Let it snow!

It's the return of the white stuff! I had a month of it in January of this year when I went skiing for the first time. Now i'm having another month of it on and off. I don't mind it too much and mum and dad are amused at watching me tracking things when they can see the footprints too. Humans are SO underdeveloped in the scent department. Well, having said that mum is giving me a run for my money with her nose at the mo. She is expecting a puppy in May and apparently it has given her a decent sense of smell. Well I think that's what she said anyway. Hopefully it will be a fun puppy like Bess and not a boring annoying one.

Obedience

I've just started on the path to becoming more 'obedient'. Well, I'm working on my heelwork. Mum takes me to a club every week. I'm finishing up my Gold Good Citizen and starting to work on competition obedience. I must say it is good fun as it means I get to stuff my face with treats. Where's the catch?

I've been showing how well behaved I can be with my new niece (aunty?). She is my grandma's new puppy and we looked after her for a couple of weeks whilst grandma was on holiday. I was fairly fed up with her at first as she was so little, but I gradually learned to play with her and even shared my bed. She is the little black one in the corner - it's hard to see her cos she is quite small. We did play tug which was funny - I could *so* have won if i'd wanted to but I pretended her feeble tugs were stopping me. Hah.



Oh - the cover isn't on the bed and the blanket is supposed to be doing its job cos *someone* peed on it. Bah puppies.

Success in the show ring

Like all the best and most famous show dogs I get my handler flown in from across the Atlantic...it is important to have international expertise at these show things. So this is my cousin Dylan. He has flown in from the USA specially to enter a show with me. Well, ok, maybe it was so his mum could come to a wedding but I know that this has been the highlight of Dylan's trip. He says that the USA is far far away but they do have Vizslas - Brisztow, Winnie, Dennis, Miss Laila, Zoe and Mia at least for starters!

We entered 'best condition' with mum and Dylan and I came third (nice biscuits, thanks). Then Dylan and I entered 'best young handler' and WE WON!!! I like to think that my calming presence helped seal the deal but actually I think it was cos Dylan had been to dog training with his dog, Maggie, and nailed all the tricky questions they asked him about dog handling.

This was A Good Result. And kindof made up for the rather embarrassingly poor effort dad and I put in in the gundog tests. So we tried a 'long retrieve'. I was awesomely steady to the gun, sighted the dummy well, but then went 'so what'. Dad had to retrieve it for me. I have him well trained but apparently my training skills weren't up for debate. I was supposed to pretend that he had trained ME. Well pshaw. The retrieve pens weren't much better. The 'up and over' was great to start with - I mean I did ALL the 'up and over' bits. I just didn't bother with the retrieve bits. But really if you want me to retrieve then you ought to be a bit more specific in the title. 'Up and over and fetch two dummies' would have made much more sense.

The crowd had a good laugh anyway. On our way out much later they'd left a dummy next to the up and over area and we nailed it properly loads of times in a row. See. When someone explains things clearly it's quite simple. Perhaps I'll go to the next one and show them how it's done.

Best in Show

Last night my breed was honoured with the top title in the canine showing world - Best in Show at Crufts 2010. Yogi (pic from Daily Mail) is a prolific winner, and he likes to think he looks a little like me. Of course I'm a bit younger and more sprightly, heheh. He's also my girlfriend Ditto's dad!

Vizslas vs. pinecone

I think I said before, but the pine cones were really the best bit about the alps. Please note: no trees were harmed in the making of this film.

Working hard

For the first time i've travelled overseas - to the French Alps. It's a very cold snowy place. I've discovered new forms of transport. This 'ski lift' thing is the closest I've ever come to flying I think. I'm not sure I approve.

Anyway they're keeping me on my toes - I've got a job 'bashing pistes'. To be honest I'm more interested in hunting pine cones...

The more it snows...

We certainly get a whole lot more snow here than we ever used to in Bournemouth! On Tuesday and Wednesday we had about 40cm of the white stuff. It's cold but it is also oddly exciting and makes me behave quite madly! There's not a whole lot of wildlife out and about but this morning I did see a hare. Hares are strange. They are like big rabbits but run much faster. I don't think I've got a hope of catching one of them (unlike rabbits hehehe).

Walking in the snow is hard, according to mum. She can hardly manage our paltry morning 40min loop (suppose it is taking more like an hour in the snow). I, on the other hand, am able to run and jump and still have JUST as much energy as usual. This is annoying mum who feels like an old lady.

After a workout in the snow I decided to pop into our local and happened across these two lovely labrador ladies. I was pretty much in heaven.

Humans do odd things in the snow. Sliding on bin liners is one of them. Daft but very exciting. Here I am showing mum that I'm still faster running than she is sliding.