a meetup like this might look like

Dogs dogs everywhere… That is Gus the GSP to the right heading back out to the lead.  Luna is in the front with the big orange collar waiting for her buddy to come back.

Two peas in a pod, both born to hunt.   Okay she did not bond and fall madly in love with anyone, I admit it.  She is WAY too hunt oriented when she is outdoors but I did not mind in the least. I kind of just encouraged her to stay out of the main mix.  We had some rescue dogs in our group, so I did not want to have any confused confrontations.

A sea of red!  Can you see wyatt.  At first when I let wyatt off leash he simply didn’t know what on earth to do with so many dogs. I have let him play with quite a few of the training dogs in the yard, and he lives among Luna and 6 other dogs upstairs so he knows a sense of pack.  But not an unknown pack of Vizslas all at once.  At first he ran around checking everyone out, then back to me, then back to them… then off to steal a stick from someone.  But after the first initial half hour he settled in to a routine of running ahead, and then checking back with me (or someone he thought was me) only to be off again. Luna would have been happy to just stay in the front, but I made sure to make her check back as well.

I find this picture pretty funny, interpret as you wish.

Overall everyone did fantastic.  Those that needed to keep a closer eye on their dog, or keep them out of trouble were in front keeping up with the leaders and keeping a hawk eye on everyone.  The two lead dogs had us walking at a pretty good pace for probably 2 hours.

Occasionally we did stop to check the signs and keep on track

Miss Tia decided to pose for me during on of said stops, as we waited for her mom to let us know which direction to go.

Nora stopped to point some birds

And did a great job checking back as well.  As I said everyone did great, outside of one minor scuffle (which happened so fast we don’t even know how it started) everyone behaved well.  I hope to continue to make meetups as we are able.

I was a little worried about Luna, as she can be a bit of a brat with dogs in her face.  But I managed to just keep her moving and she listened well when I would tell her to ignore somebody. My proud moment was when she was right next to the scuffle and called away from it when I asked her to.  In the past she might have tried to jump in and see what was going on, but outside of raising her ears she came away nicely for me.  Sometimes you just got to bite the bullet and get them out and see what you all are made of.  I am so happy I did, despite the big turnout.  Both dogs came home tired and happy.

Have a happy weekend all

More 50mm bokeh? yes please

I don’t think I need much explanation for these images… we will start with Wyatt first

For once I have more images of wyatt to share, I thought it would be a nice change.

Trying to force myself to change angles a bit, as I become the zoom

Love this shot, so happy I challenged myself to change angles… and thankful Luna held still for me… and thankful for overcast snow sky.

Hope everyone is making it through these storms safely… we got off easy with our 2 inches of snow topped by about an eighth of an inch of ice.  Hopefully we can get out for some exercise tomorrow as I don’t think my dogs will be too keen on napping again.  More shots from our walk can be found on my photo blog.

Have a great weekend

New headshots for the New Year…

So I thought we would start the new blog year off with some headshots… hopefully you are not sick of the Lunatic’s mug.

These were shot with my new 50mm lens, I made a big photography change this year, more info on my photo blog.  Long story short I no longer have any Canon gear, and have switched to Nikon.

But nobody is complaining around here…

Well maybe Luna was a little… mostly because she wanted the treat..

Here she is “quiet talking” for me… which has started to become a default for her when I am working with her, rather than the usual full bark and smacking.  Guess we were getting somewhere with that trick afterall.

Tricks are something Luna and I will work on more this year… Call it a resolution if you will. But this year I am making a point to do more training/tricks with Luna.  Heaven knows she needs it.   I am usually horrible at resolutions, but hopefully this year will be different (don’t we all say that?)  One way I plan to accomplish this is to buy a trick book I have been eyeing for a year… and try and work our way through as much as we can.  I also want to sign up for a class with her, there is a local kennel club within walking distance, probably something for Rally.

Have you come up with any resolutions for you and your 4-legger??  I hope everyone has had a great 2012 so far. Off to get all these hooligans out of the house for a walk.

4-leggers get all dressed up

The dogs had quite an exciting night the other night… they got to get all dressed up in their LED finest.

Oh and the antlers couldn’t be left out either…

Not to be outdone Wyatt joined in the fun too… anything for some roasted chicken

And one of my favorite outtakes

“What do you mean this isn’t how you wear them?”

Thank you to all who sent holiday photos in to Life + Dog Holiday Contest .  As of now they have raised upwards of 86,000 meals for homeless animals!

And now we shall go see if we can get the red truck started and go get some fresh cold air for a couple hours.  These 4-leggers have been far too wound up lately, we’re all due for a good walk.

Have a great weekend

A Project

Well thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is fast approaching (can we push a pause button or something please??).  With this approaches a  project/contest Luna and Wyatt are going to participate in this year. If you follow me on facebook you might already know what project I speak of.

There is a great magazine that we ‘like’ on Facebook, called Life + Dog  who is hosting a special theme this week for their weekly  Foto Friday contest.  Here is some info about the Holiday theme this week:

Friday, December 9, 2011 – Theme: HOLIDAY DOGS (Celebrating the holidays, dressed up, sitting by the decor…)

Prize (for fans): A HUGE assortment of holiday gifts from our holiday gift guide “Pick of the Litter” column in Issue No. 8. In addition, as a part of IAMS Home For The Holidays campaign, IAMS will donate 100 Meals to homeless animals in need for EVERY photo submitted! Let’s have thousands and thousands of bowls of food donated because of LIFE+DOG readers!!!!  Remember, one photo maximum per dog, but as many photos as you like, e-mailed to fotofriday@lifeanddog.com

Tonight we plan to work on our 2011 versions of holiday photos… Here are last year’s…. shield your eyes if you need to.

Hopefully this year’s will be better, I have learned a thing or two since then.  Location is the difficult part this year.  I no longer have my parents large house to work in, nor do I even have a tree this year. If this rain looks manageable tonight I will try and venture out to a friend’s house to take over her place with the Lunatic in hopes of getting us both some Christmas shots.

What are your plans? Do you dress up your pets for the holidays?  Do you send our cards with their photos on them?  I find that some people as they get older will just put the kids, dogs, or both on the card rather than theirselves… what’s up with that?

If you do dress them up or pose them with holiday decor, please send the photo in to Life + Dog and help some other animals.  You do NOT need to be a facebook fan of their to submit a photo, but hey why not?

In other news you will be seeing another post on raw feeding/supplementing my 4-leggers.  I was inspired by some recent posts on facebook by a pet photographer whom I admire, Scruffy Dog Photography, I want to share more info on the subject… it probably will mostly consist of photos of my dogs, as well as some links through Scruffy Dog… so if you have a strong stomach stay tuned.  It should be interesting to say the least.

PS. thank you wordpress for creating the drag and drop photo uploader… saves me tons of time.

 

Luna’s big day

Well, Luna was up to more important business yesterday.  Her breeder picked her up in the early AM to take her to the vet to get her OFA hip/elbow test. This was the first time she has ever been put under for anything at the vet so I was slightly worried. She did well overall, and upon being brought home in the evening even had a couple runs around the yard.  Soon as she was brought inside I noticed she was still a little loopy.  Since having Wyatt neutered I was not too worried about this as he was far more out of it than she was.  But I was happy to see her interested in eating and drinking anyhow.  Since she was already knocked out to get the X-rays done we also decided to give this vet a go at doing a tattoo for her.

Can you see it??  It’s tucked into her inner left thigh… pardon the crappy photo she was not into being cooperative and the phone was having a bad day.  Luckily the vet was not having a bad day though, her tattoo turned out nice and clear. A little larger than I had thought it would be but I guess that’s better than having a tattoo which leaves you guessing about numbers and letters. And from the initial look at the x-rays they took of the hips and elbows everything looked just fine.  We will have to wait for the official rating to come in the mail.

So why get her hips tested you ask?  First and foremost I have always planned to do it, it just has taken me nearly 4 years (well 2 technically as you can’t officially test before 2 years old).  That is not really a reason I guess.  I like contributing information and research to disease/genetic research.  And I feel like owning a purebred dog, it kinda is my responsibility to do so in the ways I can, especially if I decide to breed her.  Now before anybody gets on their soapbox about me breeding her or not… know that I am still on the fence about whether I will end up breeding Luna.   But I not only think it would be a good thing for her mentally, but I also do feel she has some things she would be contributing to the breed.  However, timing will probably  also be a big factor on my decision and it’s something I will probably have to decide in the next year.  But before I would ever breed her I want her to have a clean bill of health.  We have gotten an eye test, a cardio test, and now a hip/elbow test done and she has passed all with no problems.  We will continue to train and test in different venues but at least I know she is healthy and sound in body.

(the photo above is also sort of ironic, as that is probably the laziest sit she has ever done… normally she has amazing posture all on her own as you have probably seen.)

More OFA facts can be found on their website.

Now back to work in the rain… yep it’s raining cats and dogs yet again.

More letters for the Lunatic

We’re back! And we have news!

Introducing…

 CH Dynata’s Bound to Inspire JH CGC

Yep, we got off our butts and went for our Canine Good Citizen title, and she passed!!! Not without some Vizsla flair though.  I must admit, I dealt with this test much like I do most tests, I crammed the day before and of.  But despite my bad studying habits she passed with style.  It went down something like this. (skip the reading if you want, couple photos on the bottom)

~*~Approach a stranger and sit while mom says hello : NOOO PROBLEM  (she could care less about the guy, which is so hit or miss with her because she goes nuts for people sometimes, but maybe it’s based on how the person acts around her)

~*~Have stranger ask to pet her and remain sitting and calm : CHECK (she did a wonderful job with her “wait” and was very calm as he pet her… he helped by being calm, thank you stranger sir.)

~*~ Have stranger groom/check ears/ and paws:  I LOOOVE GROOMING (sooo she saw the brush, then she saw him pick up the brush, then she thought the brush was for her and wanted to check it out, then as he squatted down she lost it a bit and gave him “hi fives” “paws” and wiggled to see if he would give her the brush…. soooo we came back to that one.  In the end I had her stand like at a show, and have her examined and sure enough she stood there like I knew she could and let him do anything he wanted)

~*~ Loose leash walk including a right turn, halt, left turn, and about turn:  FANTASTIC (despite the gazillion feet, butts, treats that had touched that floor from all the other agility and CGC classes on the floor before this, she heeled like a pro)

~*~ Demonstrate: Sit, Down, Stay and Come: NAILED IT (I has an inkling  she would nail this section as her stationary obedience is one of her strong suits)

~*~ Walk through a crowd loose leash :  I CAN DO THIS TOO!  (I was not worried about this section much either as she has worked in a lot of crowds, where I usually am trying to take photos at the same time as handling her. She sniffed in passing but otherwise paid people no mind)

~*~ Approach a stranger and their dog, have the dogs sit as the strangers say hello and have the dogs remain sitting only showing mild interest in the other: WHAT DOG?  (AKA she did better than I ever thought she would/could here.  It was as if the dog did not exist.  This was one area I really was worried about, as Luna can sometimes be a bit of a boss with strange dogs.  It is one area where she occasionally still tries to challenge my leadership.  But this is one area I have really challenged her in, often incoorperating her into the work I do with my training dogs. This has really helped her chill out and realize I can control the dogs in the picture and she doesn’t need to step in and correct them… long story short I was thrilled with how she did with the dog portion.)

~*~ Seperation from owner for 3 minutes:  PASSED with attitude  (sooo, despite the running, walking, and heel work I did with her in efforts to wear her out that day, Luna still had energy to spare.  Most of you already know how vocal Luna is… this sometimes can be multiplied drastically if she has to wait for things in a public setting.  Long story short, she could care less if I left, but she did not want to let her distaste for having to sit relatively still go un-vocalized.  But the fuss she did kick up was in no way due to me being gone, and the evaluators realized that too. When I was told to re-enter the picture she remained calm as she was supposed to not worried at all that I had been gone.)

So in the end I felt she did really well, and I am very happy to cross this off our list.  I was fully expecting to not have her pass, and have this test end up being a learning experience for us. We have never done any formal obedience classes or prep work for such a test.  This has totally sparked my interest in some Rally or obedience work with her.  But our focus for now will be on finishing up more hunt training.

So during her breaks from the field she can go back to

begging for cheese.

This is one of the first phone photos where I have actually captured a bit of the “looks” she gives me.

Like this one from the chair by my computer…

Maybe this is what she wanted… to be covered up. She has me trained well