Fox-zlsa and his favourite place: the pub

since radio is not genetically correct, he decided that its about time to go all the way. he had always fancied himself a bit of a fox, and now he's behaving like one too....(i.e. can see those squirrels and ducks much better from up there) its a hard life being a Foxszla so Radio deserved a well cosy evening at the George, copying Hamish's robot eyes (has become a bit of a trend among the vizsla community of late), Radio charmed an entire pub into cuddles ...well, they did have a few beers...

IBD trial camera up the bum - Myositis return....

this is a classic example of take your dog to the vet and come home without one. we took radio to have his examination at the specialist hospital because he's been off all drugs now.

and they kept him in to put a camera up his bottom and throat and to cut a little piece out from each to see the cellular changes inside of him. he is now enrolled on a research programme and they will do genetic tests and more.....

during all the tests they confirmed that his polymyositis has returned, and he'll be on medication again, and will have to be withdrawn from the trial.

i can collect him today or tomorrow, and he won't have eaten for 4 whole days and will be like charlie morph i imagine. should they find abnormailities then perhaps we found a possible connection between his other illness and IBD. but since the polymyositis is back it looks as if its all part of a compromised immune system, and more of a "was the egg before the hen" kind a thing.

home feels empty without him.

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!!

Old English....Vizsla Dog
not a sheep

1st ever Vizsla sheep-dog winner

the whole thing begun while reading a book about London's Hyde Park. 1956 sadly saw the end of the annual sheep dog trials in the middle of this park, which was a shame, because it was visited by lots and lots of people from all over the world.....
we thought that sheep dogs need to be collies, not vizslas, because vizslas are gundogs and not herders. but anyone who knows radio knows that he always fancied himself a bit of an all rounder, so he started training towards fulfilling his olymic dream and the training went well and he got lots and lots of compliments for getting to be an increasingly capable sheep dog, both enthusiast and stalker, so we simply gave it a go and entered this years regional trials in the lakes....to start off, radio had to fulfill a (well, not so) simple 'round up' and 'seperate the flock into two' task. once he completed this in near record time, he progressed to a much more difficult task...this involved needing to first flank, then bring the flock in towards the handler in a straight line, do a superfast turnaround and hold them there... (our nerves were quite chittery as we only just started to see success with this these last days and lasse forgot to take pictures in all the excitement)...BUT: he did it - and, to our (and everyone else's) utter amazement, won 1st prize!!!!! as far as we know this is the first time a Vizsla has been awarded in such a category, we are well proud, well done super radio!!! we'll get pics from the awards ceremony sent soon and will add them to this post then...(thanks Andrew!)

Hackney gundog whizz (with a few additions to the group)

Today was our first Hackney gundog (and dog in general) walk. Vizslas showed their anarchic side, so now everyone wants a Weimaraner or Ridgeback or Boxer instead.....(what happened to their reputation?). Basically, Hamish felt quite amorous with Cassy and Radio with Angel. Hamish and Radio tried to be gentlemen, which was mostly successful but not on one occasion when both Cassy and Angel fell into the canal...while Ruby thought she was boss of the pack (and perhaps pushed Cassy into the canal)...so all three had to be reminded of their good canine citizens training. Else they all got on like a house on fire.from left: Tilly the Yorkie, Maya the Ridgeback-Staffie, Cassie's boxer bum, Angel the Weim , Jake the most georgeous and well mannered Weim ever, Ruccie Weim pup, Radio, Hamish, then a Mastiff girl whose name i have forgotten (we grabbed her and her owner for the photo op because she is super beautiful), to the right is Dina Weim....Ruby's owners overslept so she missed this part of the line up...we left vikki park along the canal towards the marshes, cross the football field and voila: river lea...


Joe and Morgan Down to the mud-bath...Ruby is a better swimmer than Hamish or even Radio, which is why the three will enter the jetty dog competition next year...

Tilly needed a little help from Carol (short legs....)




and heading back home....

happy days

the zoo is complete. radio and franz and otto are in love, at times also with us.franz, as mentioned earlier in a post, has taken to lick people like crazy, but since recently radio and otto get the treatment too.lucky radio got to spend some dog time with hamish in dungeness.
this really is dog food: predigested soy protein and some vegetables. not fair i guess as franz and otto at least get some oat grass + proper food.....

Name in need:

here is our new kitten. he is a mewmew and his given name is mewmew hamish (like radio's is szinarany apollo and otto's is jo). although his temperament is supposed to be (according to the breed description) independent, easily trainable, not a lapcat...of course none of this is true. he is a licking purr machine. he has been with us for three days and thus far he licked my whole hair (needed a wash) and lasse's face (several times), our hands, feet, radio's paws, whatever living being with skin and fur comes near him gets a wash. furthermore, one only needs to look at him and he purrs. needles to say, we adore him.
otto absolutely is smitten with him, though hamish is taking a little more time with her, he started as a dog's kitten, but is beginning to follow her around.
the problem is that he got given the very name of radio's best friend, hamish pup. so we need to find a new name. any ideas?

dog-kitten-fight nr. 299909039087986986

our friend Adam came to stay from LA, and he of course got an appropriate wake up call....(and a new job as referee)...except that radio simply fell asleep, kitten still attached.

one lucky Radio...

First of all, this morning as i was brushing my teeth, i came back into the room, and hey, a threesome in bed with radio getting a kitten hug...(this radio is not allowed in bed but he always seems to manage somehow). but then lasse got the payback: being woken up by vizslittens kisses...actually the reason why radio was allowed in the bed because he was really quite ill these last days. he is recovering now but he gave us a huge scare, throwing up all over the place, not eating...just the same when he had a major relapse last time....but miracuously (with some help of antibiotics) he was fine almost overnight. our lovely friend eiko made him a plaque and just now brought it as a get better gift to mr. radio...thanks eiko!
.

a Hungarian from Wales

this is Artanella (well, what you can see of her hidden behind Vizsla kisses). Artanella is Hungarian and from Budapest. This is Morris, Artanella's 7 months old Hungarian Vizsla pup, and Morris is from Wales.

Holidays

well, unfortunately not our own...Hamish has swapped with Flo (the owners went on holiday...why not me?) and i noticed that Hamish has become a bit of a poser:here with Daisy guarding Lasse's stall (but purtly keen on catching the lens...)
here at the marshes...again, see the almost incidental glance at the camera, head ever so slightly tilted...
Well, for those who know that Radio has a bit of a love for sheep, he again confirmed, contrary to all other opinion, that it is the look that attracts him, not the smell: meet Tony, the too cute for true old english (not a sheep) dog we met in Vikky Park (Hamish is of course following Radio's advice and got rather attracted to Tony himself)

dognosis (from hypnosis)

this is basil. basil of course is a herb, just as a radio is something that noise comes out of...this basil and this radio are neither herb nor transmitter/receiver...in any case, basil cheered radio up immensly today because today we got a bit of a fright when radio's test results from the vet came back. his pancreas is not perfect and although this could be related to the rest of his disease, if it is a seperate condition it is not very good (when compared to similar cases). so we not only had a big dinner for him but are hypnotising him so that he'll get better. michael is the master at this art as you can see, and we all are astonished at the effects. radio's ears all pricked up.