When can you start running your Vizsla?

This is one section of an article about running with your dog.  for the full article, go to:

http://www.vizsladogs.com/ARTICLES/running.htm




"I have frequently been asked for advice. In general, most dogs love to run, and in most cases, it is perfectly safe for both you and your dog.

Your dog should be examined by your veterinarian before you start training together to assure that there are not underlying health problems that would prohibit running.

Heart disease does occur in dogs, as do orthopedic problems such as hip dysplasia, cruciate injuries, and even stress fractures.

Also, since your dog will be in contact with other dogs, it is especially important that he or she be up to date on all vaccinations.

Your veterinarian will also be able to advise whether your dog is old enough to start a training schedule.

It is best to limit a puppy to short jogs of one to two miles, whereas an adult may well be able to go four miles on the first day.

Since different breeds mature at different rates, your veterinarian should advise whether your dog is ready.

In general, most large breed dogs (retrievers, pointers (VIZSLA), and shepherds) reach skeletal maturity between eight months and one year, while the giant breeds (Great Danes, Newfoundlands, and wolfhounds) may take up to two years.


Usually, by the time your dog is ready to start training with you, he or she is already neutered and has had at least basic obedience lessons. Taking an unneutered dog on a run invites potential problems -- males may make frequent stops to mark territory or have a propensity to start fights, and a female in heat may attract other dogs.

Your dog should be trained to heel so the two of you can safely negotiate obstacles, such as other animals, people, and cars. Your human running partners will not appreciate it if your dog trips them. You may need to teach your dog a new command for running, one to keep him going when he gets distracted. A gentle "c'mon" or "move" usually works well; "go" sounds too much like "no" and may stop your dog from moving altogether.

Just as you would not eat a large meal before a run, neither should your dog. This is particularly important in large, deepchested dogs such as Dobermans and Great Danes, as they are at risk for bloat or gastric torsion.(The stomach swings freely in the front of the abdomen and can twist with the weight of undigested food.)

After a run, allow your dog to drink small amounts frequently before letting her drink as much as she wants, and always wait 30 minutes to an hour before feeding. She should be cool and relaxed before she eats.

Promoting the Vizsla as a High Class Bird Dog

Bailey has now been gone a little over two months in professional training with Randy Berry. Next weekend Bailey will enter his first Open Gun Dog trial in the Northwest German Shorthair Club trial.  This is the start of Bailey's "campaign" to become a field champion.  Is he among the best?  We'll see.  He'll be running against some of the best.  In two weeks I fly up to Madras, Oregon to attend that weekend's field trial.

Below is a partial write up by one of the most respected people in the Vizsla community.

Ray Cooper -- Co-Founder of the National Vizsla Association

WHY RUN VIZSLAS IN AMERICAN FIELD TRIALS?

Here’s how and why:

1. By competing in trials against breeds that are considered
the best, one gains a perspective on what is needed is his own dogs.

This helps to prevent kennel blindness.

If you see what your dogs need in order to

win, you will be far more selective in your breeding
 program or when selecting a pup.

2. As you select the best of the best from your breed you
 automatically encourage improvement and
discourage complacency.
 If you know either the sire or dam 
 you are considering for breeding stock isn’t capable of
beating the best you are going to look elsewhere.

3. As the product of better breeding begins to perform and
win against the breeds considered to be the best,
 not only does your attitude change,
 but so it does in the minds of those you’re competing against.

4. As these better Vizslas begin to win more often, you attract others
 to your breed who have the same desires as yourself.

5. As you attract more bird dog fanciers they in turn only breed
the best to the best and you begin to see more improvement yet.

6. Over time the breed improvement benefits from this continued momentum.

This can only happen in an arena of purists.

As long as there is a diversion of interest there will be a dilution of quality.

 If you are trying to have a do everything dog,
 you may very well wind up with a do nothing dog.

By running in American Field trials you are competing
 in a world of bird dog purists.

 They don’t give a hoot about which dog won last weekends

best in show. They aren’t interested in hearing that your dog
can catch a Frisbee and jump over a stick.

While they may be polite about it, they are thinking why
 do those people care about that?

If you love the bird dog in your Vizsla, then you owe it to yourself and
your dog to go up against the best.

Find out how you stack up.
You may be surprised, just as many Vizsla owners have been,
when you bring home the blue.

 You may be disappointed at first. One thing you will know is what
you’ve got and what it’s going to take to win.

If you have the desire and the dedication you can have an impact on the trials you
 run in, the people you compete against and the breed you love.

If you would like to learn more about running in
American Field trials, instead of taking someone else’s word for it,
go to their website (http://www.americanfield.com/)
or subscribe to their weekly magazine.

You will see that there are trials all over the country and
 probably some near you on nice grounds.

Go to some, run a dog or two and meet the people. 
You will find a world of people completely dedicated to

bird dogs, their preservation and improvement.
 You may take a little ribbing because you don’t have aPointer or Setter, I sure have.

But that only makes it sweeter when they hand you the trophy.

A good Vizsla can compete against any breed.

A mediocre Vizsla can beat other mediocre Vizslas on any given weekend.

You decide which you would rather have.

Cows, calves and Chloe

New born calves are now with the herds up in the Briones Regional Park Open Space.  Chloe has been around cows since she was 10 weeks old.  She leaves them alone.

This is very important to teach your dog.  LEAVE COWS ALONE.  Don't let your young Vizsla chase cows. The adult cows will protect their calves and think our dogs the same as coyotes and  wolves. They will injure your dog if your dog appears to being getting to close to the young.

Out in the country, where ranchers raise cattle, a loose dog bothering their livestock is looked on the same as the other predators and can be legally shot.

But if you teach your Vizsla like Chloe to leave livestock alone and enjoy the wide open spaces running loose, then a morning walk is great and fantastic for both of us.

Ground squirrels sure are fair game.  A hole in the ground with a ground squirrel hidden deep inside brings out the huntress in Chloe.

10 minutes of digging and she starts to understand that she will loose this battle.  Maybe next time during one of our walks she will win.   This is "dog heaven" for Chloe.

200th post - A Hungarian Vizsla Video

(click on the arrows in the lower right side to make full screen)
Enjoy the video and two wonderful Vizslas.

This musical video took scenes from the movie "The Tale of Two Gypsy Dogs."  A version was was done during season 20 of "The Wonderful World of Disney" in 1964.  The story of a Vizsla, a dachshund and a hawk.  The dogs trying to get back to their owner. 

"That would be the cinematographer of these links, Istvan Homoki-Nagy. So beautiful...


Interestingly enough I recently ran across information (Early Times In Hungary,


published HUNGARIAN REVIEW) about the Vizsla star of this film where the trainer


said the dog had a mental breakdown.. He also said that there were two "Fickos"


in the movie as actors. Seeing this film was shot in the very early fifties, how


the herd of driving horses & diving dog shots were shot is a wonderment.






The real Ficko sired a bitch named Csardas who was lost from her USA owner in a


card game. At the hunting preserve near New York City Csardas retrieved an


astronomical number of pheasants in a weekend. She also helped feed the goats by holding


the bottle. She appeared in a local newspaper, might be the NY times. In turn


Csardas was the dam of the Disney movie star Vizsla named Ficko."


 
Diana Boggs