Saturday Morning with Ralphie, My Vizsla

I work very hard during the week.  Monday through Friday begins at 5AM each day for me.  I wake up extra early to get a workout in, do a little clean-up around the house, care for Ralphie and Ollie, and getting ready for work to leave the house at 7:30AM to get to work on time.  Yay, then comes the weekend...no alarms, getting to sleep in...NOT!

Around 5:30AM Ralphie (who sleeps in my bed), jumps up, then I feel a paw.  That's right, Ralphie plops his paw on my head, my back, then comes the wet big nose...poking at my face.  Then comes the long wet tongue...paw, poke, lick, paw, poke, lick.  He then shifts his 70 pound body towards my side of the bed, on my pillow, scooting me out of bed!!  This happens every Saturday and every Sunday!   Do I get mad...well I groan a little, but how can I get angry.  Ralphie actually motivates me to get my day started nice and early to get to see the sunrise.

I get up, put on the coffee, take Ralphie and Ollie outside in the dark to do there thing.  I let them in, prepare their breakfast, they gobble it up.  Then Ralphie jumps on the sofa, curls in a ball like a little cinnamon roll and starts snoring away.  I am up and awake!!  Aha...no way is my boy going snooze away after getting me up at 5:30AM on Saturday morning.  "Ralphie, up, up, let's go for a walk."  Yep, it's time for our morning walk.  Truly Ralphie doesn't mind, he wouldn't pass up a walk for anything.

Our walk is at a medium pace, a lot of stops for sniffing, doing his business and picking up cans for Richard at the dog park, who collects cans for extra income.  I can say Saturday mornings are most enjoyable, cool, quiet, peaceful.   I feel so blessed to have Ralphie in my life to enjoy our mornings...it would so not be the same without him.  LOVE.

The Vizsla's Wiggle Waggle Tail

There sure were a lot of dogs at the dog park yesterday evening!  Most of the time I'm out in the park playing with all the dogs rather than just sitting on the bench chatting with the dog owners.  As I was playing with the dogs I noticed something a little different with Ralphie compared to the other dogs.  Ralphie's tail is wagging all the time, 100 MPH, not only his tail his whole butt is wagging!  Sure the other dogs' tails wag, but not like Ralphie's.  I begin to wonder is it because his mama is out there playing with them while the other dog owners are doing their own thing at the bench?  I just started watching and analyzing Ralphie's behavior...he wiggle waggles walking up to the humans, then he stands there in front of them just waggling away...fast!  I watch the other dogs walk up to me...unlike Ralphie, I get a couple of sweeps of their tail...that's it!  I pet them, maybe another few tail sweeps.  Is this a Vizsla thing...their happy-go-lucky nature?

Out of curiosity I had to google this...why do dogs wag their tail...this is what I found...

Tail wagging reflects a dog's excitement, with more vigorous wagging relating to greater excitement.  

In 2007, researchers discovered that the way a dog wags its tail also gives clues about what it's feeling.

Specifically, a tail wagging to the right indicates positive emotions, and a tail wagging to the left indicates negative emotions.

This phenomenon has to do with the fact that the brain's left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, and vice versa. Research on the approach-avoidance behavior of other animals has shown that the left hemisphere is associated with positive-approach feelings, and the right hemisphere is associated with negative-avoidance feelings.

Interestingly, a 2013 study found that dogs understand the asymmetric tail wagging of other dogs — a right-wagging tail relaxes other canines, while a left-wagging tail makes them stressed.

My Ralphie is wagging (tail & butt) ALL the time and ANY time.  He's sitting right now on the back of my couch, with his paw on my hand as I'm typing, and his tail is wagging, hitting my shoulder!  This boy is always full of excitement!  But for some reason I really think he wants to go for a morning walk..."Mama, pleasssssse let's go for a walk!"  Wiggle-Waggle.

A Vizsla Mother's Day Tribute

This Mother's Day I feel blessed to have two adult children who are happy, successful, content, and loves life.  There is no doubt they are my world...big part of my world.   But the other part of my world are my 4-legged fur babies ... Ralphie and Ollie.

My adult children a self-sufficient now, sure they ask for Mom's advice occasionally but they no longer need for me to physically take care of them.  However, my fur-babies do.   There never comes a day that I feel put out with my pups.  I love them unconditionally.  It doesn't matter if I get awaken at 5am with sloppy wet kisses, or caring for my aging Ollie, or exercising my Ralphie no matter how tired I am.  The love they give back in return is indescribable.  I feel so blessed to have the two most lovable fur-babies ever.

This Mother's Day I am thankful for Ralphie and Ollie's mama, who gave birth to my boys.  I never met Ollie's mom but I have met Ralphie's mom, Gemma ... both are the most amazing moms to give birth to Ralphie and Ollie.  Thank you Gemma and thank you Ollie's mom!

Ralphie is one of those pups! Thank you Gemma for being such a great mama!

Gemma giving baby Ralphie a smooch! *smack*