The First Viewing

Flare and Some Assorted Babies

We went up to Marian's (Csardas Vizlas) today (Sept 7) for the first time since the pups were born. Flare's two pups were 15 days old (born 8/23) and Leia's 10 pups were 13 days old (born 8/25). Flare's two are huge in comparison to Leia's - but that's probably not due to age; they just started out bigger. All the pups eyes and ears are open, and a couple of them are starting to be able to sort of stagger toward The Bar.

While we were there (Wayne, his mother and I), there was another couple, and two more people and another beautiful Vizsla arrived later. Also, Marian's friend Gayle, who owns the father of Leia's litter was there as well - making a total of nine people and 18 dogs. There were no fights, human or canine and we all had a good time - a credit to Marian's social skills.

Flare

If you're at this site, you probably know already, but Flare had one huge male and one huge female, while Leia had two females and eight males! As a result, Marian is trying to spread the "wealth", so Flare is taking on a few of Leia's pups, at least during feeding time: three males and one of the females. After washing our hands, Flare didn't seem to mind if we picked up a pup and took a look. It looks to me like Flare is being an exemplary mother: she's feeding her pups and some of Leia's, she's being gracious to visitors, and she's still staying really alert to externals - the head up posture is in honor of a fly to who tried to land on her litter. Fat chance!

Leia

Leia seemed to be handling her job really competently, too. We didn't handle her pups, they all seemed pretty tiny yet, and we wanted to disturb them as little as possible. Also, feeding time started right as we went into her area. Notice the little guy getting access to The Bar by coming down between her front legs - now that's resourceful! We didn't spend long with Leia, she had had visitors all day and it seemed like she might want a break.

Cowboy

Cowboy is the father of Leia's litter and belongs to Gayle, Marian's friend who also is a horse person. (The Vizla community knows how to have a good time!) Anyhow, it's clear he's got no self-concept problems - he's convinced that the whole world loves him, and it's his duty to show his fans that he loves them back. I was his first target, then he had to sniff for awhile.

After a little while, Gayle decided that he had to look serious in at least a couple of pictures. Her first efforts were unsuccessful - note that I caught him in full self-nose-lick in the first shot. He is, after all, a champion with a reputation to uphold, so she tried to get him to "get his ears forward." Cowboy wasn't cooperating, so she asked Wayne to stand in front of Cowboy and do something "interesting." "Interesting" is Wayne's middle name and, as you can see, Cowboy's ears were definitely pricked up after Wayne got on the job.

As soon as Gayle released him, Cowboy dashed over to Wayne to figure out just what the hell he was up to, and Wayne tested his rough-housing skills. (On previous visits, we had tested the breeds' treat-eating and fetching skills with positive results.) Cowboy was a credit to his breed and the bout was considered a draw, although Cowboy did lick Wayne's ear and Wayne denies licking Cowboy's.

After that, we got recalled back to the general play session with Sparkles, Siren and Cowboy. Sparkles kept the two kids pretty cowed and took on most of the fetching tasks for herself, with Todd or Dana throwing; thus leaving Siren plenty of time to investigate both Wayne and I. Sparkles couldn't stand having Siren get all of anyone's attention, so she came over at intervals to charm Wayne.

All in all, a great day. Thanks to Marian for hosting this invasion and making us think she enjoyed it, and thanks to all 18 of the canines who made it such a wonderful time.