Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody! You can see in this pic that because I was a bit unwell and couldn't go out much they decided to bring a bit of outside in to me - a real tree in the house! Anyway, i'm all better now and looking forward to my christmas party at training on Friday. I've got a special party trick up my sleeve that i'll tell you about if it works :-)

Just been to the vet for my boosters and I've managed to put on another kg - making me 23.1kg now. The nice lady said I could start jogging with mum too - that i'm old enough and my weight was ok - I just look lean and mean really rather than skinny now. They are doing their best to stop me being skinny mind you - I just ate a rather delicious pig's nose. Do you think all animal's noses taste that good?

Oh - ROFLOL Brisztowe - that 'Elf yourself' site is SOOO funny - we have done our own too! Click here to see it!

Kennel cough

Well on top of everything else I've now come down with kennel cough. I'm not feeling too poorly in myself but am coughing a bit. Mum took me to the vet to make sure because she wanted to be sure we didn't come into contact with other dogs if it was. My glands are up and the vet gave me a jab of something to ease my cough plus some antibiotics.

Apparently there is a 3-day cough going round the park - so we're not sure what makes the diagnosis of kennel cough and what is 'just a cold'. Ho hum - means I can't go training for a couple of weeks so I will have to work on my special party trick for their Christmas party - which I think I'll be allowed to go to on 21st December.

Luckily one of my best pals has recently had this cough (although I've not seen him for a fair while so I don't think he gave it to me) and his mum says that we can still go out on walkies together. So I'm not totally confined to barracks which is a big relief.

Have any of you had kennel cough? What did you have to do? Walkies at 5am to avoid other dogs is all very well in the summer but we're (read, mum) too wussy to go out in the dark on our own at the mo.

Two whole kilos!

I've just been to the vet to weigh myself and I've managed to put on 2kg! I'm now 22.3kg so I reckon I should try to put on another 2 and then we'll see how I look. Some people think I look pretty much ok right now, but I think I want a bit of extra padding just in case I ever need it in the future. Mum was so pleased we went straight to the pet shop and got lots of chews and treats.

I've been feeling much better - even enough to go swimming again in the freezing sea! I had to show off to Amber - a 5yr old girl we met at the weekend. She went in so I'd have just looked a wuss if I didn't. Thankfully it was a warm day and I soon dried off.

I'm going on another little Viz Whiz next weekend - 12 noon on Sunday 9th December at the Royal Oak in Fritham again. Someone else is organising the walk this time so hopefully we won't end up walking through a bog again (thanks dad). If any of you are around please do come along!

Fun run

Last weekend I took part in a fun run. Before I got sick I'd started training with mum but cos I'm so skinny we decided we should just walk it instead. I won 'first dog across the line' :-) Oh, this is my new coat. It's REALLY warm and cosy and I wear it every morning at the mo cos I'm trying to keep my weight up and not use it to keep warm.

Last week I managed to gain another paltry 50g... Mum has ordered this new food for me that Radio used to eat and was good for putting on weight - but the store stuffed it up and it's not coming for another few days now. Boo - I'm just so hungry! And I've got an ear infection :-(

New Forest Viz Whiz

On Saturday we went into the New Forest and met up with 10 other Vizlsas! There was (I think from l to r) Inca, Dexter, Ditto, Indy, Rufus, me, Rufus, Rufus, Herbie, Bessie and Hazel! Noone could tell us apart cos our folks had all put our 'going out' collars on us which all tended to be dark leather. Doh! If you shouted 'Rufus' though you had a good bet of getting at least one of us. Rufus is a very popular name. All very handsome boys as well (particularly my bro :-))

We had a great run through the trees and a bog (thanks dad) and we managed to freak out a few people - particularly this guy in tie dyed trousers who we all barked at. We were just giving him some fashion advice in our own particular way.

For me the VERY BEST bit was seeing my girlfriend Ditto again! I whispered lots of sweet nothings in her ears and nuzzled her a lot.

I wuff Ditto!

Feeling a bit better

I've been much more lively this past few days and almost back to my old self. This hasn't stopped me from getting on the sofa for cuddles though. I was never allowed on before but now I snuggle up most nights. I'm still pretty skinny but at least I'm not losing weight. And now I'm feeling a bit better I can start to eat more food - yay!

This is me tucking into a yummy kong. I'm having one of these most nights now that I can't have chews or bones or things. Mum puts biscuits in and something called 'stock' and freezes it. It's my kong-sicle.

Still poorly

I'm still not feeling too great - this week I've been doing my bowing/praying posture again after eating and i've been to the vet another three times. I've got some painkillers and some more antibiotics and tomorrow I'm going to get some Tagamet (which is apparently a human thing too) to line my tum a bit. Mum is worried, but that didn't stop her withdrawing bedroom rights last weekend! Still, not all bad - I sleep down on my own but in the morning i get to go up for cuddles and a lie in. Hopefully I'm just taking a bit longer to get over my op than they'd thought and will feel better next week. Otherwise I'm going to need more x-rays :-(

Bloody German Shepherds

You see now I'm one I'm allowed to swear. Honestly though, what is it with that breed?! I've been feeling a bit poorly again this last couple of days. I don't have a temperature or anything but my tum is sore again. I get to eat chicken and rice which is good. Anyway we went out for a quick run in the park to take my mind off things and i've been set upon by this huge long haired evil untrained thing and got a punctured back for my troubles. And its owner has the GALL to say that it takes two dogs to start a fight!

This is the fifth time I've been bitten and had broken skin (not to mention the times I've been set upon without actual bodily harm) and I don't do ANYTHING. I stand there quietly with my eyes averted, my ears down and my tail down and they just decide they don't like the look of me and that's it. Honestly what is the problem with other dogs. I guess it is because I've still got my equipment and am, quite frankly, streets better looking than any of them that they feel threatened. Mum asked this bloke if he could look her in the eye and say that this dog had never done anything like it before and it was quite telling that he couldn't. She told him quietly that he was letting his dog down and ought to train it when really she'd have liked to scream and hit his smug little face. Ho hum.

New Forest Viz Whiz

Date for your diaries - Saturday 3rd November, 2pm at the Royal Oak, Fritham (http://tinyurl.com/37jfx4)

Walkies followed by a drink - hope to see as many of you there as poss!

Stitched up

Well all my stitches have been removed and my wound is looking good. I can go racing about like old times again! Mum had to pay £743 for my treatment but luckily has something called 'insurance' that means she really only has to pay £50. Does that mean I get to use the rest of it on treats and toys? I could get a lot of stuff for that I reckon. I've got my eye on a new coat from Chillydogs...

How Charlie got his bark back

I've felt so much better this weekend. I went to my grandma's house and it was so nice to get out and about it made me feel like a different dog. I was so excited about everything that I decided to bark pretty much non stop. Even at a pretty young Vizsla pup called Evie that I met, sorry Evie, I'm not feeling quite myself.

Something that needed LOTS of barking at was this boat we went on. I wasn't too happy about getting on at all so I had to stand next to it and shout at it. Didn't seem to make it go away though. Boating is ok if you've got someone close by to make sure you don't fall off but I don't like the uppy-downy floating land things that they moor up against AT ALL.

You didn't tell me you had a boat Ditto?!

Everything got a bit much for me by the end of the afternoon - so I had to have a nap.

Bedroom rights are still in place. Mum has said I can stay there til I've had my stitches out this Wednesday. I'm kindof hoping to stay up there permanently but dad isn't having it. I will have to work on him a bit more carefully I think. Maybe jumping on the bed at 5am isn't the right tactic?

Keeping them on their toes

Well as Redgirls said you have to keep the humans on their toes otherwise they might revoke bedroom rights. So, yesterday I got a bit too cold on a little morning plod and shivered quite violently (despite t-shirt and coat). Mum freaked out and rushed me home and wrapped me up with hot Gromit until I perked up. Five points to me.

Then last night I got sick - I had eaten some mince and veg (under protest) earlier in the day and I puked up all the fibrous veg. Of course this freaked them out big time. I've eaten well ever since and I'm playing happily. Several million points to me. And no more veg, just yummy pouches - yay.

One thing I'm having at the mo, along with my probiotics, is something called 'boost' for convalescing dogs. It smells funny but is supposed to be really good for me. Anything that helps. I'm looking forward to having my stitches out on Wednesday cos they do pull when i try to run.

A little light play

I've been chasing my tennis ball in the garden. Mum says this size tennis ball is the only one i'm EVER playing with EVER again and that she's going to ceremonially burn the other ones. I don't know what she's on about. It's not like it was MY ball I ate? Maybe she's going to ceremonially burn every tennis ball in the whole world? I think Roger Federer might have something to say about that mum.

Oh and this is my t-shirt. It says bone idle which isn't very kind. I've not been able to do much - it's not my choice honest! It was the only one at the shop that fit me. I think clothes are usually for smaller dogs but the posh Equafleece t-shirts were sold out so this had to do.

Road to recovery

I've been back to the vet's this morning and am officially on the mend. My temperature is still normal and i've already gained 1.5kg of the 3kg I lost! I've got to stay on fairly 'safe' foods for a bit so I'm going to stick with my nature's menu pouches, some lamb mince and veg and also some chicken breast chunks which I know I'm going to love.

I met my pals in the park this morning and I was so excited to see them. I had to stay on the lead so that I didn't run around too much. I have to stay on the lead til the weekend so that my stitches will heal up which is just too dull for words. Then next Wednesday I'm going to have the stitches out and hopefully I will be able to leap about again!

Size 0

Ok well i'm a bit embarrassed to put this pic up but people wanted to know how skinny I really was. This pic doesn't even show me at my worst really as my hips are the really pointy bony bit. If you look closely you can see my shaved arms too.

Even dad has been convinced to go shopping to buy me a t-shirt to hide my skinniness whilst I get better :-( On the plus side I'm in high demand on the catwalk at the mo.

Tired

Well I told you I would eat, it was just a matter of finding the right stuff. That vet rubbish has got so dull. A nice pouch of Nature's Menu later and I've even felt bright enough to woof at dad in the garden. My bark is much quieter and more high pitched for some reason though - think maybe they put some tubes down my throat when I was having my op. Mum says she hopes it will stay quiet but I know she doesn't really mean it. Time for more sleep I think after all that excitement.

Listless

Well i'm very listless again today and am not really keen on eating anything. Mum is going bananas. I'm not sure how quickly I'm supposed to get better but my heavy painkillers probably still haven't totally worn off from yesterday morning. My wound is ok but i've got this black tarry poo that, according to the duty vet, can be normal this soon after surgery but mum is freaking out cos it means blood is in it and she's worrying i'm bleeding inside. Not much to be done until Monday now really. I am sleeping fairly happily so i think they should just let me get on and rest up. I'll eat when I want to.

Home

Well I'm home but feeling very groggy and sorry for myself. So would you if you'd had your insides opened up and someone poke about in there! Stupid ball wasn't even that tasty. I'm on all sorts of 'drugs' which make me feel quite spaced out and sleepy. I didn't recognise mum at first when she came to pick me up but after a little while I did manage to thump my tail a few times. My tail still works even if the rest of me is a bit under the weather.

I haven't even got the strength to have a wee - I end up resting on my thighs cos my legs won't hold me. It's a very undignified thing for a young man, but does guarantee much sympathy. I've slept upstairs twice in a row now. I've lost count of how many times i've been to see the vet but hopefully I might not need to go again assuming I get a bit brighter over the next few days. Thanks for all the well-wishes - it's nice to know I've got friends out there thinking of me.

Update

Well poor Charlie has had a tennis ball-ectomy this morning. He doesn't chew up balls so it must have been a bit he found in the park and managed to swallow. Poor chap - he's on IV fluids, painkillers and antibiotics and hopefully will come home later tonight, if not tomorrow. Hopefully this is the last of it!

Poorly

Well I thought I was feeling better but this morning I was very sorry for myself again. I was doing the bow thing and shivering. So I ended up back with the vet and he says I have a high temperature again and I probably have pancreatitis. I'm on antibiotics and painkillers and am wearing my special jumper to keep warm. We don't know how I got it but I did disappear off into the woods last Thursday with my pal Coco, and then on Friday we were both in the vets. She had a swollen face and I had a swollen gut. I'm not telling what I got up to but it might be that we both ate something that disagreed with us. Coco is fine now though.

Sick boy :-(

Well being 1 isn't all that great so far. On Thursday I came down with a very painful tummy which lasted all weekend. I wasn't eating anything at all and was throwing up and feeling VERY sorry for myself. I went to visit the vet and had a bunch of injections that made me feel a bit better but still not great.

I went back to the vet on Monday and he found a hard painful spot in my guts that they thought might be a blockage. I was going to go back in for another check on Tuesday to see if the blockage had moved, and if not be x-rayed and operated on. Gulp. All the prodding seemed to move things along a bit though and I managed to 'do my business' on Monday night. After that I started to feel a lot better and the vet confirmed my suspected blockage had moved on.

I lost over 3kg over the weekend although i've started to eat again now. Redgirls would be very impressed with my size zero-ness. I'm still a bit sore after eating and keep doing this play bow kind of stand which makes me feel a bit better but freaks mum out.

I will have to take things a bit easy for a few days I think. It's a shame cos I missed my silver award on Friday night (I'm good at missing those awards) and I'm going to miss a gundog training session on Sunday cos they don't think i'm up to it. Still, at least I have been on a couple of proper walks now so hopefully I will bounce back soon.

Birthday boy!

I'm 1 today! I've had a great birthday so far - played with Herbie, Coco, George and China in the park this morning and then went for a swim at the hydrotherapy pool!

I love going there. This time I swam pretty much the whole time as i'm that bit older and fitter. When I got out I put my Equafleece sweater on to keep warm and now I'm pretty tired so I think I'd better have a nap.

Happy birthday Yoji too - she's the only sis I know about - if there are any other brothers and sisters out there happy birthday to you too!

Vizsla get-together

I've been a bit slack at posting blog entries lately. Mum has gone back to college so is a little possessive over the computer. I will have to explain to her that we need to share.

Anyway - I still haven't posted any pics of the Vizsla get-together we did earlier this month so here goes!

Here I'm wuffing at Dexter.

This is me, Dexter, Ditto, Herbie and Hazel.

This is me and Ditto mobbing dad.

Me retrieving a bottle from the sea whilst Dexter and Ditto look on.

Herbie, Dexter, me, Radar and Ditto (I think!).

This is little Goulash. All the humans were cooing over her cos she was only 9 weeks old. I'm looking forward to her growing up a bit so we can play...she was a bit timid of us to start with. Mind you she arrived by boat which we all thought was VERY exciting and different so we did wuff at her quite a bit which seemed to worry her for some reason. Must be a girl thing.

This is us checking out Goulash's boat. There's Rufus with his paws on the boat (my half bro) and then Radar jumping in and Goulash at the back. Herbie's around the other side and I think this is me in the foreground.

Then this is a bunch of us - me, Ditto, Dexter and Herbie with either Radar or Rufus in the background!

Herbie and Hazel's dad went for a swim and a few of us went out to check him out.

Surf's up

This is me being a cool surfer dude with my dad. I went surfing with Ditto too...look how I managed to stand up and everything!

Dexter preferred to swim - this is him beating me at water retrieves - I finally found someone more enthusiastic even than me at these!

First love

I didn't think weekends could get any better, but they can! I had Dexter and Ditto to visit, and on Saturday we went to see another 6 Vizslas - including Herbie, Hazel and Rufus, on Hengistbury Head! I think I fell in love with Ditto.

We played together racing around the garden, and also in the house where we showed each other our teeth...

While I was falling in love with Ditto, Dexter was chasing a torch around the kitchen. He likes lights quite a lot!

We went swimming on Sunday and did some surfing too - I'll put more pics up soon!

Don't look if squeamish...

I've had the most amazing weekend. We spent most of Saturday on the beach - mum and dad hired a beach hut for the day as they had some friends down to visit. The friends brought Oscar the dog too and we got to chase balls pretty much ALL afternoon. Then on Sunday we went to the New Forest for a lovely big long walk and we met Herbie and Hazel! Hazel and I had a great play by Cadnam's Pool chasing and swimming after sticks. Herbie was too smart to go in the cold water when there were two lunatic youngsters to do it for him - hrm, I will have to remember this in the winter when it is REALLY cold.

Then, as if it couldn't get any better - I had a rabbit for dinner! A whole one! Here's some vids of me eating it - I polished the whole lot off, fur, nails, teeth, the lot. Mmmmm. The vids are really short cos mum's phone is rubbish. But you'll probably prefer it that way heheh.

Testing times

I can't go to my park at the mo cos we've got some travelling folk who've moved in and have decided to use it as a toilet. I got far too close to the evidence for comfort (so says mum) so we've been avoiding it. This means I've been exploring new places, and in doing so have discovered squirrels! Squirrels are fab! I always thought they were great but you can really run after them too. Mum is less than impressed as I've started dragging her along when I see one, so apparently we're doing some 'desensitisation' tomorrow which I think means I get to eat lots of treats, so that will be good.

I'm also testing them at home with my barking. I've discovered this great high-pitched bark that I use when I want some attention. And let's face it - you can never have too much attention. They ignore me at home which is quite annoying, but if I do it out in the pub they can't do that. Hah! Mum wants tips on how to stop me - but don't tell her please. I'm loving it.

I met Rufus's grandma today - she works next to my favourite food shop. We popped in to say hi today. I hope Rufus might come down in a couple of weekends and come swimming with me, Ditto and Dexter, and hopefully Herbie and Hazel too - it will be our own mini southern viz whiz! Let me know if you're around bro! Any others in the region should come too!

Smelly boys

Herbie smelt really good this morning (this is me stealing his orange kong) - so I had to go and find something just as good to roll in so that we smelt the same. My mum and his dad were less than impressed. I had to have a shower when I got home and I still stink a bit so I've got this wussy lavender bug spray all over me too now. The shame. Rumour is that I'm going to the New Forest later so hopefully I can find something more fragrant to top up the smell.

My new pal

Meet Herbie - he's my new pal. Here he is on the left - he was telling mum to hurry up and take the picture cos she was faffing around.

We look very alike - it can be hard to tell who is who except for our collars. Herbie is 3 and very grown up but he's still got time to play with a youngster like me cos he's got a little sister of his own. I can't wait to meet her.

Living the high life

On Friday I went to the beach to see the Red Arrows. Apart from looking at them a bit when they first flew over (well, it was kindof hard to miss them) I found it fairly dull and much preferred chasing shells. Mum was loving it though and kept saying silly lines from a film that is apparently called 'Top Gun'. My breed prefix is Gunfield, so perhaps the film was about my dad? She says I can be her wing man any time.

We took lots of photos with her mobile phone but cos a) the screen is too small and b) the sun was on it, most of the pics are of just sky. Or me. Which is what most photos should be of, of course. We'll try to get the pics onto the computer - I think I'll have to give her some help with that.

Then on Saturday we went visiting and I met my first hot tub. They are certainly hot. I dipped my paw in a few times but wasn't too bothered about jumping in. Mum doesn't need to worry about my claws in the water any more though as she's just bought a wetsuit. Yay - more swimming later this week when the weather warms up!

Along came a spider...

...but he didn't last long cos I ate him.

I've been away for a few days camping. Camping is lots of fun. You get to live outside and play with your ball pretty much all day. Then at night you wear pyjamas (well, my Equafleece) and get to sleep with your humans. We did some great walks and cooked some tasty things down on the floor which was interesting. Annoyingly we forgot the camera so I can't show you any pics :-( I was very well behaved - there were quite a lot of dogs on the campsite who would woof whenever you went near them but I didn't do that.

In other news I'm now eating a raw food diet which I LOVE. Mum found a great shop near us that sells all the stuff and has given us good advice about what to eat. I'm sure my coat is glowing more than ever already. Actually I'm moulting a bit at the mo - are any of the rest of you moulting?

The Sea!

We went to the beach today and, instead of walking along it, we sat down on it. Odd. I helped arrange the towel with my wet sandy feet then mum went into the sea. Odder. I followed her in and we swam together! I swam quite a bit but I kept getting overexcited so mum has some neat claw marks down her legs. Oops. When we'd finished I went and sat on the towel again to dry off. Surely if she'd wanted a towel herself she'd have brought two?

New clothes

Mum has bought me a new woolly jumper. Nice one mum, summer finally arrives and you're shopping for fleece? Apparently it's for me to take camping. Not sure what camping is but you can get cold at night, or so I'm told. It's a lovely snuggly jumper though - I just tried it on and got toasty warm. I think i'm going to put it on after walks in the future when I get a bit shivery.

Weather and jabs

I've been very unimpressed with the weather the last few days. The only good bit about it was that it made a little pond in the park that I had a great play in with Barney and Daisy. I've had to be towelled down after walkies far more often than I did in the winter. Hot Gromit has been out and about again which I got so excited about - I whimpered when I saw him getting filled up. And this was supposed to be something called summer. I've never seen a 'summer' before - apparently I'm not really seeing one now.

I had to go to the vets today for a jab for something called Rabies. It's to do with me getting a passport which means I can go 'overseas'. Cool. I like the sea. It takes months before I can travel so we're making sure I'm ready in time for next 'summer'. If we go 'overseas' apparently we might find a 'summer'.

Mini Viz Whiz

I went on a great walk with two very nice other Vizslas a couple of nights ago. They are Dexter and Ditto - Dexter is three, nearly four and Ditto is three weeks older than me. She's Troon's sister. In the pic above Ditto is on the left, Dexter is in the middle, and I'm on the right. We went to the gallops near Lambourn. I felt a bit of a city dog cos I'd not raced through a wheat field before. Ditto showed me how though - she's like a little kangaroo!

Dad is particularly good at taking pics making me look like Charlie, the biggest dog in the world. He managed to make us all look giant in this pic. Imagine if we were really this big!

The next day I had my first business meeting. I tried to be quite serious but I think that, if people aren't used to dogs, things like gently eating shoes do not go down too well. I get away with it cos I'm cute though.

Dodgy belly

I've been under the weather a bit over the weekend. It meant I had to miss the Viz Whiz in Richmond Park which I was gutted about. The only good thing about having a dodgy tum is the chicken and rice, although sometimes pasta sneaks in which I'm not too pleased about. I get live yoghurt too - real gourmet stuff.

So instead of going to Surrey for the weekend we had to stay home and do some DIY. I'm quite good at this I've found, although that gloss paint really does stick to a man's fur. My 'bedroom' got painted too - well, this is really more like 'my alcove'...but it is mine! I wanted it done in black but they had to use some coffee coloured stuff and white. Something to do with dad being an architect - the only colour allowed is white. Or obviously this coffee muck. Anyway - it is apparently a sign of me growing up that they could put a new coat of paint on things. Or at least I'm told I'd better be growing up cos they don't want to do it again in a hurry. I've already got a spattering of mud on the white bits you'll be pleased to know (don't tell them though!).

Flyball

I play a version of flyball at home which I love. I might graduate to the real thing one day. They throw a ball and it bounces off the shed into the air and I catch it and bring it back. I'm pretty good at catching - if they can throw it in a straight line and not into the nearest spiky bush of course. Mum is particularly hopeless and I'm forever having to leap into the bushes to find the ball. Anyone know where I can play flyball in Bournemouth!?

New toy

I am so loving my new American toy that I want to make sure it stays squeaky clean at all times - so just run it through the dishwasher would you? I put my order in for this specific toy after playing with Coco's in the park. Mum and dad had to trawl round several pet shops to find it - although mum said she quite enjoyed that.

Back!

I'm back from my hols and sporting a rather fetching bandana from the US of A - thanks mum and dad. Mind you it proved a bit of a hazard in the park this morning. I had a big reunion with all my pals and Barney and Monty were so excited to see me they nearly picked me up with it. I'm pretty shattered in this pic as i've been playing so much.

Apparently there are lots of cool pet shops in America but there are also lots more rules about what dogs can and can't do and where they can and can't go than there are at home. Take this water park - the perfect place for me to race about and get wet, but no dogs are allowed. Such a shame! The sprinklers in the park will have to do.

I'm looking forward to meeting my fellow bloggers again on Sunday - we're off to a 'Viz Whizz' on Ham Common. Weather forecast looks a bit rubbish though - was hoping to see them on a nice warm day not another wet and horrible one. Hey folks - are any of you on 'dogbook'? Facebook is so, well, human. This is much better.