The Creation of Matter...Worlds Super-Collide...

So, I am going to go meet Bounce for the first time. Until this point and time, Bounce has been a concept and an academic exercise; Boolean mapping of desired behaviors and training stimuli to attain a virtual optimal hunting dog and personal companion. Now, Bounce becomes real, and no longer is a faceless female Vizsla blank slate. Most of all, from this week on, there are consequences.

The disturbing nature of this weekends impending encounter is three fold. First, the thought that concept of Bounce as an archetype is now fusing with and manifesting itself in a dog form of my choosing reminds me of an overbearing parent that wants his child to be a doctor or a lawyer; yet, I want mine to be a bird dog. Second, Bounce must transition from her reality to mine, as I very advertently remold her to recreate her reality anew. Finally, I am paying to take her away from everything she knows to facilitate this transition, as if the act alone was not sinister enough...

The art of puppy selection seems arbitrary to me, yet the breeder pushed me to come visit, so I will do the dance. I will sit there and play with puppies for an hour, assigning personalities based upon a less than significant compilation of information. Then, I will make my selection based upon whatever whims take me, and of course the predefined criteria as put forth by various unreferenced articles and internet liable that I have voraciously consumed. There are points which I do believe will inevitably make a difference, but I lack the belief that this decision can truly and accurately be made in an hour.

The fact that I am selecting the fate of a dog is a little heavy on my mind. The reality is crushing, and it brings with it my first exposure to real failure. I will be responsible for real outcomes and real consequences. To comfort myself for committing such atrocities, I will uproot Bounce as humanely as possible. I will dupe her into believing I am part of her family by brain wash her much like any good General would when amassing a army of abducted children, get her hooked on puppy crack and teach her that she will be dependent upon me from here on out.

I want to comfort her in this transition, she (the puppy) will surely miss the comfort of her mother and litter mates in the weeks to come. I want her to be familiar with my scent in the mean time, so I am planning on stinking up a t-shirt or two and giving it to her current guardians. I will ask utilize the breeders opinion, since they have dealt with the puppies on a regular basis, then make my decision of which puppy to take home on my arbitrary assumptions: The second highest female in the pack order is the one I want (independent and confident, yet not completely hard headed) and a pretty puppy makes a pretty adult.

Be prepared for pictures next entry...

Depth of the Rabbit Hole

As I peer down the rabbit hole that is my impending adventure, I can't help but get excited for adding a Vizsla to my life. The new year will be marked with the arrival of Bouncing Fireball, aka Bounce. I am hoping for an inquisitive fuzzball with a keen desire to interact with its environment. Bounce will be trained as a hunting dog, which will be a rewarding experience for us both; giving both of us the sense of purpose,boundaries, and intellectual stimulation necessary for us to lead happy, low-stress lives. We will focus on hunt tests and field trials to start, although I have been recently enamored with well rounded dogs of the utility tests.

The month of December is chocked-full of preparations. While Bounce will not be my first dog, she will be my first puppy and my first bird dog. I have been designing puppy town, a lavished area of tiled floor with plenty of play space and convenient outdoor access, for the torturous house breaking. I have a lists of vets, and have been slowly weeding through them based upon the positive and negative experiences of friends, along with my own personal veterinary peeves. I have been reading everything I can on mouthing, basic obedience, nutrition, immunization, introduction to birds, crate training, and am attempting to make some informed choices ahead of time before I sink into a world of overwhelmed chaos, which I know will be unavoidable, until Bounce and I learn to work together.

So here, I stand at the rim of the rabbit hole, ready to take the plunge. Bounce, here we go...