Swords Part I

As I ventured down the road of Vizsla ownership one aspect of Vizslatude I planned to address was hunting. Having never trained a bird dog before, I had joined the NAVHDA, due to the active nature of its members in organizing group training days. I initially envisioned the journey with Bounce as with many other of my hobbies to be one of trial and error. The NAVHDA group that I joined has held clinics opening up a few of the options that lay aheand and the members were very helpful on getting me off on the right foot. Aside from being warm and pleasant people, they helped provide initial bird exposure, taking extra time to help get Bounce from fearful of these crazy feathered things to curious, and even sending me home with a quail for her to continue learning about. The quail was supposed to live for a week, or until bounce did it in, but instead survived the dogs and now has been residing in a bird pen for a few months, with a host to of other tenants moving in.

My experience with NAVHDA also taught me that outside critique helps me identify unforeseen issues, and take advantage of other peoples experience. After talking to another owner that had made the transfer from the ring to the AKC hunt test and field trials, I was pointed to a trainer that seems to have the approach that I was looking for: to training me to train my dog, leaving me active in the process.

A reoccurring theme that I have seen in gun dog training is managing double edged swords. My initial exposure to the concept of double edged swords in training arose from a NAVHDA Versatile Hunting Dog Magazine article on training Pointing vs Tracking, where the two processes have a the same objective thus easily confusing for the dog.

The nature of the Bouncing Fireball's training has been an interesting series of double edged swords. Training as a whole even revealed itself to be a double edged sword. The double edged sword always presents two paths to a common goal. Each path has different obstacles; some detrimental, some trivial. These swords manifested themselves in Bounce's Sensitivity, Range, Bird Exposure, and Structured Training. The nature of Bounces obstacles in training, were promising indicators in addition to barriers to progress.

Sensitivity
First, Bounce was, and still is, sensitive to new things. This has resulted in her needing some extra effort so she does not become skiddish and shut down when everyday things encroach her comfort zone. More importantly, her sensitivity needs to be mitigated such that she is not overwhelmed in hunting situations. Simultaneously, her sensitivity is an asset. She is very perceptive and picks up quickly on changes and details, resulting in fast learning. So my objective with her sensitivity is to boost her confidence, rather than to desensitize her.

Range
Second, Bounce's range is another divide. As a result from Bounce's sensitivity, she had once taken off after being spooked by the sudden appearance of a mountain biker. It took me a good 5 hours to find her; I quickly invested in a Garmin Astro. Since acquiring the Astro, her range has increased. Initially, I assumed her added range was due to her gaining confidence and taking interest in seeking birds. Upon starting to work with a trainer recently, who views the GPS as a crutch, he pointed out it interferes with my lack of presence when she has gone "too far", she will range further, since I am able to follow her and not reinforce her need to keep track of me. Now, I am more conscientious regarding when her range becomes excessive to stop and wait her out.

Bird Exposure
Third, pen raised vs no birds. I get that wild birds are the best teacher, like driving a real car is a better experience that learning to drive in a simulator. Moreover, pen raised quail, due to their own inexperience, and limited flight conditioning, are asking to get caught. Once again we reached a crux.

Bounce had been chasing a grouse around one of our hikes, bumping into it three times this spring. Initially, she didn't event know what it was, but has since gotten really excited. In order to let the grouse get stupider and Bounce to be less frustrated, we have been avoiding the grouse for a while and started working some not-so flight conditioned quail from my small bird pen. Bounce would go crazy every time I brought a bird out, tearing about the field. Gradually she was finding the birds faster and faster when I planted them, yet found less and less as we were out in the wild.

Once again, the trainer picked up on something right away, even after Bounce had been off birds for two weeks. While I watered her in the shade, he set out a couple chukkar. Immediately upon release, Bounce took off tracking the foot scent of the trainer right into the first bird. She proceeded to follow his foot scent to the second bird, but Bounce was in for a surprise, wisely, the trainer had thrown the dizzied bird into a bush several feet away from the end of his scent, and as she hit the end of his scent and didn't find a thing. She was persistent and looped around until she caught bird scent and eventually located the bird.

Elimination Round...

So, I cannot really complain, because potty training Bounce was a breeze. I got up twice a night during the first week (more because I am neurotic than she needed to...). Then pretty much once a night for the second week, aka 10 weeks old. Now in the third week she has had two full nights of sleep where, I have not taken her out after I went to sleep.

I admire how strong her bladder is. She has had one daytime accident this week (my fault for not taking her out, since I didn't understand what she was barking about). I try and keep her on a schedule. Going out approximately every two hours or when she lets me know that she is needing to go out, usually because I have gotten caught up with my own work. I am very fortunate she has great bladder control, but I am wondering if house breaking is really that hard?

Puppy in the Mirror

Time to reflect on Bounce. She has enabled me to do so much, but gotten in the way of everything planned. I was really hoping to have a dog that would only push me in a positive direction. Well we have moved in positive directions, but many sacrifices have been made, namely this blog. Here is a short synopsis of everything missed in the first three weeks I have had her (Weeks 8-10):

Week 8
Picked up Bounce. After not needing to go to the bathroom before leaving her liter, she peed her crate and proceeded to ride the rest of the way home shotgun in laps without an issue, peeing outside for the rest of the trip. Upon getting home, she peed and pooped on the floor. Bounce objects to peeing outside, mostly because it is cold. Then things took a turn for the better, she ate, played fetch with her new toy Kong (retrieving to lap), and slept getting me up to take her out when necessary with minimal whining.

We took our first trip to the vet, where she exhibited her innate ability to do the Vizsla reverse, perpetually trying to back off the examination table. She was very sweet at the vet, licking the vet as her heart beat was checked. Unfortunately after I left the vet called to inform me that her stool sample came back positive for coccidia and round worms. The next day we put her on meds for both.

Week 9
Bounce has adjusted to peeing in the snow after I shoveled her some grass patches. She has learned her name and to sit. She loves to run around the house treating the furniture as agility equipment. She doesn't understand why she cannot always sit in a lap... Trying to get her used to falling asleep in a bed. She recovered from an intimidating dog encounter, a random German Shepard, with a nice one, Hurley. Hurley is a big English Golden, who was kind enough to let bounce walk all over him; but bounce definitely needs work on dog manners. Actually, she needs work on manners in general...

Bounce was lent a SnuggleSafe. It is a heating pack that after 6 minutes in the microwave at high, will stay warm for 6 hours. It has helped her stay quiet in the kennel, and gives her something warm to bunch against under her bedding.

Week 10
Bounce finished up her meds. She has done worse with sleeping in crates, and I crumbled and started letting her into bed. She has not had an accident all week! She Played with Miles and Porter, Lab and Mutt, and had a lot of fun chasing and being chased. They helped her with her dog manners. Now on to the people manners...

That is the quick version. Now I can start to write a couple entries on more interesting topics: Training Blunders and Puppy Games!

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...