Grizzley Island Hunt Test Weekend

With all the depressing news that's out there, it's great to have my canine companions to realize what is important. Having fun can be so simple really. I am grateful to have them in my life to remind me.

Okay, enough of that. This last weekend I entered Sasa, Grady, and Duna in a hunt test. Sasa doesn't have her junior hunter title yet. She was too busy getting her conformation championship. Now that that is finished, I wanted to get the junior hunter title too. Sasa is from my second breeding of Mik and Sara. I don't own Sasa. She is owned by Eddie and Susan. Susan gets a little nervous in the field so she asked me to handle her which I gladly did. It is always fun to watch these guys do what they were bred to do. Amazing really...Sasa didn't disappoint. Our biggest fear was that she would make a mad dash back to her people. Thankfully, she is comfortable enough with me (and in love with finding birds) that she stayed with me. She is very birdy and hunted liked a champ. She passed both days with good scores. Two more passes and a new junior hunter will be added to the Red Dawn Clan. Both boys also had really good runs. They both have their junior hunter titles but aren't quite ready for the next level. But given how well they both did, they are not far off.

Above are a picture of Eddie and Sasa, Walter and Rusty (friends of the Red Dawn Clan) and the pups on a run after the test.

Halloween and Sneaky Sara

I am trying to get all the Halloween candy in a bowl, preparing for the trick or treaters. I had to run to the back of the house and when I came back, this.

Of course I knew who it had to be....Sara. It always is in these instances.

She is really quite sneak. Her she is saying "What, I don't see any candy...Hey how that get there?". Oh Sara, you sneaky girl you. How do you find it?

Another funny little Halloween story. I a group of siblings from 3 to 11 came to the door. I gave each of them some candy. They ran down the the sidewalk to their parents. Two of them came back, the 11 and 3 year old, to ask about the dogs. Next thing I know, the 3 year old is taking candy from the bowl. I think she has been secretly taking lessons from Sara on candy thievery. It was funny.

Vizlsas on Alert

I am preparing my dinner and all of a sudden Sara jumps up on the couch, ready to pounce on whatever has dared to enter her backyard. Colvin is trying to figure out what is going on. I walk over to see what it is....leaves. It was windy. Good job Sara. We are safe from the threat of blowing leaves...phew!

The Demise of the Troll Clown

I think the dogs have been reading the comments on the blog. When I came home today, I found this...

Dixy hovering over the troll clown. At this point, I am not certain whether it is Dixy or Sara who is responsible for this shredding. Of course Sara is saying, "who me?", as she is licking her tongue.Still not sure who is responsible, I assess the damage to the sinister troll clown.

As you can see, he is now empty-headed and hairless. Apparently, the dogs had little patience for his antics and did not want him wreaking havoc on anyone else's life. But still...which one was the ringleader? All of a sudden, it became very clear...

I should have known. Nothing happens without Sara's approval. She is, after all, the queen vizsla of the household.

Apparently Sara took my comments from the previous post to heart. She really punished him. Sorry Staci-he only lasted a day in the house.

The Troll Clown

Something fishy has been going on in my office. For the past couple of weeks, I have had all kinds of phone problems in my office. My phone would ring to nowhere and would be answered by a black hole. No matter who I reported it to, they weren't able to fix it. My frustration was reaching it's limits. I was at my wits end. Then I came into the office and caught him in the act. At first I wasn't sure what he was. I guess he anticipated that, so he added his own little note.

As you can see, he is a devious little creature. He was screwing around with my phone system. He must have tired of toying with me and allowed himself to be caught, figuring he would be free to move on to the next tied-to-technology human. He hadn't expected me to pack him in my bag and take him home to meet...

Sara...

She had decided to make him her own.

So there you are little troll clown, maybe now you will know not to mess with a vizsla owner. We are protected.

Another moral to the story...it's not just the gremlins that will get you.

Free To Run and Play

Well I finally got the staples out of my stomach and I am free to play! My mom thought it would be cute if she took pictures of me before I went to the backroom and when I came out of the backroom. Me, not so much. But she does love me, feed me, take me on vacations so her nerdiness is a small price to pay. All in all, I have a pretty good life. Okay, back to the tale of having the staples taken out. As you can tell from the photo, I am not too keen on this process. Even though they are really nice to me, nothing good usually comes for me here. I know, I know, ultimately they always make me feel better. That's not the point! Hmmm, what is the point? Nevermind. Once it is all said and done, I am always dragging the vet techs to get back to mom. It was no different today, as you can tell from the pictures.

Mom took the other pictures to show the other creatures that live here. There were the two fuzzy creatures. They are not in the least bit intimidated by me. That frightens me. Then there are the exotic fish that are beautiful. Mom can watch them for a long time. I can only watch them for so long. Then I get bored. What's the point. Sorry again, I need to stay focused. And finally, there is boa constrictor. Mom couldn't get a good picture so the sign tells the tale. Finally, the last picture shows me on my first run since the surgery. FREEDOM!

All kidding aside, I want to take a moment to remember all the folks lost in the 9/11 attacks. As someone who works in the financial industry, we knew a lot of the folks who perished that day. We also know folks who, for whatever reason, were not in the buildings when they normally would have been. Thankfully they made it. Let's hope that, we as a species can start to find better ways of dealing with each other, That is my hope,

Sara Tells Her Tales of Woe

As you can see from the pictures, I still have to wear this funny collar and I still have the staples in my stomach. Mom took me to the vet's yesterday. I was pretty excited. I thought I was getting the staples out and then we would go for a walk. Well, no such luck. They said they wanted to wait the full 14 days before they removed them. Something about wanting to make sure I was completely healed. Whatever...I am ready to run. I am sure I am driving my mom crazy. I can't help it though. I have been very good for ten days. I can only contain my energy for so long. After all, I am a sporting dog and was bred to hunt all day. On top of that, it isn't easy seeing the other dogs leave with mom for their daily walks while I am left behind. No matter, once I get these staples out, I will run the others silly. I have a lot of pent up energy to use.

First Night Home After Surgery

Well, we had a restless night here at the Red Dawn household. Poor Sara could not get comfortable. Seems the dosage of pain medicine was just not enough. I don't think she slept at all. I finally had to call the vet and she upped her pain medicine dosage. Hopefully she will rest a little easier. At least I know she is generally okay. She hasn't lost her appetite in the least bit.

It is always so hard to see these pups in pain or discomfort. I can't rest myself. I worry non-stop until they are back to feeling normal. I know some may think it is weird but they are like my children and all I want is for them to be happy and healthy.

Sara is Home

I brought Sara home around 11:30am. She is a little sore but is resting comfortably now that she is in her own environment. One thing that never leaves Sara is her appetite. Even after stomach surgery, she still enjoys her food. She is getting multiple little meals for the next 21 days. It is great to have her home. I missed and worried about her. Now we can all relax a bit.

Sara is Settled at the Emergency Vet

So I saw what was in Sara's stomach. The stuff almost had the consistency of pine needles. And there was so much of it. When did she eat that stuff?!!? She is now resting comfortably at the Emergency Vet for observation. I hate to leave her there but they are good with the animals and will be able to monitor her better than me. I guess I better like my job better. I am building a new wing for the animal hospital. :-)

Sara's Out of Surgery

Just got the call from the vet. Sara had a huge matted ball of bermuda grass that had stuck into the wall of her stomach. Bottom line-it wasn't going anywhere. Poor thing. She couldn't have felt good. I pick her up at 6:30 and bring her to the emergency vet for a few hours of monitoring. More to follow.

Sara Has An Obstruction in Her Stomach

Looks like I will be contributing more the new wing at the vet's office. On a serious note though, Sara hasn't been able to keep any of her food down so I knew something wasn't right. I brought her to the vet and they found she has an obstruction in her stomach. Sometimes these things will pass but since this has been going on for three days, it was unlikely. Now she is undergoing surgery to have it removed. All kidding aside, I am a little nervous. Once the surgery is done, she will have to be moved to the emergency vet so that she can be monitored. I will update the blog once she is out of surgery and I know everything will be okay.