Happy St. Patty's Day

My little leprechaun says, "HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!"  

The Vizsla Size

Ralphie is a big boy, weighing in at 68-70 pounds.  He's a tad overweight, but we're working on it.  I've cut his food, Zignature, to one cup with a half cup of green beans, and a tablespoon of grain-free canned dog food (Evanger's).  That's his meal twice a day.

Some Vizsla people that we come across seem surprised by his size that it's almost making me feel I need to make an excuse for him.  However, I recently met a very nice V owner and V grandma at the dog park.  Surprisingly, they got their V from the same breeder.  No unwanted comments from them about Ralphie's size.  They pretty much said, boys are bigger and he looks beautiful.  Just like humans...we're all different, right?  I can honestly say Ralphie and his new V playmate, Stella both are stunning dogs with the deep red color, bright eyes, friendly, high energy, and happy.  Whether Ralphie is at 70 pounds and Stella is at 42 pounds...both are perfect.

Stella and Ralphie

The Vizsla Bath

There are so many positive things of owning a Vizsla.  One is the low maintenance grooming.  I give Ralphie a bath about 4 times a year and in between just rinse him down with a hose outside.  However, sometimes in the summer I need to give him a bath treatment to get rid of the allergens on him that makes him lose hair.  Vizslas are low or no odor dogs, pretty much keeping themselves clean like a cat.  I know Vizslas all have different degrees of shedding.  Jazz, my last Vizsla shed quite a bit.  I would always see short red hairs on my clothing and furniture.  Ralphie on the other hand, I never see a hair!  Even when I bathe him there is minimal hair left in the tub.

This morning was bath day for Ralphie.  He is so different than Jazz, my last Vizsla during bath time. Jazz was downright nasty...LOL  She did not want to get in the tub.  We actually had to put a towel over her head and then lift her in the tub.  The towel would calm her down for the lift in the tub.  Ralphie, on the other hand, isn't really fond of the bath at first, but he will step into the tub on command.  He stands still as I scrub him down, actually savoring the full body scrub.  I wipe his face down with a wet washcloth as he purrs, loving the attention.  After washing him, on command, he will jump out of the tub onto a towel on the floor.  Then I rub him down dry with another towel, and oh my he sure loves that part of his bath. I'll try to end the drying session, but he stands there with a look in his eyes that says, "more Mom more!"  I give in and continue rubbing him down with tons of kisses in between.  Afterwards he curls up on the couch, I cover him with a blanket to keep him warm.  He kisses me, I kiss him.  LOVE.

After bath, all cuddled up. Look at that sweet face!

The Piggy Vizsla

I know I'm guilty and now I'm paying for it.  I feed my Ralphie my food when I'm eating!  He's become a beggar!  He's become overweight!  He's become a food thief!  Always looking for food!

Lesson learned.  I never had this problem with my last Vizsla, Jazz.  She was a food grazer.  She ate until she was full.  Actually she was quite thin, which always concerned me.  But now I realize that was just her normal physique...skinny.  LOL  Ralphie is the opposite...chubby, but it's not a normal physique! LOL

Now I'm in the process of reversing this piggy behavior of his.  Ralphie is just too focused on food...he gobbles his food up, then hovers over Ollie waiting for him to walk away from his bowl of food, he eats his leftovers, then he heads over to the dinner table, waiting for me to share my food!

The problem is me!  I feel he's a part of the family and should partake and indulge in some good human food.  So I share.  I'm starting slowly, I'm beginning to only share small pieces of my food and less often.  Before, I would take a bite, then give Ralphie a bite, back and forth.  It's not like that anymore...maybe a couple bites during my meal.  Eventually I'll stop all together.  I've also been giving him less kibble in his bowl knowing he will be eating Ollie's leftovers.  I'm adding green beans to his food to cut his calorie intake.  Ralphie is still gobbling sticks on our walks.  I wonder if their are calories in sticks?  That's been a real challenge teaching him, "leave it".  We're working on it.  Treats ... this has been cut substantially.  I just can't stop treats completely.  It would be like me stop eating dark chocolate or ice cream...impossible!  Just as I feel I deserve my 'treats' so does Ralphie!

I'll blog on Ralphie's progress in a month.  Let's see if I can change his manners and maybe lose a pound or 2.  He now weighs 70 pounds.

Housebreaking the Vizsla

Today on my morning walk with Ralphie as he was doing his potty duty outside I was having flashbacks of housebreaking the Vizsla ... both my long-gone Jazz and my now Ralphie.  It amazes me that Ralphie is living with an old Yorkie, Ollie, who is deaf, blind, and has dementia.  Ollie has no idea if he's doing his business inside or outside.  Lately it's more so inside.  Ralphie sees this everyday.  What makes Ralphie know that it's not okay for him to go in the house like Ollie?  Of course Ralphie has been housebroken for a long time, but he sees Ollie doing his business inside and he sees me cleaning it up.

Then I talk to numerous dog owners at the dog park having problems with housebreaking their pups/dogs.  Why was it so easy for me with both Jazz and Ralphie?  Does a Vizsla have this abnormal doggy intelligence?  Maybe, not so sure.  I've also talked to other Vizsla owners that tell me about their trials and tribulations of potty training.  I don't know, maybe I just got lucky and got 2 smart Vs.  So what did I do to make the potty training process easy?

• The minute I brought my pups home, potty training starts immediately
• Every 2 hours or sometimes even more often, I let my pup outside
• When he does his business, I praise him obnoxiously a lot, just to make sure he knew he did    the right thing
• I crated them when I left the house.  Ralphie was crated up until he was about 1 year, 9 months old
• I just never gave him a chance to go in the house, because I was taking him outside that often

That's all I did.  Ralphie had only 2 accidents in the house.  Once as a pup...a pee accident.  And the other just recently, a bout of diarrhea.  Obviously he had no control...I was not home and he had an upset stomach.  

I'm still not sure why Ralphie doesn't pick up Ollie's bad habit doing his business in the house...maybe Ralphie knows Ollie is old and can't help what he's doing.  I do see Ralphie staring at Ollie often...I always wonder what's going on in Ralphie's brain.  Yep, I believe Vizslas are extremely smart dogs and yep, the most lovable!  Vizslas are THE BEST!

Declaration of Love

Am I so weird to love my pups more than loving people?  How can I replace the love for a person with a dog?  Seriously, can there be something wrong with me? LOL

I've never felt a connection with a dog (or even a human) than I do with Ralphie.  I've never met a human so loyal, so loving, so caring, so connected to me.  I know he loves me so much by his actions.  He's by my side whenever he can be, 24/7.  He knows when I'm sad and shows his empathy by being right there for me.  Ralphie has been my healer of a broken heart after losing faith in humans.  He's my motivator.  He keeps me healthy both physically and mentally.  In return I try to give him all the love I have.  My world is pretty much centered around my dogs.  Strange?  Maybe to non-loving dog people.  Maybe to someone who never had a pet/human connection before.  Whether it's strange or not, I'm here to declare my love for my dogs.

I know you can't replace a human's love with a dog's love.  But why can't humans be more like dogs? Humans can be very hurtful, while a dog just shares his love so blissfully.   Truly I wouldn't feel connected to anyone that doesn't love dogs as much as I do.  It would need to be a very special human that can declare his love for their pup as I do.  That person would 'get' me.   Of course I'm not giving up on humans, but I can tell you one thing...that dog-lovin' human that is able steal my heart would need to be very special not only to me but to Ralphie and Ollie as well.  I always say, "humans can learn so much from a dog."

S.T.R.E.S.S.

S.T.R.E.S.S.
Yep, we all know about that.  It seems like I'm at my limit lately.  My work has been extremely stressful with changes, working double duty, and on and on.   It was a particular rough day today.  My work day wasn't all that great.  On my drive home I was anticipating a nice evening at the dog park, playing with Ralphie and his doggie buddies.  Just to de-stressed and enjoy time with Ralphie.  But it didn't happen that way.  I came home, walk in the house, the first thing I smell doggie poo.  I mean I really smell doggie poo.  I glanced around, poop literally all over the house, stomped on, dried up in the tile grout, on the walls...it was a disaster.  It looked like the house was bombed with poo!!

I stayed cool.  Didn't say a word to the dogs.  Just focused on the job at hand.  I know little old Ollie has dementia and he just can't help it.  He doesn't know what he's doing, plus he's blind.  He has no idea where he's going potty or that he's stomping in his mess.  Ralphie had a major accident!  He never poos or pees in the house.  It was obvious he had issues with diarrhea and upset stomach today.  It was a real mess.

It took me over an hour to clean the floors, walls, sofa throws.  STRESS.  Then I had to bathe both dogs...they stunk!  STRESS.

I truly feel I was tested today.  How much can I handle.  Craziness at work...aging dog...sick dog...smell...gross...all was cleaned up...then again, while I was in the kitchen making tomorrow's dinner...I look up and Ollie pooped again, stepped in it...more mess to clean up.  STRESS.

But as the evening winds down, I lie on the sofa, Ralphie above me, paw on my shoulder, curled in a ball, I drape a warm blanket over him...he sleeps so contently; Ollie on my lap nuzzled against me with an afghan wrapped around him.  I close my eyes, inhale, exhale, feeling the warmth of two pups that love me so much. Yes, it was a rough day but it all ends good.  LOVE.

"Mama, my day was stressful too!"

"Mama, I'm not stinky anymore!"