Armed with the advice I had received from the previous weeks Ribbon Trial, Poppy and I ventured south for our first Championship Show.

Poppy is the perfect traveler, four hours in her crate and nary a peep from her.

Saturday dawned cold and drizzling and off we headed to the show held indoors at Forrester Park. Initially Poppy was a bit overwhelmed by all those sights and sounds but quickly overcame that and even made friends with Grace the Pointer and a French Bulldog. Sunday’s weather was better and the wait time was shorter.

Poppy did her Mum proud, behaved in the ring, didn’t greet the Judges too enthusiastically when they came to check her over, trotted beautifully and learning to stand still is a work in progress.

So for her first serious showing experience we achieved all the goals I had set: – Poppy’s experience was a good one and she was a happy and relaxed puppy in the ring and while waiting in her crate ringside. Its home it work on standing a bit longer and getting our speed sorted. I’ve got my NZ Dog World out and entry forms ready to organize our next outing.

Bring it on!!!!

Poppy would like to add that no hairless cats were harmed during our stay in Dunedin (were they Dudley!)

Sunday 11 July 2010 dawned sunny and very frosty and was Debrecan Look At Me (aka Poppy) first foray into the showing arena.

Having never trained a show dog from a baby before,
(my only other show dog Hunter started at 18 months) is turning out to be a frustrating and challenging experience. I suppose part of the difference for me is that now I have some experience of the showing scene, my expectations are that much higher.

Poppy now has had some very good exposure to working in the ring with other Gundogs of every shape and size, and I got some very helpful advice.

So there is nothing for it but practice, practice and more practice and the odd video session so we can watch movement and stacking positions.

We will be heading south this weekend for our first Championship show in Dunedin, so will keep you all posted.

P.S. We did manage to capture some reasonable shots of her.

On Saturday Poppy, Cooper, Rata and Jax, four puppies from the latest litter, got together for a play date and some afternoon tea. At 12 weeks old they are boisterous and packed full of energy.

As soon as they all met there was lots of playing, running around and rolling on the grass. I’m sure the remembered each other. After 2 hours of continuous play they went to visit the local chickens. They were very tired after their playing, just how we like it.

There are a few photos of the get together so please take a look.

Rata is settling into her new environment very nicely now, and I’m quite pleased with her growing, and boisterous confidence. I was quite embarrassed at puppy preschool last week as most of the other dogs were older and well on their way with the basics.We’ll show them though, as Rata is very keen to learn, and is responding well to the “sit” command.

The “come, down, and off” commands still need a lot of work, but she will get there with some more encouragement.I’m leaving the hunting training until she is about 6mths old, as I want her to be very steady with the basics. I try and let Rata have a good run around for about half an hour before I do any formal training to ensure I have her full concentration. This is good for her, and me. By keeping training sessions short, fun, and often, it also ensures that she doesn’t become bored and lose interest. The “come & down” commands are for me the hardest to get a dog to do, as “down” requires them to go into a submissive position, which they don’t like; and the “come” is not always for their own benefit.

I am constantly working on all my commands with Rata, and she is improving all the time with lots of praise and rewards.
Good luck!
P.S. What a dynamo she is!

Cooper is settling in great. Cooper is now sleeping through the night, which is awesome. So far we’ve only had a few accidents in the house, which have mostly been the result of us not reading the signs quick enough.

Cooper absolutely loves puppy class and loves to interact with all the other puppies. It has been great for us too as it’s given us lots of tips on training and help with all our questions.

We just received this photo of Clarrie (aka Avon) with the following note:
Thought you might enjoy ‘Laid back Clarrie’. He is very much a two speed pup – full stop or flat out. At the moment he’s in flat out – great fun and keeping us on our toes.

We recently received this great hunting photo from John Howes with the following note…

“Please find attached photo of Megan (my wife) and Teca (vizsla) hunting at Easter. This was the first time Megan has been hunting with Teca. Megan was no good at pointing or finding so luckily I took Teca along. Teca was no good at carrying meat to the top of the mountain, however, Megan did come in handy for this. I was pleased I took both of them along!!”

Well done John, Megan and Teca.

This is the beginning of a series of articles by long time friend of Debrecan Vizslas, Justin Long. As you will read, Justin is the owner of Rata (aka Greta), a puppy from the River Litter who is destined to be his new hunting companion. It will be a special treat for us to keep track of Justin and Rata’s progress.

Rata arrived in our home at eight weeks of age. It was always going to be a nervous moment for me, as we have two very young children as well, and adding a pup to the mix was always going to be interesting. I soon realized that I have taken on a big task, as not only do I have to train a pup, but a 2.5 year old excitable child as well! Luckily I have partly been down this road before as I also have a 9 year old Vizsla whom has been a great hunting partner for me. It didn’t take long for Rata to settle in to her new environment and she is gaining in confidence every day. At the moment I’m just letting her find her feet, (which are big), and starting with just some simple stuff like the “come, off, and sit”. I use the food reward method. I don’t want to over awe her with lots of stuff just yet as she is just a baby, but I also want her to know who is the boss.

We are off to puppy pre school tonight for the first time which I highly recommend, not only for socialisation, but for training dog owners as well.

This photo was taken while we were re-arranging the back yard today. The bandanna is my 7 year old daughter’s touch! Estee feels very comfortable up in her new north island home. She is our constant little shadow and loves playing with her big sister Eva. She has settled in quickly to her new routine and sleeps through the night now, without a fuss. She is one confident little puppy and already we can’t imagine life without her.

We just received this cute photo of Ralph (aka Nile) in a very Vizsla like setting. No not out in the countryside hunting, but in his owners bed under the covers.

It should be noted that Ralph has his own bed but prefers to sleep in his owners’!! You can trust a puppy to seek out the most comfortable place to sleep.