Aug 11: fun with Ildi

she starts out so angelic... (and looks how big she's gotten!)


then the fun starts!


and she just keeps going if you start laughing - she likes to make you laugh!

Aug 10: clipping Ildi's nails.

Ildi is usually pretty good when you have to do something to her - clean a wound, etc... and she's not so bad when I clip her nails, though I often do it when she's half asleep. I've decided that I shouldn't have to wait for those circumstances, so I've been working with her to let me clip her nails when she's fully awake. This position has been quite handy! lucky for me she likes this position!
I try to clip her nails weekly.



Clipping Ildi's nails...


all done!

July: Ildi has puppy warts

I wish I had taken a picture of her warts so that other could know - she had 3 warts. One on the outside of her mouth, basically on top of her whisker hair follicles. Then 2 inside above her teeth, along her gums. The one on the outside got to as big a corn kernal and was pretty gross to look at! The ones on the inside were white and like little cauliflower clumps.
We were away for 2 weeks in those two weeks, the warts reached full size. So when we got back to her we weren't sure what to do -do we take her to the vet? can they be removed? Chad did lots of research and it seems like there was no point in taking her to the vet, but there were some more natural remedies - like giving her 500mg of L-Lysine everyday. and that seemed to work quickly - within a week the wart on the outside was dying (turning black). Then within 2 weeks the outside wart was mostly black and while playing it must have gotten caught on something and the wart came off (there was a little blood). The inside warts were now turning grey with black flecks and now by 3 weeks, they have gone down completely.

They say puppy warts are pretty common as their immune system hasn't fully developed to its strongest, but like chicken pox and kids - she shouldn't get them again!

Here's a pic of Chad and Ildi's usual nap time - only Ildi's getting pretty big! :)

June in Coeur d'Alene: too hot for Ildi!

We took Ildi with us on a trip to Coeur d'Alene where Chad had an ironman race. It was actually a great experience with her because of the crowds - she actually settles down a bit and doesn't try to jump on everyone (which she would do if there was just one or two people around). It was also interesting as we discovered this crowd (of super athletic people) know her breed very well. And several couples came up to us to get their Vizsla fill as they had left their Vizsla at home. She was the star of the event!

Though it was also her first time in hot weather - with temps around 30C every day. While we tried to always keep her with us - not stuck in the car, we noticed that by the end of 2nd day she was drooling uncontrollably. One the 3rd day in CDA (2nd day of drooling), we were extremely concerned and started googling and emailing friends for advice. One site suggested it could be puppy warts and with a thorough check of her mouth we did discover some (they looked like canker sores as they were just beginning to form). But I actually think the problem was the heat (though it was good to discover the warts too). I kept her in the AC'ed hotel room on the 4th day in CDA (race day) and that stopped her drooling finally. It was scary to learn that just being outside (and usually in the shade) with only short car trips was having such an affect on her. We know for future we have to be super careful with her on our road trips! (the 2nd picture is of her hiding under the bed - heat exhausted)

Also of note, she was legendary on this trip for not coming when called! by the end (30min of trying to get a hold of her!) I was furious!! She would just turn and run in the opposite direction if I tried to get close to her and there was no way she was coming when I physically called her. I tried every tactic I could of - being super fun and cheerful as I called her, being very firm (but calm), running away from her, poking in the grass (so that it looked I discovered something interesting) and even trying to be very zen like and sitting on the ground sending positive thoughts for her to come. NOTHING worked!! Finally, I tried poking around in the dirt more (as that's what she kept returning to a certain sport for) - and had to lift this enormous log - so that it created a fresh spot of earth for her sniff.
I think this is beginning of her rebellious stage...

June pictures

June: Ildi tries to swim!

I wish I had a picture or video to go along with this post!
Ildi has only been near open water (that's not a rushing river) twice now. On her first time, she was with a fellow vizsla who loves to jump around in the water. Ildi eventually walked into the water (up to the top of her legs) and was splashing about - bopping the bubbles each leg lift would make!

Then on her second time near water - to a place we call Shangri-La (an off leash park in Canmore), she came into the company of a GSP and a Chocolate Lab - who were fetching and frolicking in the water. She loved trying to play with these guys so much that she would walk into the water here too - with lots of praise from us! Then out of nowhere she bounded in deeper and found herself not being able to touch - it took her a second to try and figure out how to get out of this predicament, but she did. She swam! though not the most efficient swimmer yet - you should have seen all the splashing! :) You could tell she still wasn't sure of the whole swimming thing yet as she was still only comfortable going in up to her legs. She did start dunking her entire head under though - I think she was trying to pick up rocks under the water. too funny - she looked like a duck with her head under water and her body above! But then, out of the blue - with no dogs to chase or toy to fetch she bounded into deeper water and tried swimming again!

needless to say, now that we have found a couple of safe swimming spots, we're going to give Ildi lots of opportunities to master swimming.

May 23: Ildi is spayed

wow - it's been too long since I wrote and actually there has been a fair amount going on for little Ildi.
The biggest news is that she got spayed last week. It was probably harder on the humans than her! I hated that she was staying overnight at the vet; imagining her all by herself in a kennel for the evening. She's so used to our laps on the couch - how would she survive?! But when we picked her up the next morning she seemed her usual self and all the staff seemed to have loved her - she so social!

We weren't sure what to expect after her surgery; would she be groggy, low energy, etc... she seemed like herself though. Though she didn't get any walks for 2 days and she wasn't bouncing off the walls, so I guess she was lower energy than usual.
We took it easy on her and walked her for only short ones for the next 3 days, but you could tell she wanted more. It was amazing that she had all her usual energy and seemed to be in no pain.
It's been a week since surgery and we have her back to normal walks (2x/ day at 45min each), but always on the leash and never in the dog park. I can just picture her getting rolled by another dog and her stitches coming out. She seems to be in a little more pain now though, we notice that sometimes she when she's lying down, she'll whine and then try to changes positions - even a standing-up-sleep (leaning against the couch). The incision site itself is starting to look much worse too - I might call the vet on Monday in fact. While it doesn't seem infected (warm or pussy), it has gotten hard and raised (like from beneath the skin) and only now is starting to lick it.

Other than that, we have been using this time to really practice our walks with her. We have a new harness (the Gentle Leader Easy Walk harness) that has been working out really well and we've been practicing 'heel' by turning direction 180 degrees when she pulls and some positive reinforcement with her favourite Buddy Biscuits when she looks at us while walking.