Posts filed under ‘Phoenix’
Howl, Howl and Howl Again.
Sling Shot.
Bit of a nightmare night last night – we have got into the habit of letting Phoenix sleep on the sofa with us, and then when she’s put to bed, she’s too rested to sleep and starts howling. Which she did for quite some time. Our books all say different things about what to do. Some say to ignore it, some say to comfort her. We tried ignoring and that didn’t go down too well. Tim got up and comforted her which settled her, but poor old Phoenix had a bad night overall.
The overall problem is Phoneix’s waking/sleeping schedule is out of sync with ours. Whatever we try to do to keep her awake later in the evening, she still crashes out at 8.00pm and then wakes up at 5.00am (with a toilet break in between).
This week the ringcraft and training courses start so hopefully that will allow us to alter her routine and get everyone synchronised…
Phoenix also has an itchy paw, we had a look and couldn’t find anything but it’s annoying her.
Good training session in the kitchen today: we’ve found that limiting the space helps to focus her more and stops her wandering off to chew random objects. Like us.
Fan Club.
On the Town.
Big Day Out today. We took Phoenix (by sling) into Torrington where she was spoken to and touched by about twenty people. She saw lots of machines, cars, lorries, and a few other dogs too. Lots of cooing and comments of “adorable”. Somebody else stopped us in the street by saying “I had to say ‘Hello’ to her, I couldn’t help myself”. Somebody else asked “Is she a Visssla?” then wandered a way saying “I thought so”, before we could vigorously intervene…
We also carried Phoenix down to the river and she went in up to her waist – boldly striding into the fast flowing and quite deep water, quite merrily. We knew that WHVs had an affinity for water, but this had not really been demonstrated in the way she looks disapprovingly at the rain and generally turns her paws up if we have to take her out in the wet.
We also had a lovely walk in the Winter sun along the river around the bottom of the garden. Phoenix is fantastically attentive and trots quite merrily alongside you as you walk. No pulling on the lead at all. She’s walking to heel really well. All the books say this is a tough nut to crack so we’re very pleased that Phoenix has managed it so quickly in such a distracting and stimulating environment. Stuffed kongs all round.
Diet and Recipe Tips.
Head Shot.
As we previously mentioned, Phoenix is going to be kept on a raw food diet. We decided this following lots of reading and research about the dubious animal and vegetable by-products that make up even the highest quality commercial feed, and all the glowing testimonials from owners of German Wirehaired Pointers, many of whom raw feed their dogs. We have a chest freezer full of “goodies” some of which are too big for her to eat at the moment but she’ll graduate onto shortly. For now, she’s having 75% meat and 25% veg for most meals and the meat alternates between puppy tripe (mmm tripey kisses!), beef and kidney and minced whole turkey.
Every four days or so we make up a pulped vegetable mix, portions of which are mixed in with the meat for each meal. The recipe for this is broccoli stems, cauliflower leaves, greens, sorrel, cucumber, red peppers, whole apple, a couple of carrots, all of which are rich in Vit C. We then add two Vit C tablets, a tablespoonful of organic peanut butter, two caps of cider vinegar and dessertspoon of olive oil together with a little water to turn it into a paste. The whole mixture is then pulped because dogs can’t digest cellulose, and the pulping action breaks down the cell walls releasing the nutrient within. This provides a multitude of minerals and vitamins and, happily, Phoenix loves it. It also smells good enought to have on toast.
Oh, and a daily teaspoon of Green Ark’s Natural Green Food Supplement which comprises powdered kelp, alfalfa, nettle and parsley. Bursting with essential minerals.
In addition to all of that she has two chicken wings every other night. A couple of whole eggs (shell included but broken up) and a banana a week. All of which she absolutley loves. Many more meaty bones will no doubt follow as her jaws get even bigger…
The Language of Pooch.
Today, Phoenix met Indi again. Phoenix is under socialised with other dogs and hasn’t learnt canine body language/etiquette yet. She has the rather unfortunate habit of staring dogs directly in the eye, which is a bit of a no-no. So, spending six hours with Indi was useful because she was taught a few things about hanging out with her compadres.
Some canine dos and don’ts. (OK, mainly don’ts)
DON’T climb on top of a larger, slightly grumpy dog who happens to be lying down at the time.
DON’T bite the tail of a larger, slightly grumpy dog who happens to be lying down at the time.
DON’T stare at a larger, slightly grumpy dog who happens to be lying down at the time, she will just ignore you, or get up and walk away, then ignore you leaving you slightly bewildered.
DO take notice when another dog growls at you, it probably means trouble.
This Cat Does Not Want Your Friendship…
Tulip.
Back to the vet’s on the 20th for the second and final vaccination. More cuddles, biscuits and general fuss made of her. The vet checked on Phoenix’s ears which were giving off an odd smell. Appears to have been a very mild infection, the ear drops cleared it up in 48 hours. This means we can take Phoenix out properly for short bursts in a weeks time. Hurrah! No other problems reported.
Midge - Furry Anarchist.
Phoenix has discovered the joy of pushing open the bedroom door – she’s not allowed in either bedroom, but the door of the main one doesn’t close properly so she’s learnt a new exciting game of “push open the door and try and steal an item of clothing off the bed and chew it to smithereens”. It’s like a little explosion of happy, wagging life everytime she does it. It doesn’t help that this is the cats hang out, and they are most put out by this wagging interlocutor. Solution: a hook and eye to keep the door secure during the day.
Midge (she who must be obeyed, top cat and all round East End bruiser feline) is becoming increasingly bold around Phoenix. So far we have had two swipes and a number of guttural whines from cat to dog. Phoenix knows the cats mean trouble but they are just oh so irresistible. This will only end in tears. Mark my words. Why are the bad ones always so fluffy???
It’s OK the Washing Machine’s Safe.
Puppy Gurus Logo.
The first Puppy Gurus training session. This was for human companions only. We left Phoenix on her own for two hours which is the longest she’s ever been left so far. We’d been building up periods of isolation from a couple of minutes up to about half an hour. We’d heard tales of dogs left alone destroying sofas and gnawing washing machines in half so were unsure what to expect.
In the event, she slept through the whole period and was just waking up when we got back and starting to tuck into a chicken wing.
Tracey gave out a lot of info, which has to be read and will be tested next week. Nobody mentioned homework…
No Madam, She is NOT Brown…
First Rays of Sunshine.
Nobody has guessed correctly what breed Phoenix is. At the vets they volunteered Rhodesian Ridgeback or Italian Spinone AND they asked if they could put her colour down as “BROWN”!!!!! Tim became quite agitated, so affronted was he… 🙂 Needless to say, we corrected them: it’s Russet (as featured in the breed description).
Heel, toe, heel, heel, toe.
Alert.
Training to walk to heel has been going on for about four days and Phoenix is beginning to get the hang of it. She’s still over stimulated by the outside environment so it has to be a balance between letting her explore new things and keeping her attention on Tim and the walk. Best way around this has been to walk her at dawn and dusk when there’s less info available to her and she can can focus on the task in hand. However, there were still enough stops to investigate badger and fox trails.
Phoenix has graduated from her PVC blue baby collar* onto her first proper clip collar which is doing the business with the flexi lead making heel training easier because it was impossible for her to ever pull on the lead. So Phoenix has the freedom to move around and the choice of coming back to walk to heel without getting into a tangled mess.
Flexi leads aren’t normally advised for training purposes but for heel training it’s proving to be invaluable.
*actually it’s soft felt but it looks like PVC.
Parrots, Petting and Popularity.
Phoenix and Tim.
Another trip around town in the sling. Phoenix was a huge hit in the local pet shop. Over a dozen people of all shapes and sizes came up to speak and pet her. One person said she liked the way Phoenix’s skin was so loose – we explained that she still had a lot more growing to do… More great socialisation experience – as usual she greeted everyone like a long lost friend, despite the towers of dog chews, pigs ears and assorted canine ephemera, she remained remarkably well controlled. We tried to introduce her to Jethro the African Grey parrot but he was more interested than she was.
Cute Overload.
Asleep.
Elegance.
We are loving the series of grunts, squeaks and sounds Phoenix makes when she’s sleeping – her chimpanzee impression is definitely her top trick. Grunting has become part of the vocabulary of the house as Tim and Adam make friends with their inner wolf…
We also like the suckling noise and actions she makes while dreaming, presumably of feeding from her mother.
Tail chasing has begun and attempts at ear chewing. Loveably pointless.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 