___________VizslaLove___________

I witnessed the first animal only meeting at our home today. huh.

I still recommend the "What's Good About 'Em" website for research purposes. We did not realize certain things about the Vizsla until we actually had one home for quite a while.

1. They are about one of the highest need breeds of dog a person can have - While I was aware that Vizsla's have high energy and social needs. They seem to require 2-3x as much attention and time as other dogs their age. In our class today, the other 2 dogs were exhausted, Oso still had at least two hours of exercise left in him.

2. They are prone to seizure disorders - Important to know. I should have gotten a history of how Oso's ancestors died and if any in the past had seizures. VERY important and we did not do this. As far as I know, Oso doesn't have a disorder, but it wouldn't show up until he is in his first year (most likely).

3. When you purchase one, you join a secret Vizsla Club - Other Vizsla owners consider you family. They like you JUST because of the type of dog you chose. People will come up to you and say, "Is that a Vizsla?" They have a look on their face that means they are proud because they know what kind of dog it is. Most likely they are groupies. They are proud just to know about the club. Unfortunately most of these people pronounce "Vizsla" wrong. It's ok, we still love them because they think our dogs are the best.

4. It is pronounced Veez-shla - Now, you would think I would know for sure how to pronounce the name of the breed before purchasing. Nope. I was a groupie as well... actually, a wannabe groupie and in the Vizsla 101 video (which I watched on Youtube) they say it several different ways - they didn't know either. Here's a link to a cafepress store with a logo all about the pronunciation.

5. There is no way that I could have raised this puppy if I had a young child at home - I'm not speaking for everyone. But, I work only 10 hours a week and am an online Grad student. I am home most of the time and raising this dog has kicked my butt. I am so glad that we got this dog before we had a family. I still feel like I am behind in the training he needs to be well behaved. I truly think pre-kids is a good time to get this dog (as long as you are not working all the time) and also when you are retired.

6. What a cute and quirky personality he/she would have - Now, this is probably something that goes along with all dogs, but this little guy has the best little personality and expressive face. This seems to be the essence of the breed.

7. How often he would get sick as a puppy - When you buy your pup, have a separate expense account all ready just for this. Oso got kennel cough, giardia, coccidia, and a granuloma and he is only 5 months. According to the forum, this is typical of young Vizslas - that they get sick quite a bit before their immune system is strong. (Yes, he got vaccinated against kennel cough!).

That is all I can think of for now - There are other things that I can think of about getting a dog that we were surprised about. We were surprised how much more difficult it was than having a cat. How we did not just immediately love him. (We liked him, but it took a while for the bond to develop. He was cute, but he took so much from us and we didn't even know him yet. I would say it took weeks). What else?

Guess I'll update this if I think of anything in the future. We are extremely proud to be in the vizsla club, but you've got to have the right situation for this kind of dog. With the time it takes to keep him/her emotionally and physically happy, it requires a specific lifestyle (or realistic lifestyle change) from the owner. I had heard this, but did not understand it until little Oso had been home for quite a while. He is a member of our family and Oscar and I have both had a lot of adjustments to make. My guess is this will decrease slightly as he matures. It already is SOOOO much easier.

All the best,

- FS

Oso had such a fun day today. Only on weekends do my husband and I both get to take Oso out on outings. He had a blast today not only at our local wooded area, but at the dog park.

He had so much fun and looked like a little bunny.

However, it was pretty cute how he did it - I'm obviously a doting mom, yes?

He walked off the bed, threw up and then while I cleaned it up stared at it and cocked his head to the left and then the right to the left and then the right. Then he stared about a minute longer and bounded with his too long uncoordinated Bambi legs over to the bed and started sniffing and wagging his tail at the very relaxed Tipsy boy who does not want to bothered.

Now, he is under the blankets.

I have zero idea why he threw up, it's never happened before. I'm not going to be too worried about it unless he keeps doing it though.

Happy Wednesday All,

Oso likes it a lot better than the old one, but would still prefer to escape his memory foam pet bed to lie on the floor by my feet. ;)

*** As I was posting this, Oso just got up and went back into his crate to relax. SUCCESS!!!

He is a happy little sick baby. I was a wreck, crying on and off. During kennel cough, the granuloma and giardia Oso was happy and pretty comfortable. For Coccidia, the symptoms came on quickly and severely.

THE UGLY DETAILS (it's about poop, so not much fun to read)

He had normal stool in the morning and then we went to the dog park. He went to the side as he often does in the beginning to poo and out came a bit of diarrhea and drops of fresh red blood. My husband pointed it out and I immediately got our vet on the phone. They were not that concerned and said to monitor him unless lots of blood starts coming out. Well, Oso tried to play, but immediately went back to trying to poop and just a stream of blood was coming. I dragged him out of the park while hubby went to pick up the poop and we took him straight to the emergency room. We didn't know if he had eaten something and I wanted anything to happen there and not with me. For the next 3 hours, Oso bled and got out tiny bits of poop. He started out happy when not straining, but soon was just exhausted and uncomfortable. He didn't want to play. It was so horrible. I was a wreck, but calmed down once I realized he wasn't in serious danger and would be ok. The vet was wonderful and I liked what she prescribed and how she answered my many questions (all the possible questions I could think of)

Anyways, as the title of my post alluded to, I got a cute photo of Oso on the vet's table to compare with the first when he was only 10 weeks old. We think he is just ADORABLE!

I had a dream that Oscar and I were looking at a litter of little 8 week old puppies along with some other people. They were rottweiler puppies, but they were cute and everyone was saying how they wanted one. Oscar asked me if I wanted another puppy and I told him I didn't think I could go through all the work again right now. At that moment, I looked back at Oso who was on a huge deck overlooking a beautiful cliff view and his leash was under a chair (holding him there). There were other dogs in similar situations separated by a partition. One dog was restrained by having his leash attached to a hook hanging from the ceiling. A closer look showed that there was no weight on the chair to keep it still, so I walked over and put his leash under something heavier (I think it was a table). I went back to Oscar thinking (as cranky wives do), what in the world was Oscar thinking? A few minutes later, something started happening with the dogs. They all starting making their way to the open side of the decks, looking down at something. Something was down there and the puppies were jumping. At first no one was alarmed, we thought they would be ok and were surprised talking about them being lemmings. Then we heard the huge booms of the chairs coming down after them (which were supposed to hold them on the deck). The dog held by the hook attached to the beam had walked off and was strangling itself. Oso and one other dog were the only puppies who hadn't fallen because they were under something heavy. Everyone was afraid to look over and see if the others were alive (which they probably weren't). And then I woke up.

Oso has giardia, which translates into diarrhea which is very difficult to pick up, but imperative!! as you don't want to affect other doggies and last night he started coughing. Could he have bordatella too? Even though he got the shots? I heard the vaccination wasn't that great and perhaps his immune system is low because of the giardia.

Hope it goes away soon. He's still a cute little beast though and the granuloma on his head is slowly decreasing in size. :)

He was prescribed: