Pedigree Hungarian Vizsla Puppies, Limousin, France: January 2010

I do hope that all of you had a good Christmas and I wish you a Happy new Year for 2010!

As mentioned in my previous post,my initial intention for my Christmas break was to drive to England with my youngest Vizsla "Teddy Bear" to spend some time with my family for Christmas but also to go to Suffolk to learn how to teach Teddy so that he can compete in Field Trials in the future.
Lucia was left "holding the fort " she had her hands full with guests in the cottage, my mother, and several extra Vizsla dogs arriving for their Christmas Holidays ,while their owners travelled to England to be with friends and family.

I set off with Teddy in the car and managed the long, boring drive to Calais, I arrived in the evening and I duly found the hotel which I had booked for us for the night.

It was with a little trepidation that I brought Teddy into the hotel ,this was the first time that he had left home alone, without the company of his dog family, therefore I was worried that if I left him in the room during the time that I went for my dinner in the hotel restaurant, he may start howling or something similar.

He settled into the room and onto his bed without a murmur, I was very proud of him.

I arrived at the restaurant and was asked by the waiter "where is the beautiful dog" ? I replied that I did not think that he could come into the dining room. "please bring him, we all want to meet this unusual beautiful dog". Of course I went back for Teddy and he obediently joined me at my dining table.

Teddy" was the star of the show, the waiters petted him and the other guests admired him.It was amazing how one dog entered that room and the atmosphere changed immediately.Everyone was smiling and talking about him in fact he was the topic of conversation throughout the evening. As I was leaving the restaurant, a waiter brought a huge bowl of meat scraps from the kitchen "this is for his supper" he said.

I shall soon have to start a fan club for him!

The next morning we went for a long walk on the beach,He loved every minute of it and was fascinated by the waves and the sea gulls.

We left the hotel and arrived at the ferry terminal, to find that Teddy's passport was not in order. Despite all my efforts the man at P&O would not even listen to me.So it was about turn and home we went!

In fact it was a blessing in disguise as upon returning home, I discovered that Lucia had had a big problem with "Pasha" our stallion, our neighbours mare was "in season" and Pasha had smashed some fences trying to get to her.Lucia had had to put him in the stable however he was neighing and banging his door and causing her sleepless nights.

We solved that problem by sending "Pasha" away for his holidays, to commence his training for the eventing world.

I managed to get a flight to the UK a few days later and I spent one week with my daughter Kirsty and her partner Sam, and the second week with my eldest son Craig, his wife Collen and my two granddaughters Natalya (3) and Il ana ( 20 months).It really was good to spend quality time with my family as owing to my other commitments it is impossible for me to return to England very often.

One of my Christmas presents was the Cesar Milan dog whisperer books"Cesar's Way and "Be the Pack Leader" I was fascinated with his training methods.His philosophy applies to humans too.Cesar advocates at least 45 minutes brisk exercise for all breeds of dog every morning, this allows the dog to burn off energy,only then does he commence their training sessions.

I have owned and bred dogs all of my life, however I learnt more about the dogs mind from those two books in a week than I have in breeding dogs for the last forty years.

Every prospective dog owner should read the book prior to purchasing a dog.

Indeed I have seen a huge improvement in my dogs since using his methods.

Yesterday I walked for some miles on the snow covered lanes with all five of my dogs walking behind me without leads, they sat quietly when a car wanted to pass and they were a pleasure to own !

My obedient dogs!

Since returning to France I have had another enforced holiday, as the snow has curtailed flying lessons at present.

With the constant freezing conditions ,we spend many extra hours per day ensuring that all the animals have sufficient food and I am now a dab hand with the sledgehammer breaking the ice on the water troughs.