Phoenix the Vizsla

Phoenix the Model

2007-05-05T07:24:00.000-04:00

Recently, we entered Phoenix into a photo contest for Kong dog toys. We had several modelling shoots with Phoenix and narrowed the photos down to 5 that we liked. We then sent those photos to several select friends to help us choose. The two photos with the most votes were submitted to Kong. A couple days ago, I found out that we won the grand prize! Kong used both of the photos in their promotional marketing materials, one as the header and the other photo that won the prizes. Here's a link to photos. The grand prize was $500 and a large Kong gift basket. We've been debating how to use the $500. One camp is that Phoenix should get it in the form of days at daycare where he loves to romp and play with the other dogs. The other camp is that I could buy some furniture from Ikea. We'll see what happens in the coming days.

Turkey Trip

2006-11-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

Phoenix spent Thanksgiving with his dog-sitter while we were at my in-laws in California, so when we got back I felt a little guilty. My own love of turkey compelled me to make a turkey (and stuffing and veggies and gravy...) When I was cleaning up, his cute little face convinced me that he needed to try a little turkey. We've been pretty strict about what he can eat (extremely limited people food), so this was definitely a special treat. I put a few scraps of turkey into his bowl. He gobbled it down. About 30 mins later, he was crashed on the couch. He was acting as if he was drugged. Totally out and snoring. Later in the night (actually early the next morning), he let out a cry in his sleep that woke us up. It sounded like something in between a howl and a bird noise. I've never heard him make that sound. I can only assume that the turkey sent him for a nasty trip in his sleep. Since then, every time he smells us re-heating the turkey leftovers he comes running at full tilt. Needless to say, we've cut him off from his addiction. No more turkey trips!

Fall Puppy

2006-11-25T12:15:00.000-05:00

This fall we've had a grand time hiking and biking with Phoenix. One of my favorite experiences is taking him mountain biking. He runs along next to us for miles and miles, smiling and experiencing the beautiful weather. Here's a picture of him looking inquisitive (left). In case you're curious, I'm also posting a picture of my beloved Caleb (right) next to Phoenix. Phoenix still has much longer ears than Caleb ever did!

Snip-Snip

2006-10-27T13:27:00.000-04:00

So, now that Phoenix is 6 months old, it was time to schedule that elective surgery that we like to call "snip-snip". Yes, Phoenix was neutered yesterday. He seems to be just fine. I arranged to stay home with him today (Friday) so I could keep an eye on him. Apart from needing to discourage some licking and the fact that he was super restless last night, he doesn't seem to have any symptoms. My biggest concern now is how to comply with the vet's instructions not to take him on a walk for 10-14 days! Only on-leash elimination. I asked them incredulously-- "You know I have a VIZSLA puppy, right?" It's going to get crazy around here!

P.S. I apologize for the depressingly small number of entries on Phoenix's blog. I promise more photos soon...

Phoenix and Cody: Two Vizslas

2006-09-28T20:31:00.000-04:00

So, as you know, I've been taking data on Phoenix as he grows. I decided it would be interesting to compare him to another vizsla pup (Cody) who is a little bit older. Cody's owner graciously agreed to letting me analyze her data and compare Phoenix. Although they are not related at all (Phoenix being an east coast doggie and Cody being of the western clans)... They have remarkedly similar growth patterns. I think this is way cool!

The Phoenix Growth Curve II

2006-09-05T08:35:00.000-04:00

We went to the vet to get some tick repellant and I had a chance to weigh Phoenix again. His newest point added to his growth curve strongly suggests that his growth curve is following a linear course, contrary to previous hypotheses. I'll keep gathering the data to further investigate this phenomenom.

The 4-month old Vizsla

2006-09-03T12:25:00.000-04:00

Phoenix is 4 months old now. He has been making very good progress. His list of commands that he obeys is quite long, including come, sit, lay, stay, off (get off the couch), leave it, drop it, wait (off leash stop), this way (off leash change directions to follow us), heel (even off leash!), jump, find alex, find lexi, hurry up, and crate. His recall is even good in the presence of other dogs or other fun things. We're extremely proud.

Unfortunately, he still pees in the house on occasion. I think to get our attention. We've begum scolding him more harshly when we catch him. It might be working. This weekend he has had less accidents. I know he can hold it longer, since he sleeps through the night and in his crate for 4.5-5hrs. Hopefully he'll be good for our friends who are puppy sitting him next weekend while we go to a friend's wedding out of state!

Sleeping Thoughtfully

2006-08-12T07:23:00.000-04:00

Dogs must think that us humans lack imagination when it comes to how we position ourselves while sleeping. Indeed, dogs have at their disposal a rather large vocabulary of sleep. See for instance, our friend's dog Cody can be found sleeping in many configurations. Perhaps their large vocabulary results from spending a good portion of their day thoughtfully considering the deeper possibilities of sleep, while they are, well, sleeping. Maybe it was a sleepy plaintiveness that inspired Plato's oft quoted saying, “a dog has the soul of a philosopher.” Of course there is only so much variety to be achieved without being free to drape yourself awkwardly and sometimes precipitously over furniture and people.

Butt Swirls

2006-08-05T06:42:00.000-04:00

On request, a photo of one of Phoenix's "butt swirls." What we affectionately call butt swirls, are two cowlicks, one on each side of his tail. The swirls are kind of like racing strips for a speedy and energetic Vizsla.

The Phoenix Growth Curve

2006-08-05T05:50:00.000-04:00

The scientist in me likes to take data and analyze it. Earlier this week in lab, I was conducting a very standard microbiological test called a "growth curve" to characterize a new bacterium we have. It involves starting a culture at a low concentration of bacteria, letting the bacteria grow and measuring the concentration of the bacteria at various timepoints during the day. Bacteria have a very well defined time course with multiple phases of growth (lag, exponential, stationary). For more information you can look at the wikipedia entry on bacterial growth. I became interested to see if Phoenix was in exponential growth. So, I plotted his weight measurements over the past few vet visits and fit the data with a linear and an exponential curve. As it turns out, it appears he is in exponential growth (look at the R^2 values-- closer to 1 means a better fit!). I'll have to take more datapoints to confirm that though. It looks like he'll reach full size between 4 and 6 months. Perhaps the linear model is more correct since vizsla pups don't usually reach full size until closer to 6 months.

Yes, I am a scientist...

Phoenix Quirks

2006-07-29T07:16:00.000-04:00

Phoenix is similar to Caleb when he was a puppy in several ways. He gets the hiccups about twice a day-- usually after eating breakfast and when we get home at night. Also, he has the energy of a vizsla pup and is super affectionate. He already can outrun me at 14 weeks old! When he sleeps in bed at night (I know.. lots of dog trainers say you shouldn't let them in your bed-- whatever!), he snuggles up so tight that he'll wake us up, usually when he drapes his neck across ours.

One thing I used to love about Caleb's appearance was how his fur curled around in little swirls on each of his hind legs. We called them "butt swirls". I almost started crying when I saw that baby Phoenix didn't have them. (I noticed a week into his life with us). Then a few weeks ago, I noticed... they had grown in! I guess butt swirls grow in with more adult fur? I wonder if Cody has them? Cody is our friend's vizsla who lives in CA and also has a blog.

Things that are different than Caleb:

Phoenix isn't afraid of loud noises (vacuum, thunder, fireworks, lightning strike across the street...)

Phoenix loves to chew on rawhides (He demolished one that Caleb had had since he was a pup)

We've done a better job at crate training so Phoenix rides in the crate in the car.

Phoenix's ears are so long that he *chews* on them!

Phoenix sits so far back on his rump (instead of his haunches) that he sometimes falls over!

Here are pictures of my two beloved vizslas at approximately the same age, 3 months old, (Caleb on the left and Phoenix on the right):

Puppy On — Puppy Off

2006-07-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

Puppies appear to be in one of two states. Either they are full-bore playful and curious, seemingly releasing more energy than a lightening bolt — Puppy On.

Or they are fast asleep, seemingly as inert as a lump of clay — Puppy Off. And they can transition between these two states in a flash.

I can't take credit for this amusing and accurate observation, as it was the verbal concoction of one of my coworkers. Nevertheless, ever since they shared it with me, I can't help but remember it and smile when suddenly Phoenix is "Puppy Off" after a play session.

Homecoming

2006-07-23T18:18:00.000-04:00

I went on my first trip since Phoenix came home with us. I was gone four nights split between social and business travel and despite the good times had during the social portion of the trip, I was happy to return home at the end of it. I really miss Lex when I'm away and now also really miss Phoenix! When I walked back in the door of our house, Phoenix greeted me with such an impassioned welcome that he let out little whimpers and soft yelps while snuggling and wiggling in my arms. God must have sent dogs to tell us, among other things, that we are wanted.

Training

2006-07-19T20:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a report on how training is going and a little video clip of learning "leave it":

Commands he really knows:

come

leave it

up (get up on the couch)

Commands he's pretty much knows, but may not choose to do them when asked:

drop it

wait (stop where you are on the trail and wait for us)

stay

hurry up (eliminate)

find alex

crate

off (get off the couch)

jump (jump up and get this treat I'm dangling in front of you)

over (jump over this obstacle)

Huh?

heel

pay attention (unwrap your leash from the pole you just walked around)

where's your toy? (go find your toy)

shake

As for housetraining-- he's learned that when he pees on the floor he gets in trouble, but that is also attention. So, if he's upset with us for ignoring him, he pees. But, he's also learned that he can ask to go outside by sitting at the door, and he gets lots of "good boy"s when he then goes outside to the bathroom. Also- sitting by the door gets you outside if you just want to go outside and play.

The joys of "motherhood"

2006-07-17T19:53:00.000-04:00

So my husband is out of town and I am a single parent for a couple of days. For the most part this isn't a big deal. Last night, Phoenix got up at about 230AM and start vomiting. He vomited on the sheets, so I had to change them. After we got all settled again and I just started to doze off... I heard the tell-tale heaving noise. Fortunately, I was able to grab some doggie diaper pads just in time to save my second set of sheets. The poor little guy kept heaving and upchucking on and off for another hour! At about 330AM (1.5 hrs before the alarm went off), we both drifted off to sleep. Needless to say, neither of us was very perky when the alarm did go off.

Phoenix the Firebird.

2006-07-16T18:20:00.000-04:00

Several people have asked us if the name Phoenix has special meaning to us. It does.

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_%28mythology%29):

"In ancient Egyptian mythology and in myths derived from it, the phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird. Said to live for 500 or 1461 years (depending on the source), the phoenix is a male bird with beautiful gold and red plumage. At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises. The new phoenix embalms the ashes of the old phoenix in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in Heliopolis ("the city of the sun" in Greek), located in Egypt. The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible — a symbol of fire and divinity.

Although descriptions (and life-span) vary, the phoenix (Bennu bird) became popular in early Christian art, literature and Christian symbolism, as a symbol of Christ, and further, represented the resurrection, immortality, and the life-after-death of Jesus Christ."

Our Phoenix came into our lives out of the ashes of our grief for Caleb. When Caleb was with us, he reminded us every day of the joy of Christ's creation: in chasing a leaf blowing by, meeting new people on the street, sleeping next to his people. Now Phoenix has taken on this role. If only we could find the same joy in God's creation as dogs do.

And... he's red colored like fire.

Here's a photo of Phoenix meeting two little girls on the streets of downtown Boston. The constant giggles and tail wags brought smiles to all the adults too!

My new puppy, Phoenix

2006-07-11T01:22:00.000-04:00

In February, we lost our dear dog Caleb very suddenly to an unknown illness. It's been a really tough road without him. For those of you who have ever known a really special dog, you know how much joy and companionship they can bring. Caleb was a fantastic companion who always saw the best in the situation. He showed us how to find joy in the simplest things. He never let anything get him down.

Our new puppy Phoenix is doing his best to remind us to find the joy in everything. On the first day we got him, he experienced grass for the first time. He rolled end over end through the dew. Laid down and tasted it. Ran crazy circles round and round. What a glorious creation!

He's also found it very exciting to tear through our hostas along the front walk way. He loves ducking through them. Of course, the hostas have taken a bit of a beating, but how can you say no to this?