Diary of a Future Hunting Vizsla

"Rod,
Thanks again for taking us novices out on Sunday. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful and fun morning. Seems like every day is a new adventure with our red-haired “child”. Here’s my hunting log…"
Best, Denise

They are so cute when they are young.

5:30am – Beep! Beep! Beep! goes the alarm clock

Humans: “Ughh, why did we decide to wake up so early on our day of rest?”

Tobi: “Oh my gosh, what are we doing? Where are we going? I get to go with you, right? Do I get to eat first? I’m starving…oh thank goodness, food!”

7:00am – Renedevousz at McD’s

Humans: “Coffee and Egg McMuffins…heaven!”

Tobi: “I know these other red-haired friends and I can’t wait to play with them! Can we play now?!”

7:30am – Chloe, Bailey, Arya and Tobi chasing Hares

Humans: “Wow, look at them go!” (in reference to both the hares and the canines)

Tobi: “Free at last! I smell something…I’m going to chase it! Yippee!! These things are so much better than my toys at home, maybe if I catch one Mom and Dad will let me take it home to play with!”

7:45am – The start of the hunt

Humans: Watching Bailey run zig-zags through the fields and Arya close on his heels. “So cool to see Bailey on point and Rod catching up to his dog to shoot the first pheasant of the day. Success!”

Tobi: “Mom and Dad are so mean, I can’t believe they left me in the car. I promise to let Bailey do his job and be on my best behavior if you’ll just let me out already”

8:15am – Tobi gets to venture out on a check cord

Humans: “Such an awesome sight to see the dogs’ noses working and the muscles pumping”.

Tobi: “Oh my gosh, I LOVE this! There are so many new smells…where should I go first? Oh, there’s my bud Bailey…what’s he doing? I think I’ll go chase him around!”

8:20am – Another pheasant spotted by Bailey

Human (attempting to restrain Tobi, who is whining and barking like mad, while watching Bailey on point and Rod and other humans following his lead): “Easy, Tobi, easy”

Tobi: “Mom is so mean, she is holding me back from all the fun! I see Bailey doing something really cool up ahead and I really want to go check it out! Please, Mom, please?!”

8:21am – Pheasant #2 down

Humans: Rod shoots and gets the last pheasant on his card.

Tobi (mouthful of feathers): “Oh my gosh, this is amazing! Never mind about the hares, I want the pheasant! Please, pretty please can I take it home with me? Pheasant!”

8:30am – Back to the Clubhouse

Humans: “Thanks so much, Rod, for taking us out AND sending us home with cleaned pheasant for dinner. What a great morning!”

Tobi: “We’re done already? I could go all day!”

9:00am – Chasing Hares v2.0

Humans: “Maybe if we let the dogs run around some more, they’ll be on their best behavior for the rest of the day”.

Tobi: “Oh man, I remember this spot, this is the best thing EVER! I want to catch one of those hoppy things so bad!”

9:15am – Back in the car and heading home

Humans (feeling triumphant for accomplishing so much before 10am): “That was quite the experience. So neat to see Vizslas doing what they are bred to do and having a blast doing it.”

Tobi (panting): “I’m super tired. Thank you Mom and Dad for another fun adventure! Here, let me give you a kiss before I take a nap. Now could you drive me home?”

4:00pm – Pheasant wing Hide-And-Seek

Humans: “Let’s hide one of the pheasant wings that Rod gave us and see how quickly Tobi can find it. 1, 2, 3…”

Tobi: “There’s something good out here, I can smell it! Is it over here by the bush? No. Is it over there by the tree? I’m getting close, I can almost taste it. Ah ha! Here it is! Okay, let’s do it again. Mom/Dad, do it again, please!”

4:15pm, 4:30pm, 5pm – Slap! (the sound of the doggy door as Tobi goes back outside to “hunt” for more pheasant wings

Tobi.   Maybe one day!  Picture of Steve Artis who we met in the club house.

A Vizsla's First Hunting Experience

A write up from a new hunter and his Vizsla after coming out into the "field" for the first time.

"Here you go!

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful winter morning as we drove up to Rio Vista for our 7am rendezvous at McDonald's. Arya was confused as to why we’d stumbled out of bed at 5:30am (definitely not part of our normal routine) but she was more than content to curl up in the front seat and snooze her way up to the delta.

 We arrived and were greeted by the eager yips of Bailey and Chloe and the hunter himself, Rod. Soon after, Tobi and his owners pulled up and after a quick coffee refuel we were off to Hasting Island Hunting Preserve. About a mile outside of the preserve we stopped to let the beasts run off some steam in the brisk early morning air. To Bailey and Chloe this was clearly routine; they were out of the car like rockets dashing through the open fields sniffing out rabbits and stretching their lean bodies. Arya and Tobi were quick to follow their lead, and soon enough there were four red streaks darting through the brush. The humans were only spectators at this point in the day, and the four dogs a pack of their own.

Maybe this could be Arya or Tobi one day?

Once the Vizsla’s chests were heaving and hot breath was steaming through the morning air, we loaded them back in the cars and made our way to the Preserve’s staging area. Here we checked ourselves in, split into the two bigger cars and made our way out into the field.


Now for the exciting part: Bailey was nose to the wind the moment the Jeep’s rear door snapped open. Chloe was sad to be left inside but had to stay behind due to her sensitivity to the gun shots. Arya was right behind Bailey with a lead rope on her and the two dogs headed straight to the field. Arya needed no guidance when it came to sniffing out birds and she was happy as ever to be frolicking in the tall grass taking in all the smells nature had to offer, even flushing out a pheasant of her own.

Meanwhile Bailey was spot on with his training and zig zagged a course out in front of us, quickly picking up a trail and going on point. And with that I had my first chance to observe the hunter and his pointer in their element – Rod carefully moved forward toward Bailey who was frozen as still as a statue; upon closing, up rose a pheasant from the brush and with a quick movement the gun was aimed and CRACK! the shot burst through the air and the bird was on the ground, with Bailey off to retrieve it just a moment later. Meanwhile Arya was kept close to her people so as not to interfere with the kill, but as soon as the pheasant was retrieved she was eager as ever to get her nose in it and a mouthful of feathers, unfazed by the blast of the gun.

Bailey and Rod continued to work the field, now with Tobi in tow. Tobi was just as eager as Arya toward the birds and seemed to have a strong hunting drive as well. Although Bailey still is working on certain skills, he is clearly an extremely adept pointer – a role model for Arya and Tobi.

 Thanks to the generosity of the hunter we headed home that morning with a delicious pheasant in hand which graced our dinner plates that evening. Overall we had a wonderful first time in the field and both Arya and I look forward to next season." - Lief

Vizsla Police Department

Vizsla Los Angeles Law Enforcement Cool Video.

Spoof of Los Angeles Police Department Recruits Commercial.

 Open to full screen in bottom right hand corner of video.

Enjoy.  Don't you feel safer now?

Final Pheasant Hunt of the Season

 Sunday was the last day for our pheasant hunting until the fall.

 Bailey, Chloe and I were joined by Arya (12-month-old female) and Tobi (10-month-old male).  Both wonderful young vizslas.

 Arya's human, Lief, brought his good camera and caught Bailey and I working a few pheasants.

We spent one hour in the field.  Bailey pointed and we produced five pheasants.  We took my two final birds. 

 The bird above flew low and right into the sun so I let it fly away.

 We have a great time "in the field."

"Most well-bred dogs are smart, but the real intelligent ones can be a challenge to train especially for amateurs. As a breeder and field trialer, I want intelligent dogs and believe they are superior bird dogs, but I am attracted to them because they make me sharp, keep me on my toes and teach me a lot more than I teach them. To quote a successful horseback pro-trainer, “Intelligent dogs are more fun to train.” I should add—if you know what you are doing." 

 - Martha Greenlee 3/5/12 

This has been our first full hunt season for Bailey and me.

Had a wonderful time sharing "the field" with over a dozen folk that also love these great red bird dogs!  Many of them for their first ever hunt.