BLOG.BASALTBLUFFSVIZSLAS.COM
Lily, Quincy and Cayenne...
Our beautiful vizsla puppies seem to be doing just fine. Had an email from Lily's family that she snuggles with one of the boys each night to help them go to sleep. Here's a picture of Lily with her family:
Mr. Green's family has decided to name him Quincy after a place they used to live. It was great hearing about his adoption by their older german shorthair and his willingness to explore and find out about his new surroundings. He'll be out hunting in Montana and the Dakotas when he grows up! With his background I know he'll just be dynamite doing what vizslas LOVE to do!
Cayenne is loving training! We're working on all kinds of things right now. She's got a verbal and hand signal for 'sit' nailed and now, slowly we're working on a 'stand' from her sit and then a 'back-up' sort of down. With 'sit' I'm adding a 'moveable' treat so she knows not to move until I release her. I hold the treat a little ways away and slowly head toward her mouth. If she jumps at it I pull it back and immediately, when she sits,my hand heads back down toward her mouth. Up and down, up and down until I saw the light bulb go off in her eyes and she stuck like glue to the ground. I can now use both hands to treat and come in from almost any angle and her head is the only thing that moves (watching the treat) until I stick the food into her mouth. "YES"!
We're also working on bringing things back that we toss and 'tug' to give her a way to entertain herself at those boring times when we're waiting to go in a ring or during classes with less move time than talk time. We'll enroll in puppy kindergarten when she's 4 months (all immunizations will be done) and we'll also do a short conformation class to give her the showring experience.
And now we have one...
Cayenne (we chose Miss Yellow and named her Cayenne) spent Saturday with Mr. Red while I took Mr Green to Missoula to meet the Stevens family. He handled the three hour drive with a few outbursts in his crate but settled down eventually for the drive. I got to the hotel we were to meet first and he handled walking on leash, traffic, new sounds and smells with confidence. I will remember forever the look on the faces of his family when they drove in and saw him. He was so happy to greet them and after sharing the gift bag and taking pictures I headed home. What lovely people! I'm so happy for Mr. Green! They'll let me know about the name they've chosen soon, I hope. Here's Mr. Green with his new family:
And Sunday Red (now Cesar) met Phil, Linda and Jordan. We me in Ellensburg, WA where the family had stayed the night at a pet-friendly Best Western. Cesar fell in love with Jordan as soon as he saw him! I put puppy in Jordan's arms and he climbed up and covered Jordan's face with kisses! Cesar loved the whole family at first sight. It's so nice when there's an instant connection, I had such warm feelings remembering all the way home. Cesar and his family:
Bittersweet....
We have three puppies in the house now: Miss Yellow, who is now Cayenne, Mr. Red and Mr. Green. After much agonizing Jim took Pink and we selected Cayenne based on her similarity to Curry. All the puppies have nice conformation, great birdy behaviors and are sweet with each other and in the house. Of course, they act like puppies a lot! Their teeth are sharp and they'll shred anything that smells or feels good in their mouths.
Red and Green and heading to their anxious owners this weekend. There just wasn't enough time to get them all out the weekend they turned 8 weeks. Red is heading to British Columbia on Saturday and Green goes to the Big Sky Country, Montana on Sunday. I'm envious of Green.... he'll see hundreds of wild pheasants in his lifetime. Exactly what thrills a vizsla to pieces. Cayenne will have her share but there aren't as many wild birds available in our area.
New families! We were fortunate to get nice pictures of most families who came last weekend. We missed the Hicks (they'll send us a photo with Lily) and need Jim Lawrence (with Cari), but here's the vizsla families we caught:
The Gerings from north Spokane, WA with Blaze
The Levines from Sammamish, WA with Casper
The Livingstons from Sherwood, OR with Copper.
PUPPY TRAINING BEGINS!
I'm beginning recognition training with Cayenne. I got tiny pieces of string cheese and sat on the floor. The boys were still in their pen and the cats were outside so it was just the two of us. When she looked at me I quickly and quietly said "Yes" and put a piece of cheese in her mouth. She thought that was great stuff so she jumped all over me. When she didn't get any more cheese she went off again. The second she looked at me I repeated the 'yes' and the cheese. Again, lots of excitement and finally, she went off again.As she moved off she did a quick check in that I almost missed!. "Yes" and treat! It took just those three times and she plunked herself down and stared into my face. I took it one step further and rewarded her when she looked away then looked back at me. Cat came in and she looked at cat... looked back and got a "yes!" and a bigger treat. A couple more look away/look at me and we're done for the day. The whole thing took 5 +/- minutes. I'll do that routine a couple of times a day to cement the behavior. Next.... name recognition.
And Then There Were Seven....
Jim selected Miss Pink to go to his home and she spent the night, returning today to play with her litter mates. She obviously adores him already and, when he called her to go home again with him she made a flying leap into his arms. Miss Yellow will be staying with us and I'll start blogging our journey into training and showing - hunting, agility, obedience, conformation, etc. I'm already looking into when she can start Puppy Kindergarten and we'll do a conformation class at our dog training club next year. Basic obedience will begin in earnest as soon as the number of puppies diminishes at our house! As much as I love every one of them they're a lot of work!
I worry about the puppies a bit as they head off to their new families. What's worrying me is seeing how much more independent they are when they're outside. Last week, they didn't venture much past the yard but now, they're becoming much more inquisitive and tend to ignore me when they're investigating something interesting. They're also beginning to split up and go in 8 different directions at once! and none of us can count on them coming when they are called!
Puppies are also REALLY quick! If they are startled or frightened they are likely to run into traffic or into a dangerous situation before we can get our feet under us. I'm going to put my girl on a flexilead at night when we do our last potty.... I want to keep her in sight at all times. We have coyotes in our area that wouldn't hesitate to have her for dinner if she became frightened and ran away from us. I do have an acquaintance whose puppy was killed as she stopped to potty beside the road. Heartbreaking. We can never assume they understand cars, traffic or other situations that may be dangerous. I also worry about my pond.... what if, at 8 weeks she fell in and couldn't get out or I didn't notice before she got too cold! Aaah! Too much to worry about! I think I'll go hug a puppy!
7 Week Puppy Check
Taking eight 7-week old puppies to the vet is a daunting task! Jim can carry four big-dog crates in his SUV so we loaded 2 small puppies in each crate and headed off to the vet. We're 10 minutes away, at the most, so the trip was quick. Thank goodness, they were unhappy puppies to say the least! Most spent at least seven of the 10 making a lot of noise! Although they love sleeping in their crate at home apparently the crate in the car was a whole different situation. Lots of wailing! They gave up, except for a few whines here and there, on the way home. Smart little pups, they figured out they couldn't change it, may as well live with it. We didn't say anything... no 'poor puppy' because we didn't want to create a sense of 'this is a scary, awful thing' when we ride in a car.
Our vet was thorough and so complimentary about the health and condition of the puppies! They've had their first immunizations: DHPP (Parvovirus and DHP) as well as a first worming with Nemex. They'll need to go to the new owner's regular vet in about three weeks. Owners will set up rabies and other immunizations and another worming. I add bordatella and leptospirosis. I do lepto because our dogs are out in wild areas and may drink from water wild animals have infected.
Comments were written on the vet notes:
All pups very healthy on exam
- No defects
- No murmurs
- No hernias
- All male testicles palpable
Puppies were calm, didn't struggle or act fearful when on the exam table or handled by the vet and her assistant.They were completely examined from teeth to tail! I'm very pleased with their ability to handle new situations!
Here are their weights, taken at the vet:
| Yellow | 8# 8oz | Orange | 9# 3oz | |
| Pink | 10# 10oz | Big Blue | 10# 10oz | |
| Red | 9# 14oz | Baby Blue | 10# 10oz | |
| Black | 11# 9oz | Green | 10# 7oz | |
Happy Seven Weeks Puppies!
Wow, seven weeks! Our dear puppies are almost on their way to their families! I think I'll be ok, but oh, my gosh do I love these little babies! Each and every one of them has such a sweet, funny personality and they're so smart! I came home from an extended afternoon away from babies and there was only one 'deposit' on the puppy pads in the kitchen... 10 deposits outside! Our big dogs use a 'doggie door' in the slider in the basement to get out and in. Since we live on 7+ acres and use a 'radio fence' to help them stay on the property it made sense to use a doggie door. I moved that door up to the kitchen slider, put an x-pen outside so puppies had only a small, outside space to do their business in. Big Blue, Pink, and Green were the first ones out the door after I showed them how to do it. The others were right behind them and now, a day later, they're leaping in and out, enjoying the ability to go outdoors whenever they feel like it!
Friday is immunization day. Jim's bringing over his great big SUV with multiple dog crates (we ALWAYS crate our dogs in our cars!) so we can take them to the vet safely. I've also replaced the little fleece collars with 'regular' size small black collars. I tied a bit of their fleece around the collar so we could tell them apart. They need some practice with a leash and the collar will help. New puppy owners will want to 'dress up' their new vizslas with a collar they love... black is so boring! I've already gotten a bright turquoise with sparkles for the puppy I keep. Steve's giving me a bad time... his hunting dog with SPARKLES! It'll be ok, she'll have hunter orange when she's ready!
We had visitors last weekend and got some sweet pictures:
Black takes on a toy.
Big Blue demonstrates puppy wrinkles.
And an amazing photo of Baby Blue...
We're Learning and Experiencing!
Puppies are over 6 weeks! We can't believe they'll be heading off to new homes in a week and a half! I'm already getting withdrawal twinges and very happy that we're keeping one of the babies ourselves.
The learning curve is tremendous at this point. Every minute they're awake they're exploring, tasting, jumping, running, leaping, playing, rolling, sniffing, and about 10 more activities all done at once. Attention spans of a gnat but all are making eye contact and beginning to try to find ways to communicate with us. They're putting together routines: the gate opens in the kitchen and we all run to the front door for a romp outside. We've moved from on the front porch to happily running across the lawn to exploring the rocks and weeds off the lawn.
Happy, happy, happy and so even tempered! We've commented what a problem we would have if several slipped their colored collars! Not a one is snappy, fearful or aggressive. They each take turns jumping on each other, eat happily out of their bowl together and don't seem to care if a brother or sister runs up and takes a favorite toy off. Cute! They are so cute! I know they'll all turn out to be beautiful adult vizslas but at this point they're unbelievably cute!
A funny story... dishwasher repairman came to fix the ailing machine. Puppies are sleeping soundly in the kitchen and he asked: "Are those puppies shar pei - they're so wrinkled! It's true, when they are sleeping with their heads down, or trying to figure something out, they have adorable head wrinkles. All but the between the eyes go away when they're thinking hard as their head grows to their adult size. Here are recent pictures:
Miss Pink and Sophie...
Black...
Big Blue...
Red... he's been digging, see the dirt on his nose?
Baby Blue takes a break...
This was just to cute of Orange to make small....
Puppy Preparation List...
It appears as though all the puppies have been reserved! We also have deposits in case one of the original buyers decides, for whatever reason, to release their reservation. For those of you following the blog - we've developed a list of thoughts and 'stuff' that might be useful to introduce your new vizsla to your household. They're just things we plan on doing and, because puppies are unpredictable, it's subject to change!
In the Yard....
We're having such fun! We're solid on our feet, moving from really soft, soaked puppy food to just barely soaked. They're finding great pleasure in toys. Of course their attention span is gnat-short at this point but it's fun to watch one of them grab a toy and run around their crate with it. Today we also got a pheasant wing out of the fly-tying room. Oh my, they do have terrific noses at this age!. Their faces wrinkled up, they stuck their noses as far under the feathers as they could and snuff, snuff, snuffled like crazy. Most of them tried a taste of feathers too but we made the wing disappear while they were still fascinated. Another outing in the cold, cold sunny weather today. They were so happy! There are more short snippets on You Tube:
Big Blue and Orange investigate the big rocks in the yard.
Yellow got found a daylilly leaf and had a great game of tug.
Happy Five Week Birthday Puppies!
We're a happy, healthy, growing five weeks! They're sleeping in a bigger crate, eating softened dog chow, only get a visit once or twice a day by mama Curry and are moving around really well! They're also becoming escape artists!. They figured out how to move an ex-pen and one day they escaped....we found them snuggled underneath a big arm chair, the yarn from a sweater I was crocheting all over the room!
They're all on a fairly predictable cycle of sleep, eliminate, eat/play, start all over again. Here's a few sleep pictures:
And five new videos are on Basalt Bluffs Vizslas You Tube site! We took a birthday outing to the front yard with the Gering family. They'll be taking a vizsla baby home at the end of the month and they are over to help socialize puppies the puppies around children. Even though the sun was out it's been chilly here in Spokane - in the teens (F) in the mornings so puppies haven't spend a great deal of time outdoors. Short clips but fun to see the changes!
