Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to our Vizsla owners !

I am leaving home  tomorrow to drive to the UK for Christmas to spend time with my family. I am going to Suffolk for a short time after Christmas with my youngest Vizsla "Teddy Bear" to visit a friend, who trains Vizsla dogs for field trials.He has promised to teach me to to train Teddy .. sounds complicated but I hope that it works.

The reason for this new venture, is that the rules in France state that for a dog to become a champion they must obtain a "good"  in a field trial as well as obtaining top wins in championship dog shows, my best dog has won over twenty of these prizes,all over France but he cannot become a champion as he has never been trained for field trials and he is too old  to commence now.

This time, I am starting early with the puppy and I hope that I shall find the time to get this one to become  a champion, as can be seen in the photographs he is very laid back about his training.I have done some training with him at home and he has been very good ( most of the time) I shall enjoy spending time with him "one to one" instead of having five Vizslas constantly  vying for my attention.      

Normally, I find that for teaching him things like sit and stay ,he responds better in the house where he does not get too distracted.

However in the huge fields of England, which are full of pheasants, I think that I shall have a bit of a struggle to contain him.!

I will keep you posted.

Please send us you best photograph of the year for the January Vizsla picture parade.

To all of our Vizsla owners Have a Merry  Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We hope to have a new litter of puppies in the spring.

Eng Sh Ch & Aust Ch Hungargunn Bear It Mind

 Yogi is UK’s TOP DOG 2006 & 2007. In 2006, this was by the biggest winning marginthe history of the "Dogworld Magazine" competition. Winning again in 2007 makes him one of only three dogs ever to go back-to-back.

   Yogi left Australia as an All Breeds Best In Show winner and since arriving in England has won 12 BIS, 4 RUBIS, 3 BISS, 28 BIG, 7 RUBIG and 45 CC's surely becoming the world's biggest winning Vizsla considering the average number of dogs exhibited at a Champ

   Show in England is in excess of 10,000!  

He is 2nd placed in total number of BIS won by gundog in a “lifetime” and he's achieved this in just over 2yrs and is the only gundog to win 7 BIS in one show season, which is the highest number ever won in UK.
 "This Vizsla is surely the blueprint! His conformation is outstanding, all that I have read about it and studied about shoulder and hind angulation is seen in this dog. All the proportions and angles are there, the measurements are correct. Well laid shoulders, the distance from withers to elbow to floor equal. His body slightly longer in length than his height. All through he answers the standard; a medium sized dog in appearance, distinguished, robust but lightly boned. As his conformation is so correct, when he moves he takes the breath away, his balance and the ground he covers demonstrate his qualities as he elegantly flows around the ring, sound as a bell. On top of all this, his fine Gundog head has the kindest of expressions. He is a gentleman. I do indeed feel we are privileged to have the chance of sharing this handsome Vizsla with his Australian owners, we may never see another so good! All praise for his excellent condition and happy disposition." Gay Gottlieb (Russetmantle Kennels UK).

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Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary

 As all of the animals at NearlyHeaven are so happy, we decided to share that joy with some new additions.
We started our Farm Sanctuary in the summer of 2008 and it was an instant success with our guests—especially the children, many of whom have never enjoyed the opportunity of seeing farm animals close-up.
Many of our animals were rescued or re-homed when their owners moved away. 

They include sheep,

    Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs

ducks, rabbits, pheasants, quail, pigeons & hens.

 

We find that children love to help with the animals and enjoy such activities as grooming the ponies,  feeding the hens and collecting eggs.
There are additional pictures of the farm animals in our 'photo gallery'

Submit Questions

Hornet + Vizsla = BAD

Hi there,

Thought I would share with you the results of when our Vizsla, Poppy, decided to play with a Hornet. She got stung on the face and within minutes her nose had swollen to comic proportions. We whipped her off to the vets who gave her some injections to reduce the swelling. By the evening though her throat had swollen up with a large bag of fluid. See picture  on the right.

Off we went back to the vets who gave her some diaretics to help her get rid of the fluids. She was feeling very sorry for herself for two or three days just sitting in her chair looking, well looking kind of swollen.

So as a word of warning to everyone, if you see your dog playing around with Hornets the consequences can be quite severe. It was quite strange seeing a Vizsla actually sitting still for so long, a definate rarety in our house. Happily all turned out OK for the young Poppy and she is now back to her normal, lively, not swollen self!

And here is a quick snap of Poppy back in full flight jumping over fences!

 

David

Visions of success has new family!

Visions of Success ( Leko) has sired a new litter of  puppies nine in total 2 females and 7 males.

They are in the South of the Limousin and the mother is a beautiful French bitch called "Bellone"

For further details of these puppies please contact me on info@nearlyheaven.com

Kobi is shattered...............

Just to say that Kobi has had another wonderful 'away day' with his family and favourite Spanish human who speaks to him with that beautiful, soft Spanish accent.  We arrive at La Chataigneraie and Kobi does not even glance back at us when we hand him over and leave, he is far too interested in what fun and play are in store for him with Teddy, his brother, although  I am not so sure that the older members of his family, his parents and aunts and uncles are too thrilled with another silly, bouncy, and unruly pup coming back to disturb their peace.  They seem to be very tolerant of him though and just look rather aloof and disinterested with his youthful exhuberance.  When we return to collect him, he is happy to leave but would, I am sure be just as happy to stay for more play.  It is incredible to see the difference between the full of energy Kobi we arrive with and the totally 'doggo' Kobi on the journey home.  He needs a long rest when he gets back and by the look of the twitching tail and legs, he is busy dreaming about his wonderful fun day with his doggy family and the lovely Spanish senorita!  I wish our 'exciting' day at Mr Bricolage was as memorable!

Space is at a premium with five Vizsla's.

Unusual sleeping habits

.

  

     

 Zack and Teddy sharing!     .

   Blanchette!

   

 

   Teddy after exercise.

Leko  in his normal  sleeping position

    Teddy waiting his turn for the chair

Hungarian water dogs

Hungarian Vizsla dogs love water but they do not like to go out in the rain.If I ask my dogs to go out for a "wee wee" they take one look at the rain and return to the house.

However if they go to the local lakes it is a completely different scene.

They all go into the water and swim, however they go into the water for different reasons,Meg and Teddy go into play and to fetch sticks, Zac tries to catch frogs, Leko and Blanchette will hunt anything from insects to fish.They prefer to hunt in the reeds but if they see anything swimming they are soon in full pursuit.

Meg   Leko

  

Meg hunting dragonflies

Ready   

     

   Teddy   

  Go

Puppies Growing Up

Owing to the wonderful weather during the past few weeks,I have been in the air ,teaching  flying more than I have been on the ground ,therefore it has been rather difficult to find sufficient time to write an article about the puppies.

Today it is raining so here I am at my computer sending you  some news of 

the puppies.

Teddy Bear

First a huge thank you to all the people who have sent news and photographs  of your puppies , it is so nice to hear that they all are happy with their new families.

Of the ten puppies, one has gone to Spain, one has been sold to a French couple and all of the others have gone to English people living permanentely in France.

"Toby "has joined his "uncle" from our previous litter of March 2008 and  according to his owners he is already trying  to be the boss over "Darcy".

Darcy & Meg

I have kept one of the male puppies and he is named "Edward Bear of Nearly Heaven" of corse he is our 'Teddy Bear'

Every morning and night I try to spend some time training him , he is very intelligent and he now comes to call, sits, and he will stay for a short time.

Each morning  I put all of the dogs food bowls on the floor and then I give the command NO and they wait patiently until they receive the command OK.Teddy  copied the older Vizsla's and learned this command immediately.

Our Vizsla's adore swimming , I take them everyday to our neighbours lake and they really enjoy the swimming, frog catching,  fishing and in the case of "Teddy" leaping on top of his mother while she is swimming and trying to drown her !

The Vizsla breed are easy to train as they  wish to please people, however they easily get bored therefore it is very important to introduce training as a playtime , little and often is the rule, never make training  into a battle of wills or your puppy will just switch off and refuse to be amenable. 

Many people are puzzled by the Vizsla breed always wanting to jump up to greet people, this is very much an inherited trait but do persevere and encourage your puppy to greet people from the sit position be firm and only acknowledge him when he is sitting eventually he will get the message and you will be proud to let him greet all your friends. Finally No must always mean NO .

  Happy puppy days! 

 

Poppy in new home.

Bonjour Sue

Poppy arrived at La Grue at the age of 7 1/2 weeks, not that you would know she was so young or so little.

No fear or apprehension of her new surrounding, or new family.

The two old girls who have lived at La Grue for years were only slightly curious of the new arrival, which of course Poppy wasn't going to take lying down.

It took her just two days to ensconce herself into the fold, it has be mayhem and hurricane force ever since.

Poppy has spurts of Poppy power, this is when she flies around the house at 40 miles an hour, looking for trouble or the odd game of tug o war with Taz the Alsatian, who, I might add, is 12 years old.

This manic mayhem usually ends with Lucy, the pointer, stepping in and slapping both of them so that normality can return. ( we think that Lucy may know where the puppy keeps her batteries, because the result is usually a couple of hours of peace and quite whilst Poppy has a puppy nap.

At the slightest rumble of thunder she is in our bed, if she can't sleep, in our bed, cold in our bed, do you see a pattern developing, there is already restricted Room during storms, with Taz under the bed and Lucy on it.

We never knew that Puppy's teeth were so shape, however we know now, as she has taken a liking to fingers and toes.

In two weeks she has put on 2 kilo's and grown 5cm from the floor to her shoulder. I am only able to write this because a game of tug o war has just finished and all 3, Lucy Taz and Poppy are fast asleep, ah bliss, but you know what, can't wait until she's awake again, even though it means for the next however many weeks not much is going to get done around the house.

Ron and myself (Jackie) have never had a puppy before, we have always rescued dogs, usually Lurchers.

We both agree that having Poppy is absolutely delightful, even with the odd puddle of pee and pile of poo, which she  does on the odd occasion, she thinks that it is good fun, when we have a mad dash to the garden, which of course she refuses to come in from, so it's a titbit for enticement!!

We can't wait to introduce her to the outside World, it's like having a baby grow, we can see everything through new eyes, she is excited by everyone and everything. It's probably one of the most satisfying things we have done.

Congratulations to Mum and Dad for the production of such beautiful Puppies and to sue and the girls for the love and care they received until it was time to leave and go to there new homes.

Jackie and Ron Soutar.

Puppies leaving home

Hi

To all the Vizsla fans in Europe.

Thank you for all of your emails and comments.

Our wonderful puppies are now 8 weeks old today and are going to their new homes all over France and Spain.

We have 1 superb male available.

We were thrilled to see that our puppies' grandfather Hungargunn Bear It'N Mind was in the grand final of Cruft's Dog Show this year after winning Best of Breed in the Vizsla section and then winning the Gundog group class (22,000 dogs competed at Cruft's).

Both parents can be viewed at my home.

For further details please contact me on +33689713603

Sue

" Pups Leaving Home"

 Unfortunately, the weather was not too kind to Jason and Nicole during the last week of their holiday though they managed to complete quite a lot of their training and passed several ground examinations.
However, a gusting crosswind prevented them from completing their first solo flights so I shall look forward to their next visit sometime in the near future.
NearlyHeaven is certainly becoming a school with an international flavour and my most recent student is a Turkish lawyer who works in Strasbourg for the Court of Human Rights.
Ugur has done some previous PPL training with a French instructor but soon realised that his language skills were not good enough for the ground examinations and therefore decided to complete his training with me as he is fluent in English.
After training at a small, uncontrolled, airfield, Limoges International airport came as a bit of a shock but a few hours of flying with me has made him confident with flying in Class D airspace.
I am delighted with his rapid progress during the last few days and, as well as going solo in the circuit, he has just completed his qualifying cross-country in fine style.
Sadly, he must return to Strasbourg this weekend but he is almost ready to take his PPL 'skill test' and has managed to pass all of the ground exams this week.
As Strasbourg is a nine-hour car journey from Limoges and Ugur has no more holidays available, we will continue his training at the weekends―to make life easier, I will arrange to collect him from his home airfield for the next scheduled training session.
This might sound like an upmarket 'school run' but it is quite easy to arrange as I fly all over France with my Limoges-based students.
Last week, I boarded Ryanair for a whirlwind UK visit to renew my Class One Medical which is a bit more difficult to arrange here in France,
Normally, I use this enforced event to spend time with my family and friends but with good weather and eager students awaiting my return, I completed the round-trip in a couple of days. Upon arrival at Limoges, I literally got out of a Boeing 737 and jumped into a Robin DR400―after passing through immigration, of course.
The Aéroclub de Limoges have added another aircraft to their fleet, a PA28 Archer which is fully IFR equipped.
I have spent several hours this week introducing our pilots to the fun of flying a different aircraft so all UK pilots who refer the PA28 to the Robin have no reason not to visit.
The other good news is that, thankfully, the DA40 Diamond Star is back in service after waiting several months for a spare part!
Later in the year, I am hoping to arrange some flying trips from Limoges to perhaps Spain, Italy or Portugal so all suggestions are welcome.
The puppies are now eight weeks old and three have just left for their new homes, with more going this weekend.
We are all sad to see them leave but confident that they are going to excellent homes.
There are, incidentally, two male puppies still unsold―females always seem to go quicker―so it's not too late to buy one.

" Dogs vs Frogs"

" Dogs vs frogs"

Spring has really arrived in the Limousin with blue skies and temperatures of 26° last week. The leaves are on the trees and everywhere looks beautiful. I am truly privileged to teach flying in this beautiful unspoilt part of France.
On the downside, Lucia is mowing the lawns daily as the grass grows so quickly.
During the last week, I have stayed close to the Limoges airport area as I have been doing some concentrated teaching with a lovely couple, Jason and Nicole.
This young couple originate from Australia and are currently living in The Hague.
Both served with the military in Australia, spending many hours in helicopters though not as pilots.
However, this previous experience helps with their training as they are already familiar with general aviation terminology as well as the basic flight instruments.
As Jason and Nicole have a baby son called Jack, they take turns at flying and childminding which seems to be working very well as both were ready to train in the circuit by mid-week and this is what we have been doing over the last few days.
Limoges Bellegarde is in class D airspace so we have to integrate with commercial IFR arrivals and departures as well as military training flights.
This provides excellent training for my students who become used to performing 360° orbits and extended downwind legs to make way for Ryanair or other IFR traffic. This gives them the confidence to fly into other large airports without undue concern.
Quite often, Ryanair and FlyBe flights have to wait until we have landed though the commercial flight crews usually give us a friendly wave.
I am delighted with the progress of my English Radiotelephony class for French pilots and I am now receiving enquiries from prospective students who are not even members of our club.
No problem. It is very rewarding to support French PPL holders in this way and I am sure that we will be able to accommodate a few 'outsiders'—by prior arrangement, of course.
The puppies are now six weeks old and have discovered how to bark!
We have a steady stream of visitors to see them as the dogs will spend another few weeks with their mother before transferring to their new owners. It is so nice to meet these people and to offer advice on bringing up these delightful dogs.
Now that the weather is warmer, the older dogs have been going for a daily swim in my neighbour's lake which is presently full of very noisy frogs whose 'mating' calls can be heard from a mile away!
Being bred for hunting, my dogs are swimming in all directions to catch the elusive frogs who are pretty good at diving out of trouble. However, the dogs never tire of this frog-hunting sport.

   

 " I'll catch you one day!"

  

"  I got all my onions on! hahaha!"

   

"Mayhem in the kitchen, calm at the AGM"

The puppies are three weeks old today and have trebled their birth weight of 400 grams, which is excellent considering that Meg has ten mouths to feed!
At present we have only two puppies unsold. The others have new homes lined-up in Spain, Britain and several areas of France.

Now that the puppies are three weeks old, we have introduced cereals and milk as supplementary feeding. This causes mayhem in the kitchen as they manage to scatter their weetabix in all directions.

'Miracle' is nearly six months old and has now moved from the baby paddock to join the older horses in the larger field.
He is still drinking gallons of milk from a bucket but is more independent now and enjoys playing with the “big boys” as well as chasing the sheep whom he sees as the perfect-sized playmates.
Thanks to the extra hour of daylight in the evenings, I have managed to 'back' Pasha, the stallion who is the father of Miracle.
Pasha is now four years old and comes from a winning bloodline. It is therefore time to begin his training as either a showjumper or an eventer.
Phoebe has been training him on the ground and the time had come for someone to sit on his back for the very first time. That person, I decided, should be me.
The unexpected outcome of this 'terrifying' moment was that de did not even twitch his ear and just accepted me without a second thought. We have now progressed to walking and trotting around the paddock each evening when I return from the airport.
On the flying side, congratulations’ to Fiona Renton for completing her qualifying cross country. The local weather was dominated by a pressure system which caused poor visibility but this did not deter Fiona who managed to navigate without a problem.
Stop Press
Last night's AGM of the Aeroclub de Limoges was a quiet affair and went smoothly compared with the mayhem of last year’s meeting—French people can turn very ugly when a meeting overruns by two hours and dinner awaits (faint cries of "fooood" were heard from the English contingent).
Our new President is Christian Dalbin who is presently joint Chief Flying Instructor and head of the engineering department.
Michel Kofyan has stepped down from this position to be Vice President of the Aero Club. Further news on this at a later date.

More Vizsla Puppy Pictures

Our final tally of puppies, born 1 week ago, was 10.

Here are some more pictures:

 

 

Vizsla Puppies Update

We now have 9 puppies, 5 males and 4 females, and I think that there are more to come.

 

 

 

.