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: 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.

March 9: Ildi's new habits

We've noticed that Ildi is getting confident and curious and we've discovered that with that comes more 'bad' habits (read habits that we need to figure out how to stop or curb).

Perhaps it's timed with the relief of a warm week so all the snow has melted everywhere and in the fields we always walk in she seems to have a new wealth of smells available to her. In areas we once let her off-leash to explore and she would come when called, there is now no way she will return to you; she wanders off further in the opposite direction and I can actually believe that she can't hear you at all when she's in scent tracking mode. Like the Dog Whisperer says, '60% of her brain is controlled by smell' so that means that more than half of her brain is turned off to us humans. But it's getting worse and we fear we're ruining the recall command when we call her and she doesn't come. A few times she's even popped her head up, looked right at us, we call her and she runs in the other direction - still scent tracking of course. So we're going back to basics in some ways. We're only going to let her off-leash if we're certain she will come back to us and when she's playing with other dogs in the off-leash park. And we're going to be practicing our recall command under heavy distraction. I'm curious what this experience was like for other hunting dogs as puppies. I'll have to ask my friend who has two adult Vizslas.

Another one is that with the warm weather, the glacier in our backyard has melted so she can finally go and explore. Except we've learned that in her mind that means chew off branches or pull them out from the ground and eat the decorative grass (that once stood 5 ft tall) and any other periennal. I suppose we then shouldn't let her into the backyard unless we can supervise her at all times, but she was just moments away from figuring out how to get past our barriers so she would have gotten to the backyard on her own anyways. and she loves the backyard! whenever she's bored in the house she asks to go out and just sits in the yard - then starts to chew and eat my plants. I'm curious if dogs grow out of this behaviour?
oh - and here's a link to a site that lists all the indoor and outdoor plants that are poisonous to dogs; looks like I have some pulling to do :(
http://www.dogpack.com/health/poisonplants.htm

And suddenly she's started barking more. She now barks when she's playing with other dogs - as if to invite them to keep playing. and she started barking yesterday at something in the backyard that freaked her out (I think it was the wind), but she continued barking from inside the house still - at whatever was freaking her out. Then again last night when we were seeing friends and their puppy to the door (after a puppy play session). She stood behind her gate barking - obviously upset that she was left alone in the kitchen and she could see us all standing just a few feet away, but she never would have started barking in that situation before. Someone once told that as she gets more confident, she'll bark more. hmmm - how to curb this, fast!

but thankfully, at the end of the day, she still loves a good cuddle and nap in our laps! that always help to melt away the frustrations of the day :)

Day 18: lots of cuddle time

so with Chad away, I've developed the habit of watching some evening TV with her on my lap. I love the cuddle time and I think she loves the nap time. Funny I had heard that Vizsla's are lap dogs, but it's still seems strange that that can be a breed thing - but it's definitely true in her case. She likes nothing more than playing with hey toys in your lap or sleeping on you. The sweet cuddle time makes up for all the times she won't listen to me and is jumping up on the couch or stealing slippers!

We're still having walk issues - but the plus side is that it's forcing me to drive her to other locations and then she also gets to meet more people and have new experiences. Though it's definitely more time consuming!

new fun game for her - she likes to play with more than one toy at once. So in this picture, she hides her ball under her pillow and moves it all around. it's quite entertaining to see how she makes new games for herself.

oh - and the new command I'm determined to teach her before Chad gets back it 'stand'.