Thankful Thanksgiving 2015

Decisions, decisions.  Should I bring Ralphie and Lucy to my daughter's house for our Thanksgiving celebration?  Lucy and my daughter's pug, Bubba simply don't along.  Our last visit was a disaster with such nastiness between the two of them.

So to start my Thanksgiving day I walked Ralphie and Lucy bright and early around 5AM.  Then around 8:30am I took them to the dog park and surprisingly there were quite a few dogs there enjoying their Thanksgiving morning.  My decision was pretty much made that I was going to leave them home when I go to my daughter's house.  But my decision kept gnawing at my brain...I just hate to leave them home alone on the holiday, after all Ralphie and Lucy are my 4-legged fur babies.  So I text my daughter, "should I bring the dogs or will it be too much commotion?"  She called me to say, yes bring them over.  Lucy and Bubba need to eventually get along.  So I did.

There was one big snarl between Lucy and Bubba, but nothing to worry about.  After that snarl they became friends.  They ran and ran, chasing each other in the big back yard.  They both jumped in the pool and swam together.  By golly, they were actually getting along and having fun with each other.  It was a good day.  How thankful I was to see their friendship develop.  I was wondering, is it because now Lucy is spayed which maybe settled her down a little or maybe it's Lucy growing up or is it they know they simply better get along after all they are cousins!

I am so blessed to have a wonderful family full of love, humor, support, and togetherness.

Lucy and Bubba

Pool fun - Lucy and Bubba - the 2 water bugs!

Vizsla Puppy Naughtiness

Yep, I'm reliving the Vizsla puppyhood...oh how I forget the things I went through three years ago when Ralphie was a puppy.   For some reason I feel it seems harder going through Lucy's puppyhood compared to Ralphie's.   I don't know if Lucy is naughtier or I'm simply older and have less puppy endurance.  LOL

Lucy loves to dig ... dig huge holes in the back yard.  She digs up the tree roots, digs up the underground cable, just simply digs holes spreading the dirt everywhere it doesn't belong.  Ralphie loved digging too.  I'm not sure exactly when Ralphie's digging tapered off...but I'm reliving it all over again.  Ugh.

Lucy pulls and pulls when we go for our walks.  But maybe not as bad as Ralphie.  Remember, Ralphie pulled so hard and took me down to the ground tearing my rotator cuff?  Lucy pulls which is a struggle but I'm happy she's not as strong as Ralphie.

Lucy steals my slippers.  She doesn't chew them, simply will steal a slipper and move it to another part of the house.  I don't know how many times I'm walking around the house with one slipper on in search for the other.  Ralphie never did this.  He had no interest in my shoes or slippers.  This must be a girl thing.  LOL

Lucy's energy level is overwhelming.  She can run and run and play and play forever.  It takes a lot to tire her out.  Ralphie was exactly the same.  However I had my daughters help during Ralphie's hyper puppy stage.  She would run him and run him at the dog park while I was at work.  I'm not so fortunate now with Lucy ... I'm on my own to run Lucy every single day at the dog park.

Lucy is over alert ... the puppy alertness.  Any sound or any move I make she jumps up or follows me everywhere.  Maybe it's the puppy inquisitiveness that Ralphie no longer has.  Not sure when this dwindled in Ralphie's growing stage.  This puppy behavior is very cute but it can get quite tiring to have a pup on your heels at all times.

Yes, yes I'll get through this puppy stage again in time.  I really enjoy Lucy's innocence and getting to know a different personality than Ralphie's.

Puppyhood - my little digger.

Lucy's growing...about 42 pounds now at 9 months old.

"Mom, I'm just a puppy."

BIG Dog vs small Dog

Last weekend I had dinner with a friend who I haven't seen in over five years.  He knew me before Ralphie when I only had Ollie, my small Yorkie.  Of course the dog topic of conversation came up.  I was telling him about my awesome Vizslas.  Him not being familiar with this breed, he asked in bewilderment, "but WHY a big dog?"  I almost felt a disapproval from him, after all he has a small furry pup.  I didn't feel I should get up on my pedestal and start preaching the advantages of big dogs over small dogs.  I kept my answer very basic because I didn't want him to feel offended why big dogs rule small dogs.   I pretty much that I always had big dogs.  Actually Ollie was my daughter's dog that I adopted from her.  I summed it up and said they're great protection, and I left it to that.

So really why are BIG dogs better than small dogs?

• Yes, they look intimidating but really they are lovers.  Ralphie and Lucy are my protectors.
• Oh my, they do get a lot of attention from people all the time.  They're quite majestic.  My pups turns heads and great conversation-starters.   
• They have a big heart with a lot of love in it.
• Yes, yes they are lap dogs ... so they think they are.  Quite comical to have a 70 pound pup on my lap, but I love every minute of it.
• They get me motivated to exercise, not just a small walk around the block, they push me to do more...3 - 5 miles easily. 
• Most of all, I love hugging them, getting a big grip around their neck with their head resting on my shoulder, oh so priceless. 

Here's a great video I saw on youtube that sums it up...

The Tease

Lucy aka The Tease. 

She really knows how to work up Ralphie.  It can be keep away with a toy or barking and pouncing on him to get him to play.  She's quite a talented young lady with the ability to rawl up other dogs.  Below is a prime example of Lucy teasing Ralphie yesterday on a beautiful, sunny warm day here in FL...keep in mind Ralphie is not such a water bug like Lucy...and she seems to know that.