___________VizslaLove___________

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

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.

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!

His official name is Oso Timothy Overtime Sanchez and he is a Male Golden Rust color.

Oso - In honor of a dog my husband had as a child and could not with him when he immigrated to the United States.

Timothy - The name that I think most accurately "fits" his personality.

Overtime - This little boy always speeds up while we get home. He has tons of energy and is the boy that you'd want to put in during over time. We believe he is a finisher!

Sanchez - The family name. :)

My husband and I got our cats about six months after we were married. They were our little boys. E.T. had a bad eye and had to go to the vet quite often in the beginning, but overall it was a wonderful time. We had lots of moments of joy and my husband and I experienced such intimacy in our shared love for our new family members. Here are some photos from that time period.

February 2008

The cats were quick learners. They didn't need to be potty trained (which of course is typical of cats) and were easily redirected from negative behaviors to positive behaviors, ie. biting cords to biting straws, scratching furniture to scratching cat scratcher. They learned their names within their first week at home and quickly knew sit and up as well. They were our babies. They were smart and they loved us. Up until the time we got Oso, we would have at least one cat greet us at the door when we got home, often all three. Here are some recent photos of the group.

I have a photo on my camera which is not yet uploaded of all three of them snuggling together on a cold night. They were our babies and they still are. Experiencing their development from only 5 weeks of age is one of the reasons why we decided to get a puppy rather than an adult vizsla. I will often look at the cats and remember what they looked like as a baby and how they fit in the palms of my hands. It makes me love them even more.

With Oso, it is not difficult to see him as our little baby. He depends on us at a much higher level than the cats ever did. I am reminded of this as I softly whispered to him to help him fall asleep tonight after a midnight potty break. He transformed from yelping to sleep within moments. All he needed was a little comfort. (don't worry I waited for a break in the yelping to start the love)

We chose the vizsla breed partially for their reputation as the "velcro" dog. Our little guy does not disappoint. The longer we've had him the more he has grown in our heart and us in his. When we brought him home he was the happiest little camper. He slept through the first night and did not seem to miss his siblings or humans. When we took him to puppy day care, he left happily, his first time at dog beach he sought comfort when overwhelmed with a big dog with the human's feet who was closest (not ours). Yet, he knows he belongs to us. His recall is magnificent. When I call him at dog beach, a hike or in the middle of puppy playtime he searches for me. His expressive little eyes searching the room before he starts running towards me (or a person he thinks is me) as quickly as possible. The look he gives me while running has me hooked. He is our baby. We have 4 now, we are the Sanchez 6.

And although the cats and Oso are not best of buddies, Tipsy let Oso touch his nose today and that is a great start. The cats never showed us that they doubted our love and as I sit here typing, all three of them are sleeping within 4 feet of me. Oso is fast asleep in his crate, comforted with a couple minutes of soothing words.

*When we first got Oso all three cats got a lot of entertainment in watching him as often as tehy could. Notice them perched around the sofa.

And a formal introduction....

To finish off the post, I must remark that raising a puppy is much more difficult than raising the cats. We are doing the best we can and only hope the little guy turns out as well as his feline brothers.

Oscar and I had mixed emotions the whole day. The house felt so empty without little Oso running around in it, but we were able to get a lot done (at least for the hours we weren't working). Overall, I think it was nice.

We picked up the little boy and he was exhausted. And then, dun, dun ,dun we find that our precious baby who we try to take such good care of has a SPLINTER or a CACTUS PRICK (we aren't sure which). We do our best to get it out, it wasn't in the paw which is good, it was on his side. We got the tweezers and soap and cue tip and dug away into our poor baby. He was even bleeding, but was so tired after a couple initial little cries he fell asleep during the process. We then took him to In N Out, where he got to sit on my lap while he watched us eat. He almost got a lick of Oscar's burger, so we joked that it was all over now that he knows what human food tastes like. I'm not sure about that. We initially felt that we would never bring him back to that sweet little doggy daycare again. I'm looking into other options and there is a chance we'll go back. It seems better than a lot of its competitors. There is still another one which looks promising and I'd prefer we try that right now.

Puppy play time at our local Petco is a fun time of the week for both Oso and me. We've been 3 times now and Oso experienced a huge turn around in terms of his comfort level with other dogs. I feel so happy that our local Petco offers this. Bailey, the trainer, is just wonderful and I am able to bring Oso about 3x a week. I called around all our other Petco's and ours is the only one who offers it on a regular basis.

1) It gets Oso comfortable with other doggies.

2) It is just so cute to see all the little puppies playing with each other.

3) It is a lesson for both Oso and me as to how dog play looks versus dog fighting.

4) The same people are there day to day, week to week. It's socialization for me as well!

5) Oso gets to exert energy with his friends for 30 minutes to an hour. It is difficult to exercise him when you are scared about diseases everywhere. At puppy playtime, I sit back and watch the cuteness as Oso tire himself out.

*We saw a marked difference in Oso's interest in other dog's after Day 1. When he saw dog's on the street he would be so eager to go see them. With adult dogs he takes a submissive pose and wags his tail licking them all over. Most of the dogs love it, but some get annoyed. His energy level is amazingly high!

We went to a local coffee shop and showed him off to the owner, the sweetest woman whose name I can never remember. She knows us though and we know her, it is a happy small business relationship.

At first Oso was pulling and biting at the leash, stopping to sniff, etc. I looked at Oscar and said, "What would Cesar Millan do?" We both realized at the same time - assertive calm. So, we focused on our assertive calm attitude and put off conversation through the walk. Our sweet boy caught on pretty quickly.

We all enjoyed our rainy day walk and thanks to Auto timer, I got my favorite shot of the three of us as of yet.

One of the things that attracted us to this energetic and beautiful breed was their love of cuddling. Oso is no exception. He strives to get his face closest to yours, that second photo was not posed, the cutie snuggled up to me cheek-to-cheek. We will see how much we love this cuddling as he gets bigger. But, I imagine it will be no problem.

Oso went to his first restaurant yesterday.

It was a love/hate experience. He initially loved it and then hated it. Oscar wanted to bring him and with only a little trepidation, I agreed (it is 5 minutes from our home).

Mike & Anne's is one of our local South Pasadena joys. Oscar loves breakfast here and I enjoy the lunch. Their sweet potato fries are delicious.

Oso lasted for about 10 minutes and then I took him back to the house. He began our "meal" by keeping himself busy with sniffing the bushes, knocking over his water and getting his kong and bully stick as dirty as possible. He concluded his adventure by repeatedly walking through the cast iron gate onto the restaurant side of the patio, whining and then yelping loudly for attention.

Oso fell asleep on the way back to the car and settled in nicely to the crate before I returned to finish my meal with Oscar. He isn't ready for dining with us yet. I think he could do it if in my lap, but then who would allow that? Did I mention that I took him to Bank of America, shoe shopping and to a clothing store that morning? Poor Oso... we really need to go on a walk with him. I'm sure he's looking forward to finishing his vaccinations so I can put him down on the ground in more dog-heavy spots.

Here is a couple photos from our venture. I forgot my phone, but Oscar let me use his phone to get a couple shots.

Oso met my grandmother on Saturday. I was unsure as to whether I should bring him, but am so glad that I did.

I brought him primarily for my Grandma. I knew she would want to meet him, but I did not realize how much fun it would be for him. He raced through the rooms, saw himself for the first time in a full length mirror, barked at his reflection, growled, played with it and then fell asleep with my 94 year old grandma. He cuddled with her for almost 45 minutes. She was SO very happy!

I brought toys and treats and had each vet tech he met feed him the good stuff (freeze dried liver). He did really great! He cried when they put the vaccination in, but he immediately got good stuff later. He saw some big dogs while we were leaving and wanted to go play. He fought going back in the car. It was a good experience overall. :)

*He got Parvo, Distemper and dewormed and is officially 10 weeks old as of today and he weighs 9 pounds.

**Photos are blurry as I used the iphone (I didn't expect to take photos!!)

We started with only a few chew toys. My mother came to visit over the weekend and immediately said he needed more toys. To my surprise, after we came back he entertained himself for quite a while with the new toys.

This had NEVER happened for such an extended period. My husband and I had to be on him 100% of the time when he was awake - training him, making up games for him and playing with him. Toys kept him out of trouble and kept us sane.

We could actually check the email with new toys or cook dinner. This is something I was not aware of as a new puppy parent.

While I do not advocate letting your puppy play solely with toys (as this would prevent important training and bonding time with his people), I feel independent play is vital to the health of the family.

Here is Oso with his new toy after my mom visited:

I just came back with new loot from Petsmart. It is like magic. :)

Oscar and I were both very tired, but I still appreciate our first almost family photo. Snowball is a bit in the background. We are missing the other two cats. May be a bit longer until we can get them all together.

This is his story:
October, 25, 2011: Chicago, Illinois - Oso was dropped off by his foster mother Michele Sideris at the O'Hare Airport at around 8:00am. He had been sleeping in his crate for four nights so far, but this would be the longest time he would spend in the crate. He wouldn't be landing at LAX until 3:00pm Illinois time, 1:08pm in Los Angeles.

His adopted parents had chosen Tuesday over a Friday delivery so that they could both be there to pick him up at the airport. Unfortunately, they didn't know they could not get him until possibly two hours after the plane landed and if Oscar (his new father came) he would be late for work. His new mom was so looking forward to the ride home with her husband and new puppy, but felt it worked out better this way in the end. Eager to see her puppy, Francine (me - adopted mom) got to the United Cargo section of LAX an hour early and was pleased to find that Oso was ready to come home.

She was shocked at his small size. He was so much cuter than the photos! Francine had brought a bag of dog food, treats, a plastic bag to pick up food and unscented dog wipes. She also brought her camera and a shirt that smelled like Oscar. What stood out most to Francine, other than the absolutely adorable little puppy that was part of her family was the incredible stench coming from the carrier. Poor Oso, of course, could not hold in his poop for so long and was forced to not only poop on himself, but stay in his own excrement. Despite this, Oso was happy and hungry.

Francine walked Oso out to the car, after signing a few papers, and stopped at the only semi grassy area in sight around the airport. At this point she attempted to take Oso out to use the bathroom, to clean him up with the wipes and give him food and water. Unfortunately, Francine had not accounted for the fact that there would be zip ties holding the carrier doors closed. She was at a loss; she couldn't get them open. She gave Oso water through the cage door and tossed the food in there as well, as Oso was yipping at the food and obviously hungry. She made the decision to drive to a store and get some scissors. The first place she saw was a gas station. She got some nail clippers, but they didn't work on the thick zip ties. While getting gas, trying to feed Oso and figure out what to do, she was "harassed" by people trying to get money at the station. At this point, she was also lost - which way was home? Neither the GPS or the iPhone was working. She pulled over at another gas station, trying to free the disgustingly smelly dog. No luck. However, at this point, the gps started working. After a long smelly ride home of Francine singing oldies to Oso and flinging dry dog food into the container, Oso finally fell asleep.

Francine had a plan for how she would introduce Oso to the house and cats, but because of his dirtyness, she had to change plans. It didn't seem like a good idea for him to get the whole house smelling like poop, so brought him straight through the kitties room to the bathroom. Oso wandered around while Francine stripped herselves of most of her clothes and cleaned the disgusting carrier. It took many simple green and paper towels - MANY!! Unfortunately Oso's wash cloth that smelled like his brothers and birth parents had to be trashed. While Francine cleaned out the carrier, Oso explored the puppy-proofed bathroom and chewed on his bully stick. He displayed a healthy curious and happy disposition. Snowball, one of Oso's feline brothers, meowed outside the bathroom the whole time. His other two feline brothers stared curiously. Francine kept popping her head out to reassure them. Oso then got a bath, was wrapped in a towel and then gone over head to toe with baby wipes. He then got to explore the home.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Looks like he's going through a big headed stage. Looking forward to getting this cutie home.