Bread-napper strikes again!

The infamous bread-napper strikes again!

Maybe someday my dad will remember to put the bread back on top of the refrigerator, but until that time...

"yummy in my tummy!"

Missing my mommy

For the past four weeks, all my mom has done has been study, study, study all day long.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I keep busy.  My mom and I go to the park in the morning, take a walk or two in the middle of the day, and my dad takes me to the park every night.  I get to hang out with my friends until they get too hot, and I've got my baby pool in the backyard to splash around in and keep me cool.  And don't forget all of my stuffies and chewies.  But something is missing. 

I miss my Mommy.

Hey, mom, do you have any room?  Can I snuggle with you while you take your practice test?

Ahh... much better!  I know that you haven't left the house, but I've been missing you!

Just Call me "Aunt" Laila

I am an AUNT!!!!

  
My brother Rocky's girlfriend Daisy gave birth to seven beautiful and very healthy puppies on Saturday!  Four girls and three boys.  Just in time for Fathers' Day. 

Welcome to the world, little ones!

Milk bar.

Post-milk nap with mom.

It's hard work being a puppy.

 "Miss Purple."  Cute, isn't she?

I'm not biased or anything, but I think my nieces and nephew are adorable.

Congratulations to Willorunn Vizslas on their beautiful litter!

Wish I was a country girl...

My favorite thing to do is in the summer is to go swimming, but my second favorite thing is going for long hikes in the woods. The best is when I can combine the two, but I'll take what I can get.

A couple of weeks ago (before my mom started studying for the bar exam), my mom and dad took me for a hike up near where my dad grew up. It's not officially an off-leash area, so I won't tell you where it is, but I really love going there because there are lots of stuff to do.

There is a forest to zig-zag through, fields to hunt birdies in, hills to run up, and hills to run down, tall grasses to leap through, holes to pop my head into (don't worry, Mom, I won't get nibbled on), a lake to look at (not for swimming), a creek for splashing in, and lots of great smells and wildlife to check out!

We started out hiking a few miles through the woods.

Hmm... what is in here?

Let me get a better sniff...

Further along the trail, we came across the Raptor Cages, where the Nature Center houses several birds of prey which have been permanently injured and cannot take care of themselves.

"Umm... hello Mr. Buzzard, Sir.  You look kind-of grumpy, so I'll leave you alone now."

No time to waste.  Let's keep going!

Next on the agenda was a trip to the nearby open fields. 

I hunted birds and chased bunnies for awhile.

... but then my mom and dad brought out my ball!  Yes!!!!!!!!

  Now, the key is not to lose your ball.  Especially when the field is as big as this one.

But, you know what? Surprising, between my dad and I, we found it!

 What a great day!

All treats, no stuffies?

My treat and chewie supply has been running a little low, so my mom sent an order in to White Dog Bone, which is my favorite store in the world.  They have super yummy treats, delicious chewies, and the world's greatest stuffies.  Well, maybe I'm a little biased, but I think they are great.  Especially the Vanilla rawhides and the stuffies!

 I was really excited when the package finally arrived!  I knew that my mom probably got me all sorts of great stuff!  

Treats, chewies... 

... and you know that she got me some new stuffies since I only have seven like one or two.  

But wait, where are the stuffies!?!  Did I miss them?

 

 Are they over here?

Here?

Where could they be?

Wait a minute.  

Mom, what do you mean you didn't buy any new stuffies?

Conestoga Vizsla Club's "Fun Day" Recap!

This past Sunday was the Conestoga Vizsla Club's 2010 Annual Fun Day! My mom has wanted to attend the event for the last two years, but something always came up, so this was the first year that we went!

We missed the morning hunt seminar, but we watched the agility seminar and demonstration, tried out the agility course, did a lure course, went to a conformation seminar, ate a BBQ lunch, and played with lots of crazy redheads.

AGILITY COURSE

I've never seen an agility course before, but it was really fun! During the demonstration, my mom told me to look through the fence while they were doing the demonstration so that I could see what they were doing. As soon as I saw the demo dog doing some jumps and going through tunnels, I was hooked. I got really excited, popped my head up over the fence so that I could see better, started pawing at the fence so that I could get in, and then started my "let me go, let me go, let me go!" trembles. Once we were allowed inside, I was so excited to try everything out!
I had no idea what I was doing, but I had fun!

LURE COURSE

I loved the lure course also. I wish that my mom had gotten my run on video because it was awesome! They had a pulley system hooked up which ran a rope around a field pulling a plastic bag. I know, a plastic bag, how silly is that? I heard about how funny it was to watch, so my mom and dad decided to come down to see what all of the laughs were about. I was a bit curious about all of the fuss as well, seeing that it was just a piece of trash being pulled on a string.

But then I got down to the lure course field, and something happened inside of me, I don't know what it is, but it happened, and I just... fell in love with that plastic bag. I know, I know. I can hear how crazy it is as I'm writing it right now, but it is true! I know I said it earlier, but I really wish my mom had gotten my run on video. She said that it was amazing to see how fast I ran -- that after I reached the distance that I normally would have caught the chuck-it ball, I had a kick-back, threw it into high gear, and seemed to fly around the corner and through the rest of the course. I ran even faster the second time. The man running the course only let each dog run the course twice -- something about it being too much stress on our bones or muscles or something...
But I would have run it twenty times if they had let me! Now if only I could convince my dad to secretly build a private lure course for me at the super-secret dog park down the street...

SOCIAL GATHERINGS

There was a large fenced-in area where we could run around and be our typical redheaded selves, which was fun. I saw old friends and met a *lot* of new ones!
At one point, there were over a dozen of us romping around the enclosure, but of course, my mom didn't think to get out her camera. Silly mom. She was too busy chatting with the other Vizsla moms and dads. Thanks for making it such a special day, guys!

FAMILY REUNIONS

My brother Rocky came to the Fun Day with his mom Rachel. I hadn't seen Rocky in months and months, so it was nice to have a chance to spend some quality time together.
"Let's get ready to rumble..."

Of course, my mom wanted to get a "brother-sister" picture of the two of us.
So embarrassing... I hope none of my friends are watching.
Wait a minute... is Miss Rachel holding dehydrated Tuna? Yum! Take your time, Mom! Take as many pictures as you want! Just keep those treats coming!

I also officially met my 15 week old cousin Season and her wonderful mom Susan. Season is one of Brisztow Jones's puppies from Tivoliz's Kissable litter.
In addition to being a natural at agility (she loved the tunnels!), Season lived up to the theme of her litter by demonstrating just how very kissable she is. What a sweetheart!

WHAT A GREAT DAY!

It was a "fun day", but I was so exhausted that by 3:00pm, I was almost begging my mom to go home.
And if you are asking yourself if I fell asleep like this,

yes I did...

for the entire hour-long car ride.

(don't worry, I was wearing my doggie seat belt)

Was it Goldilocks?

When I got home from my super-awesome-trip to New Castle, PA, with Miss Debbie, Miss Melissa, my dad Owe'n, my sister Georgie, and a bunch of my cousins (including little Joey Dozer) on Monday night, I noticed that something was different.

Everything was the way it was supposed to be, but something was different.

While I was gone, somebody had been napping on my blankets...
Sleeping in my bed....
And (gasp!) cuddling with my turtle at night....
Who could it be?
Oh, it was just my cousin Skoda-boda. Hi Skoda!

Dear Skoda, thanks for keeping Myrtle the Turtle (and my mom and dad) safe while I was away, and be sure to take extra-special good care of your new two-legged human baby sister Stella when you get home. You can come back any time you want -- I'll even let you play with my raccoon!

Great news!

I won my first major on Friday at a show in New Castle, PA!!!! Big thanks to Miss Debbie for handling me!

AND...
My mom finally graduated!
No time for celebrating though; she has to start studying for the Bar Exam.

Vegetarian Toga Party

Ever since my Mom started using a new medication a few weeks ago, she's been able to do a lot more stuff than usual -- like cook dinner!

I love when my Mom makes dinner because she normally drops little bits of food as she cooks -- mostly by accident, but sometimes on purpose.

I've heard that if you wish for something hard enough, it's bound to come true. Well, I wished for a head of lettuce, and I got . . .
. . . a Grecian Goddess costume.

Mom, hand me a dish towel. I'm late for a toga party!

Happy Mother's Day!

"God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers."
Jewish proverb

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mothers in the world, both with two legs...

...and four.

My first meetup with the DC/MD Vizsla Meetup Group!

Today was my very first meetup with the DC/Maryland Vizsla Meetup Group and their humans. And of course my mom forgot her camera in the car. Hopefully some of the other RESPONSIBLE puppy parents (i.e., everyone else!) will share pictures with my mom. The playdate/hike was at McKee Beshers, a 2,000 acre tract in a mixture of woodlands, fields, wooded bottomland and managed wetland impounds. It was nearly a three-hour round trip from Baltimore City, but it was totally worth it to hike and meet new friends..

Four other Vizslas came to the Meetup: Colby, Khan, Ivan, and Franz. I tended to stay near the two-legged crowd since I was the only girl of the group (plus, that was where the treats were!), but the four boys had a blast running like mad crazy men through the grass.

Here is a video of all of us:

Colby (solid blue collar), Khan (blue and white collar), Ivan (orange collar), Franz (yellow collar), and me (orange collar)

I did beat them at one thing though. At the very end of the hike, a bunch of them jumped into the marsh, bounced around, and hopped out. Rookies!

I decided to show them how it is done, so I leaped right in and swam out into the marsh.
Haha! Beat that, boys!

Hope to see all of them soon!

Ginger, LuAnn, and Yikes!

My mom and I have taking advantage of the beautiful weather by spending a lot of time at my super-secret dog park with some of my friends.

LuAnn, one of my doggie friends, is a super cutie!

Her humans named her after Countess LuAnn from BRAVO TV's show The Real Housewives of New York City.

One of my human friends named Karen owns a Hairless Chinese Crested named Isaac.

Isaac's nickname is Yikes. If you take off Isaac's coat, everyone screams, yikes! because he doesn't have any hair!

Another one of my good friends is Ginger.

Ginger is half Doberman-half German Shephard. She moved with her human to Baltimore from LasVegas over the winter. She loves to play ball!

I, on the other hand, love to eat sticks.
Once my Mom peeled all of the bark off of the stick, she let me chew on it all I wanted.

Once again, I am FAMOUS!

A few (yes, more than one!) pictures of me will be included in a local exhibit running from May 3 through May 10 in Baltimore.

John Woestendiek--local writer of ohmidog!, photographer, and good friend--will be putting on an exhibit featuring pictures of 150 South Baltimore dogs, entitled

"Hey, That's MY Dog"

Opening night is Monday, May 3rd at 6:00 pm,
and the exhibit will be up all week.

at Captain Larry's in South Baltimore
601 E. Fort Avenue
No cover charge.

Here is a preview of the exhibit:

Unframed photographs will be available for sale.
Profits going to Baltimore Area Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS).

Hope to see you there!

The exhibit preview was set to music by David Israel and performed in April, 2010 at the South Baltimore Hootenanny, a semi-regular gathering of semi-regular musicians who congregate at Captain Larry’s in South Baltimore, Maryland

Revenge

Dear Mr. Dremel, Sir,

I've told you again and again that I do not like you.

I hate the sound that you make when my dad does my nails, and I really hate how it feels on my poor toes. Beauty is supposed to be luxorious, not uncomfortable. Am I right, ladies?
I've often thought about what I'd do with you if I found you unprotected. So, when my mom and dad left me home alone for a few hours this afternoon, I thought "now is my chance!"
Lucky for you, you weren't very tasty and escaped relatively unscathed.
Too bad that I can't say the same about my "after nails" treats. Yum!
Oh hi, Mom. You're home early...

um...

I know what you are thinking, but I *swear* it wasn't me!