Springtime sun

From Ren on March 23rd:

We played in the yard in the springtime sun today. Even

great-aunt Szuka acted goofy. I found a nice smelly bird skull,

so I rolled on it. (That's what great grandmother Sarah always

did, Mom says). Mom said next weekend I get to meet some live 

birds. Turner says that is MUCH more fun than shows or classes.

I like class, though; I get to show off and lots of people pet me.

Finding a bird.

Sunbathing.

Checking things out along the fence.

Playing with Szuka.

When you got an itch, you have to scratch it.

Josie Update 3/19

(Blogger note: so sorry I have fallen behind on the updates...)

Josie graduates from her train-and-play tomorrow (March 20)

and she's learned so much. She's just so smart, I can't stand

it. No matter how many distractions are around her, she

still does what we ask. Such a good girl!

Speaking of the Peanut, on the eve of the pups' 5 month

birthday, Josie weighed in at 25.5 lbs. Can't wait to see 

what the other pups come in at.

Somehow while playing with Stash, she managed to

take off his bandana and put it on herself. 

(Stash looks like he's asking, "Hey, what happened?")

The little Mess is just being silly.

Swimming!

Last weekend Treeva and Dante went swimming at a great place called Think Pawsitive. They offer swimming sessions for dogs in their swimming pool.
Swimming is hard work!

Swimming by themselves

Treeva is worried about Dante's swimming technique

Tired Treeva

Dante & Treeva At the Doggy Amusement Park

It has long been a running joke that Penny Honetor and Rob Glazier live at the Doggy Amusement park. It is the perfect doggy playland with acres of fenced in space for running. Treeva and Dante visited recently to play with Vivi and Buelow.

See Sister Ren, You aren't the only one who loves sticks!


Keeping up with the big guys!


Here I Come!!!

Treats through the fence for Dante and Treeva


Here Dante is paying homage to Queen Vivi

Josie had some company

Josie had some company this weekend...my neighbor's

6 month old German Short Hair stayed with us while

they were out of town. And talk about a handful! But

little Josie gave as good as she took. What a pair of messes!

Josie and Jenga played...

...and played...

...and played...

...and finally slept!

Dante - Growing, Playing and Losing Teeth

Not much really new to report here. We are still having a lot of fun in Agility Class. Dante did the dogwalk all by himself last weekend and is really starting to understand the contact touches. We visited Penny and Rob's house last weekend to run and play with their red dogs. Both Treeva and Dante had a lot of fun and were tired when we went home.

Polly asked about nick names - we call Dante "the Saur" - which is short for Dantasaur.

John started working on whistle training for the hunting field with Dante - using Treeva to help him understand the signals. That is progressing nicely and will hopefully get him on birds in the near future.

Dante has been chewing nyla bones and rawhides like it is going out of style. I noticed all his front teeth are now adult teeth. Even though I haven't found any teeth laying around, I know he is losing them.

Nicknames

Our pups often go by more than one name. Here are some of 

their nicknames:

Bree - Breezy, Easy Breezy (taken from the CoverGirl tag line 

"Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, CoverGirl"), Breezly, Little Monk 

(short for Monkey - all of our vizslas have had the Monk 

nickname, she's been the only "Little Monk") and Mini-Me 

(my friends call her that when she is next to Rainey). When 

she was a wee pup, Piglet was used quite often. A new one, 

which I have no idea where it came from, is Bree Berry. And

how can I forget - The Respirator!

Dante - The Saur which is short for Dantasaur.

Jaspar - Little guy. When I got Jaspar he practically fit in my 

hands. At first he seemed so little, and made all kinds of noises 

when he slept just like a little baby. Now he isn't any more a 

little guy, but I still call him little guy. Jazzy. Jazzman are 

alternatives. Also stinky poo. And when he first arrived, "the poop 

mobile." That was a play on his prodigious capacity to go potty 

number 2, and the fact I am working at a Catholic institution. 

The priest thought it hysterical.

Josie - She has had a number of nicknames that have evolved...

it's a wonder she even responds to her real name! We call her

Outlaw, Peanut, Mess (because she such a silly), Miss Mess,

Punkin Butt, Muffin. No doubt there will be more as time goes by.

Ren - Widget and Small Thing. She's actually a good size for her 

age and will probably wind up a 22 inch bitch - middle of 

standard - but she's living with two large males, so she looks 

small in comparison.

Rogan - Roggie, Roganator, Kitty-Cat, Munchkin, Sweet Pea

and Sweet Boy.

Salsa - Saucy Britches, Saucy Pants, Yo Mama (don't even ask),

Baby Bitch from hell (again, don't ask). 

How about counter surfing?

While Rogan has stolen a cherry or two out of my cup

in weeks past (frozen cherries are my treat of choice),

he had his first official counter surfing on Sunday. While

Jack and I were doing kitchen cleaning, he very neatly

and QUIETLY stole three RAW chocolate chip cookies

from the awaiting-the-oven cookie sheet. Our backs 

were turned and he was less than 5 feet from us.

So is he the first to counter surf?

I still say Kate and Karen bred cats. This pup cuddles more 

than either of my cats. As I type sitting on my bed, laptop on 

my lap, his head rests on the laptop also. Sound asleep...

until I wake him for his last potty run.

He's also learning to use the treadmill (fast walk, 5 mins only).

With treats, even Layla's getting into the act.

I've been lazy and not taken photos of late.

Josie's first rainy day

Josie experienced her first real rainy day on Wednesday and, this 

may be needless to say, she did not like it. She's never done her 

business so quickly! After I went to work, my neighbor brought 

her over to play with her favorite "toy", Stash.

"Come on - let's play!"

Stash wants to help wipe Josie down after 

being outside and she says "Na-na!"

"I know you have treats...I will stare at you 

until you give one to me."

Josie and Stash practicing tandem sits...

...and downs. Next up, synchronized swimming!

Hi, siblings!!!

Hi, siblings! My Mom has not been on the computer much

because she has been taking me and my boy-toy Turner 

on big trips. I really like traveling and seeing new things 

and new people. Turner says when I am older I will get

to go inside the big buildings and run around the show

ring like he does, but right now I have to stay outside.

Mom says this standing on the table stuff is practice for 

when I get to go in the shows. I prefer wiggling and

kissing people, but I guess the standing is okay, 

since Mom feeds me treats when I do it.

Mom says my puppy class starts March 19th. I hope 

the teacher recognizes how SPECIAL I am!

--  Ren

Bree and baby dog agility

On Sunday mornings Bree and I have been dropping in

on my friend Stacey's beginner agility classes.

She was the youngest pup in class, but was

always the perfect little demo dog.

This last Sunday was graduation where we get

to run a full course using the skills that were

learned over the past several weeks.

Since Bree is still a baby dog, we kept the bars on 

the ground. At this point it was more about teaching 

her to follow my lead than jumping.

While I lost her for a few moments (she kept going back

where she was previously treated), I was able to get her 

back on course. She definitely loves to play the game! 

She is a great little worker and I look forward to 

playing more agility with my little superstar!

 

Bree and her bed

Bree has this habit of taking her bedding out of her crate

and parading it around the living room.

Here she is pulling it onto the big dog bed...

...and chewing on it...

...and whipping it around like a toy.

She is so proud of herself!

Rainey is NOT amused.

But then she joins in on the fun...

...and they really start to wrestle.

"Okay, I guess Bree is fun!"

Bree, Puppy Obedience & the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Program

 

Things have been a little busy in the household, so I have 

been a little behind in keeping everyone up to date on Bree.

She has been a very busy girl! When we first brought her home, 

we immediately enrolled her in puppy classes with the Dog 

Obedience Group (D.O.G. for short!). All of our vizslas have 

gone through classes with them. Their focus is on positive 

reinforcement, operant conditioning, clicker training and 

overall just having fun with your dog. 

Bree was a great student! She has a wonderful work ethic 

that has made training her so easy. She already came home 

with a perfect sit and incredible eye contact (thanks, Karen!) 

so I didn't need to spend too much time on that. We worked 

on downs (because Aunt Rainey does not like to down, we 

REALLY worked on it so now it's Bree's default position!), 

recalls, walking loosely on leash, puppy massage, how to 

work through distractions as well as had good old puppy playtime!

Here is Bree (in her "sunny" yellow collar) showing off 

her eye contact while sitting with her friends 

Diamond the Vizsla and Amos the Border Terrier.

 

On February 8th we had puppy graduation where we got to show

off all that we had learned over the past several weeks. We also 

got to do a trick. Some of the other students did high fives, 

rolling over and playing dead. I decided to teach her a trick that 

would be useful for us in agility down the line. With a command 

of "go to your mat" she would run from several feet away to 

her mat, lie down and put her head down. I have a feeling she 

is going to have a better table performance in agility than 

Rainey ever did. It was really cute!

Our graduating class.

D.O.G. also offered participation in AKC's new S.T.A.R. Puppy 

Program. S.T.A.R. stands for:

Socialization

Training 

Activity

Responsibility

It's a new program designed to get dog owners and puppies off 

to a good start. They are "tested" on many of the things that 

we went over on class. It's a very natural lead to the Canine 

Good Citizen test.  

You can read more about AKC's S.T.A.R. Puppy Program at:

http://www.akc.org/starpuppy/

Our class had four S.T.A.R. Puppy graduates:

The Vizslas Diamond & Bree, Whitney the Boston

Terrier and Shaina the Shephard.

Photo Update: Salsa

These were taken at Ann & Kenny's home the other night.

Most are of Salsa trying to convince Uncle Nickel

to give up his bone!!!