Posts tagged ‘Wirehaired Vizsla’
Once More Unto the Beach…
“Experts” tell us that today may be the last scorching hot day for the foreseeable, so the only possibly course of action was clear: head to the beach!
The scene of today's adventures - at Northam with the golden sand of Braunton Beach in the distance.
Mingus head shot.
Mingus sneaks up on some fast-moving seaweed.
Mingus self-stacking (sort of).
and Phoenix nearly manages the same trick.
Follow the leader.
The big boing!
Hungarian Wirehaired Sea Otter?
Phoenix at 18 Months.
Although she hasn’t had much blog attention since junior joined the pack, now that she’s reached the grand old age of 18 months Phoenix has never looked better.
When Mingus first arrived Phoenix decided that there were far more exciting things to do than eat, and she became decidedly “ribby” as a result. By now though everyone is in their well established feeding/eating/playing routines and Phoenix is both well muscled and properly filled out and it’s a real joy to watch her in full athletic action as she moves through the fields and woods.
To celebrate her leaving “Junior” category and becoming a fully fledged adult these are some typical Phoenix poses that we captured in the last of the low evening sun.
Phoenix silhouetted as she looks into the setting sun.
Phoenix’ Swag.
What does everyone else do with their rosettes? That’s the question that we’ve been pondering, and the answer we’ve arrived at it to put the best from Phoenix’ first show year into a couple of poster frames for safekeeping:
and here are her Top Puppy of the Year & Top Puppy Bitch trophies:
Mingus at 6 Months.
Woh – it’s very hot today…Being a winter baby Phoenix has never liked the heat much and Mingus turns out to like it even less. Just 15 mins or so of training in the full-on sun had him looking decidedly hot and uncomfortable when we took this rather-too-bright-and-high-contrast stacked pic. Luckily a swift dip in the river sorted things out in no time.
Please excuse the rather dramatic colour shifts in these pics – our little camera doesn’t cope well with the red/green combination such as Mingus in a bright green and yellow flower meadow. The camera decided to make him brown in 4 of these shots but he’s actually a deep glowing copper. Think we’ll be trying a different background for any 7-month-old shots…
River beds, Jazz names and Birmingham.
Mingus: pausing briefly before investigating another exciting dead thing (today's, rather randomly, was a mole).
First off, Mingus’ lovely mum, Anora (Starshot English Miss for Morehay) won another Championship Show Best of Breed at the National Dog Show in Birmingham last Sunday, against some very stiff competition from some very fine dogs.
The judges lovely critique read:
“At three years old she is mature and of excellent breed type. So well proportioned all thorough. Pleasing feminine head, excellent angulation both front and rear giving free sound movement where she excelled. It was a pleasure to watch her striding around the ring with reach and drive. Best Bitch. Best of Breed.”
Unfortunately we weren’t at the show, but if we had been we’d have been hopping up and down with excitement….which is pretty much what we did anyway on hearing the news. We’re absolutely thrilled for Anora, Jacqui & handler Emma.
Mingus stands to attention on hearing news of mum's latest big win.
Down here in Devon we’re in the midst of an almost-drought. Bits and bobs of rain have come to nothing, and the river has virtually disappeared altogether, exposing the slate river bed with just a small funnel of water off to one side.
Phoenix picks her way across what's left of our river.
Mingus continues to develop rapidly. He seems to have pretty much settled into his shape and proportions now and looks like an almost exact blend of each of his parents, which is just fine with us!
Mingus on point.
When we chose his name we (mistakenly, as it turns out!) thought that:
1) Charlie Mingus was pretty much a household name
and
2) That our favourite hippy chick musician Joni Mitchell‘s Jazz influenced 70’s album “Mingus” was almost as well known….
Instead out we find ourselves explaining anywhere between 1 and 100 times every day what our boy is called and why.
In the reeds.
Still, we’ve recently learned that we’re in good company. Danish supermodel Helena Christensen‘s son is also named Mingus, as are a select handful of other online dogs around the world, including a Vizsla. There’s even a highly successful Beagle and Foxhound breeder & show judge in Australia who’s kennel name is Mingus. On that basis we’re pretty sure that by this time next year everyone will want to be called Mingus….possibly.
Venturing forth with a captive stick.
The Ever Changing Mingus.
When we first met (and show stacked!) Mingus at the tender age of 4 weeks he was very compact and stocky, beautifully and correctly proportioned. At around 3 months he looked very long-bodied and short in height, no longer stocky at all. By 4 months he suddenly looked very tall and giraffe-like, neither compact nor stocky. Then, at 5 months, everything started to come back together again, but he was all frame and no body. Now, at 5 and a bit months, he is once again starting to look compact and stocky as he gradually fills out – such are the ways of puppy growth – so we just wait for those deep ribs to spring to complete the picture.
Mingus surveys his kingdom.
This week at ringcraft everyone commented on how big he’d gotten and for the first time he was a fair bit taller than the adult female English Setter there. Judging by his knuckles he’s certainly going to finish larger than both of his parents, but still be moderate in size…which is just what we were hoping for.
A while back, whilst trotting around and investigating the pond, Mingus found himself on the opposite side of the water to us. Rather than trot back the way he’d come he simply plunged into the water and swam directly across to us (the pond is 6 foot deep and 150 foot long…) He’d never previously gone more than about ankle deep in water, so it came as something of a surprise to us – as well as to him – that he could indeed swim so well. On arriving at the other side he looked enormously pleased with himself and has been pretty keen to get wet in the pond and the river ever since.
The mysteries of the deep.
Mingus at 5 Months.
Mingus' 5 Month Stack.
Looking down the valley.
Sofa Yoga.
Fun for all the family.
Isn't everyone wearing their ears like this in 2010?
Clearly an exhausting business.
Top Puppy 2009/2010!!
TARNDAIR PHOENIX OF BELATARR
HWVA TOP PUPPY BITCH 2009/10
HWVA TOP PUPPY 2009/10
Yesterday was the HWVA Annual Awards and Open Show. An awesome day, with 79 HWV’s present in glorious sunshine, and a day we’re never likely to forget.
In the crowning achievement of her show year Phoenix was awarded both Top Puppy Bitch of the year and (following in the paw-steps of both her grandfather Harris, Moricroft Methuen, who won the same award in 2001, and half-brother Leiborschy Ylai, who won it last year) overall Top Puppy of the year, receiving the Leiborschy Goblet and the Leiborschy Flask trophies respectively. We’ve never been more proud of our lovely girl!
Phoenix standing whilst Tim & judge Margaret Hathaway share a joke.
Being awarded the Leiborschy Goblet.
And then the Leiborschy Flask for Top Puppy.
Mingus was also in attendance and was very much admired, with a number of respected and prominent HWV folks casting many complimentary remarks in his direction. Our boy also had a mini family reunion as he met up with his mother, Anora – who was herself awarded 1st Limit Bitch at the show – and his sister Love for the first time since leaving the nest.
Mingus & Phoenix, covering all angles.
Viewing the action.
And...."Watch!"
All ears.
Mum Anora, on her way to winning 1st Limit Bitch.
Anora with the kids - Mingus and Love.
Family portrait, take 2.
Freedom!
Now that Mingus is getting on for 5 months old we are finally able to start taking him out for slightly longer walks, and this week – for pretty much the first time – we took Phoenix and Mingus for a few trips out together, resulting in much jollity and frolicking all round (a week of non stop sunshine certainly didn’t hurt either!)
Yippee!!
Huzzah!!
The pack also expanded this week with the arrival of Tim’s son Fred who was down for the Easter Hols., and who, as ever, was seamlessly integrated into the wolf/human hierarchy as we all hit the beaches and the moors.
Mingus, Phoenix & Fred in action - skimming stones at Lyme Bay, Dorset.
Mingus at Scorhill, Dartmoor.
Mingus, trying out the "stately whilst chewing an old bone" look.
With Adam at the Scorhill stone circle.
A big pile of snooze at the end of the day.
Crufts + Puppy Progress.
Time for another long overdue update…
First up, last weekend saw our very first trip to Crufts! We’ve never previously attended as spectators, let alone exhibitors, so it was with much excitement and some trepidation that we ventured with Phoenix to the show-of-shows to take our place in the big ring alongside 74 other HWV’s.
Phoenix stacked for judging at Crufts.
In the end Crufts proved to be pretty much like any other Champ Show (albeit with adjoining vast arenas stuffed full of every conceivable canine related product and thronging with punters.) The actual dog show element of Crufts seemed to pass by most of the general public, which resulted in lots of space and a remarkably relaxed atmosphere.
Phoenix was in Special Junior Bitch class and despite our concerns about her slightly jumpy, hormonal, post-season demeanour (which has seen her pull away from the last few judges who examined her rear end) she stood beautifully. Sadly her movement was not so hot (blame operator error…) and we were awarded 2nd Place, which does mean, though, that she’s automatically qualified for Crufts 2011.
Unfortunately our in-house photographer failed to produce much that was usable to document the day.
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Mingus - 16 weeks Head Shot.
Meanwhile, back at HQ, young Mingus has come on in leaps and bounds – often quite literally so. Advice from Tracey at Puppy Gurus saw us relocating his cage to be right beside Phoenix overnight and an immediate good-nights-sleep for all was the result. In fact he’s never failed to sleep right through the night ever since – yippee!
At the grand-old-age of 16 weeks Mingus has now perfected all his Puppy Gurus obedience training moves and will be tested this coming week. He’s also picked up all the basics of ringcraft incredibly well and just loves being taken along for training where he struts his stuff with the big dogs – leading one very experienced Champ show judge to comment this week that Mingus was: “Just amazingly good!” He has proven to be vastly easier and quicker to train than Phoenix, although a large part of that must surely be down to us knowing roughly what we’re doing this time around!
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Mingus - Called to attention on the common.
Mingus’ utterly delightful, affectionate, calm and polite nature never fails to charm everyone who he meets. Today on a socialisation trip around Torrington Common he hooked up with a wide assortment of walkers and their dogs, from Labs to Cockapoos to Spaniels to Scotties, all with great waggy success.
As was the case with Phoenix’ puppyhood we’re also now back in the land of “he’s got big paws – he’s going to be a big dog,” together with the usual (sometimes rather surreal) attempts at playing Guess The Breed – today’s examples being:
1) Labrador
2) That Dog With The Ridgeback (that would a Ridgeback Madam)
3) Newfoundland (see below)??!!
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err....Mingus? (apparently!)
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 