Posts tagged ‘Phoenix’
Gale Force Day at the Beach.
Ears-A-Flying.
Paddling.
It was so windy on the beach it felt like we were on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars; sand was blowing everywhere and formed small columns on the beach that scattered towards the sea. Phoenix seems to like crunching sand.
Litter Reunion.
6/8th's of the Tarndair litter: Maize, Pogo, Noah, Sparky, Phoenix, Dolly.
With Pogo at the water trough.
Magnetic attraction to H2O.
Meeting brother Sparky.
Romping with sister Dolly.
...and Noah joins in the chase.
Mid-Western Gundog Society Show.
Watching the Action at Mid-Western Gundog Show.
Yesterday was our last opportunity to take Phoenix to attend a show before her own debut at the end of May. The Mid-Western Gundog Society Show near Worcester was a relaxed and relatively lowkey “do” which gave us another chance to get Phoenix fit for purpose and concentrating with dogs and people all around. She was extremely bouncy ‘n’ boingy and frustrated at not being able to join in with the other dogs but as soon as we got her working on gaiting and stacking, then she tuned in remarkably well. Which hopefully bodes well for when she has to do the real thing in about four weeks time. Until then, it’s practice, practice, practice.
Dress Rehearsal.
Stacked.
Another great opportunity to meet up with Diane today to practice our ringcraft and get further tuition from Phoenix’ grandma. This is a shot that Diane took which shows how the stack is coming along…need to get those front legs a tad further forward, but not too bad otherwise! We’re particularly pleased that Phoenix has learned to hold her tail out straight, which is something few other dogs seem to be able to do in the ring.
The (Half) Sisters.
Phoenix met up with her half-sister Henna (Ebeegeebees Razzie) together with her breeder and human companion Catherine today. Henna is almost a month to the day older than Phoenix but the two pups are more or less the same size and look incredibly similar to one another. After much bouncing ‘n’ boinging at one another on-lead – and much to their delight – we let them both off their leads where they proceeded to have a good old tear-around. One of the things that was really interesting to see is how the two “girls” completely tuned into one another and reacted to everything as one pup-unit, something that we’ve not observed Phoenix do with any other puppy. Somehow both pups knew that they were with another of their own kind….but can you spot which is which in the above pictures????
Back to School.
- In the Garden.
We’re back at Puppy Gurus to learn advanced obedience for the next six weeks. This is really about training the humans more than the canine… We’re going to be learning the “Instant Long Distance Down”, target training using a target stick, the agility weave plus a novelty trick or two just to keep us on our toes. There was also talk about re-enacting scenes from Hamlet but we think this was a joke…?
In other news, Phoenix has grown big enough to now sproing off, around and over the sofa, plus when our guard is down, to break into the bedroom and briefly go ape on the bed. We try not to think of hip scores and fragile puppy bones – denial is always the first course of action in this household. At the height of hysterical excitement it’s like her brain short-circuits and she tries to do everything at once; sit, stand, chew, wag, steal, shake hands, bark and dribble. It’s a sight to see.
HWVA Show.
Diane Instructs....Phoenix Listens.
Today, Tim and Phoenix headed North to attend the annual Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla Open Show. There were around 53 HWV’s in competition plus anther dozen or so pups in attendance and it was an utter delight to see so many whiskery faces in one place. Phoenix was still a month or so too young for the show itself but it proved an extremely useful and instructive exercise for both parties. Through the course of the day she moved from full-on “Tigger” mode to eventually curling up and going to sleep right beside the ring which was quite an achievement in itself.
Most useful of all however, was the chance to meet up with Diane Parry, human companion of Mallard – Phoenix’s sire – who, besides being all round Queen of the HWV, was also judging at the show. Diane was kind enough to give Tim and Phoenix a few intensive and very necessary lessons in showcraft, after which their combined showmanship efforts improved dramatically.
Megalithic Pointer.
Looking imperious.
"Boinging" at Lanyon Quoit.
The official hottest-day-of-the-year-so-far saw us pack a picnic and head off to the far west of Cornwall, just a few miles from Land’s End. The whole region is dense with megalithic monuments and we visited the Merry Maidens circle as well as taking a moorland walk that encompassed Lanyon Quoit and Mên-an-Tol. This last is reputed to have a pixie guardian who grants miraculous cures. In one “case” a Changeling baby was put through the holed central stone in order for the mother to get the real child back – evil pixies having changed her child – The ancient stones came through (naturally enough…) and were able to reverse the Pixie spell. Sadly we didn’t spot any pixies, evil or otherwise, but did enjoy a meet-and-greet with a German Shorthaired Pointer and her owners who, after establishing that “She’s not a Spinone is she?” became quite infatuated with Phoenix.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 