This is from our good friend (and the boys vet):

“Here is my take on the matter:
Since Bodi’s injury, there has been some disruption to the dominance hierarchy in your household. I think Bodi’s behavior represents his attempt to re-establish his dominance. As long as no body is getting hurt, I would give it some time and let them work it out without your intervention. If the fighting occurs in your presence, let both dogs know that YOU are the top dog in the household. Put them both in their place and demand that they acquiesce to YOU.
— Dr. B”

Things are getting better slowly, there is still a bit of tension between them at times, but they are playing together more, allowing themselves to be together at times, and the hair takes a little longer to raise up.  A large part of the problem seems to be Oliver’s total lack of fear when it comes to pushing in front of Bodi to get his portion of love and petting, as expected, Bodi gets pissed at these times.  Before all of this happened Bodi would let Oli do this, but now he is quicker to lay into him.

Today Bodi and Oliver played in the yard for quite a while, as usual Bodi spends way too much time barking at Oliver, but Oliver’s speed keeps him out of reach (the benefit of being 15lbs. lighter LOL).

On the walks both are working towards backing each other up – watch out lizards.

We feel it will still take a while to get back to normal, but with a bit of work and controlling the energy everything will get better and these two pains in the butt will be living the good life again.

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I stood by your bed last night …I came to have a peep.
I could see that you’d been crying,and you found it hard to sleep.

I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear, “It’s me. I haven’t left you. I’m well, I’m fine, I’m here”.

I was close to you at breakfast… I watched you pour your tea.
You were thinking of the many times your hands reached down to touch me.

I was with you at my grave today… you tend to it with such care.
I want to reassure you. That I’m not lying there.

I walked you towards the house as you fumbled for the key.
I gently put my paw on you…I smiled and said, “it’s me”.

You looked so tired as you sank into your chair.
I tried so hard to let you know that I was sitting there.

It’s wonderful for me to be so near you everyday,
To say to you with certainty, “I never went away”.

You sat there quietly, then smiled… I think you knew
That in the stillness of the evening I was very close to you.

And when the time is right for you to cross the brief divide,
I’ll rush across to meet you and we’ll stand there side by side.

I have so many things to show you ! There’s so much for you to see.
Be patient, live your journey out, then come home to be with me.

At the time we had 4 cats, and if you want to know what disrupting a household is like – just throw a Vizsla into this mix – Luckily Tuck always loved the cats, only one of them actually came to love Tuck though, but I can’t blame them for that – they’re just stupid cats after all.

Tucker was always willing to learn, and fit right into our life perfectly – we took him everywhere that we could, and he learned to be a big part of things without getting in the way.  To this day we still have people that tell us that he was their favorite dog ever – and some of them have dogs in their lives at the time. Tuck always loved all of our friends and in return they loved him too.

Tucker was the most sensitive soul I ever knew, if Nancy and I raised our voices he would get upset, start to shake and eventually would leave the room to hide out, of course this made it difficult to watch sports, since we would be yelling at the game and suddenly notice that Tucker wasn’t in the room with us, and we would have to go find where he was hiding away from our yelling. The easy thing was that we always knew if there was a problem, because Tuck would never be out of the room that we were in – so, no Tuck, and you knew something was up.

This sensitivity really came into play whenever one of us was hurting, Tucker would become the biggest cuddle monster and would go out of his way to be there for us.  When Nancy went through breast cancer Tucker spent many a day wrapped around her making sure she was OK.  He would walk up and put his nose on your nose and just look into your face, an incredible boy to say the least.

We’ve had our own business for quite a while now, which makes it easy to bring our boys with us, Tucker was always the star of the show… We had clients that we would call to confirm a meeting and they would ask if we were bringing Tucker with us, and would make sure to let us know that if Tucker wasn’t coming, there really wasn’t any reason to meet at that time, and we could wait until Tucker could be present.  The best part is that they would have a chair at the meeting table for Tucker so that he could crawl up in the chair and crash out while we conducted our meeting.

The memories stream back quickly, too quickly at times as they bring tears with them.  The time he was brain-cramping and hit his leg on a hidden rock – we thought he had broken it – he just stood there holding it up and crying for us… The time he was doing his brush surfing (hopping through the deep brush so he could see above it) and we watched him jump up and then disappear as he went over the edge of a ravine and landed in the creek about 15 feet below, we had to hang over the edge and pull his wet butt back up to the trail… Coming home one time after leaving him inside for about 12 hours (we got stuck somewhere) and finding a little bit of pee tinkled throughout the house as Tucker ran from the back door, to the kitchen door, to the front door, up the stairs – everywhere, trying to find any way out, finally ending up in the upstairs bathroom where he finally releaved himself on the tile (We felt so bad for that one, he tried so hard to find a way out!!!)…

I think of all of the nicknames we had for our guy, I could go on about the Tucker forever, but we have to save those for another time.

Tonight I will raise a toast (and please, everyone reading this, do the same) to the dog that really thought he was human, to the dog that taught us about true commitment and love, to the one and only “T”…

These Pics (except the one with Nancy) were all taken the last morning that we had Tucker, they are tough to see at times, everything comes flying back – but they are the last ones we got and will always show that even on his last day he was the most gentle soul possible.

Oliver is a 1.5 year old that we adopted from SoCal Vizsla Rescue, He is a beautiful, extremely thin, very active, sweet young Vizsla that we will gladly welcome into his “Forever Home”.

Last night was his first night with us… What a sweet boy, he played long and hard with all of the toys that he could find, and then when we sat down to dinner, he curled up on the sofa and went to sleep.

At bed time, it took just a few to get him to calm down, but then he curled up next to Bodi, put his head on Bodi’s butt and went to sleep.

He definitely has some separation anxiety, but then it has only been 1 day and he is just getting used to the new digs. He tends to whine when left by himself, whether in the bedroom, or when left alone in the house, but seems to be much better when Bodi is nearby.

Couldn’t be happier, Nancy, Bodi, Oliver and I look forward to many more posts on this new subject, and new member of our family.

Weather was perfect, sun was low – good time to detox from the stressful week.

Slipped on the iPod and hit shuffle… The iPod seemed to know the mood and what was needed at the time – slipped into some Diana Krall, Van Morrison (from the Mystic Years), Jonny Lang and even tossed in a thoughtful “Tears” from Rush, 2112. The trails were empty, the music enjoyable without being too much – the detox worked, and the mind seems to be in a slightly better place.

Bodi, as he is growing more and more a part of our life, has learned to be a little less frantic back and forth across the trails and settles in a little closer to the hip, sliding back and forth, front to back as he checks things out, but always paying attention to where we are and getting stern corrections at a lot less.

Tonight he was perfect, kept close, stuck to the trail and even though I had the earphones in he kept the drain on my attention to a minimum… exactly what was needed on this walk. Bodi now knows our rhythm on the walks, whether it is a power walk or a thoughtful stroll, he picks up on the energy and melds into a good walking buddy, it really is the perfect tonic.

Anyone who has a sporting dog and doesn’t take the time to get away from it all and let the dog be himself (after teaching them the guidelines) is really missing out on one of the truly beautiful things in life. To watch one of these dogs in its element, muscles tensing and releasing as they pick up a scent, bodies moving effortlessly through the brush and over the rises, this really is a great gift to have and to enjoy, and I plan to never be without a “V” for as long as I possibly can.

We all roll our eyes, laugh at the stupidity of the animal in front of us, and go back to trying to figure out how we could have spent so much money at the holidays!!!

Now, I ask you, which breed here is the stupid one? Which one of us needs to have our heads examined and be “rehabilitated”?

Tucker loved the paper rolls, you could toss it on the floor up in the third story bathroom and he would come flying up the stairs from the first floor to attack the toilet paper monster, he would carry around his prize kill until all had a chance to see, and then he would lay down and tear it to pieces. We loved to watch him, he loved the show as well, and still 2 months after his passing we find ourselves throwing the roll on the floor and waiting for the storm to come.

This is one of the traits that Bodi didn’t pick up from Tucker, he will just watch it hit the floor and walk away, wondering what all the fuss was about a stupid toilet paper roll, and then he’ll casually pick up Nancy’s bra and walk away with it, with that gleam in his eye, swearing that there is no way he is going to let this unholy monster get to us… and all of his new toys that we were dumb enough to bring home for him…

Bodi hard at work proving once and for all that he can crash out just as fully as Tucker could, I’m in the chair editing a video for a client, while this bum-of-a-dog is crashed out, snoring, and doing those cute little Vizsla kicks while he chases Squirrels in his dreamy-dream land.

Just something to set the tone for the weekend!!!

One of the things that we learned about Vizsla’s is something that we call “Brain Cramps”. I’m sure that every “V” owner will attest to this little bit of craziness.

When you are playing with your pup, and all of the sudden all hell breaks loose, the back hips drop near to the ground, the lips curl back, the ears start to flop all over the place, and time stands still… for you, for your Vizsla though, time has taken on a new meaning, they are moving as fast as they can, running like the wind, their shoulders seem to touch the ground as they negotiate a tight turn, they are growling and barking, and many times the slobber is thrown across the bridge of their nose.

Of course, we are egging them on, growling back at them, laughing as hard as they are playing, throwing our arms in the air just to see how much more insane they can become.  As they run at us,we run back at them, just to keep the game going.  I’m sure most other people must view us, the owners, as the crazy ones, as we “scare” our little dogs, but we know better, we are in Vizsla heaven, we are in the midst of the hunt with them, we are at one with our beasts.

I dare any Vizsla owner to deny that they have been here, I dare any Vizsla owner to say that they haven’t felt this.

With our beloved Tucker we also had a little thing that we called “Sand Dancing”.  We were treated to this one evening while walking Tuck near the playground at the school near us (Of course, this was before the schools around here were put into perpetual lockdown, before the “No Dogs Allowed” signs popped up, when they were still “public” schools).  As Nancy and I walked near the sandbox, Tucker dove in, and started dancing, he would dig a little, then spin around , throw all four paws out, get his face near the sand, and spin around, kicking sand in the air, then start all over again.  Nancy and I were loving it, and we would point him to sand anytime we were near it just to enjoy his complete happiness and joy with this soft, sandy treat.

These pictures were taken a few years ago when we took Tucker to the Beach Cruisers Car Show in Huntington Beach (Car lovers should circle this one on the calendar, great show), we split off from the show and went down to the beaches edge. Of course, Tucker couldn’t resist the sand and started Sand Dancing, people were staring and pointing, and we were loving it. Every once in a while Tucker would take a break, stand at the walls edge and check everybody and everything out, but his true love was the sand… and for a little while he was “The Lord Of The Dance”, and he was dirty, and he was sandy, and he was out of breath, and he was drooling… and best of all, he was Tucker.

Bodi is a master of “Brain Cramping”, he does it at the park, in the hills, in the backyard, Christ, he does it in the house (as Tucker did before him). He hasn’t picked up on the Sand Dancing yet, at least not in front of us, but we won’t hold it against him, and we’ll just egg him on a little bit everytime we get in the sand, just in case he has a bit of the dance in him.

These pictures bring back many memories, many great thoughts, and a bit of tears, but I am so thankful that we still have them as they trigger all of the emotions, good and bad, and for that we are blessed.

So, take your pups out, let them Brain Cramp, egg them on, let them be silly, let them run, bark, growl, let them be free, let them be dogs… and tell them of the “Sand Dancing Dog” of Southern California, for he was all of those things, he was deeply loved, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

We have a 67 MGB-GT that we used to take Tucker out in, a little small, but he had no problem fitting in back and would lie down and relax for the drive. Tucker was a good sport, as long as he could be with us.  We would take him to the car shows and take him around as we checked out the cars.  He was the greatest at these events, we could have him off leash and he would never bother the cars, when we were getting up close we would tell him to wait and he would either sit or stand where we told him while we got close to the cars to look at them, of course if someone – especially carrying some food – came up to see him, he would break his concentration and become the life of the show, but, he never, ever would get near to the cars in a way that would damage them.

This was taken at a British Car Show, back in 2005, that we used to go to all the time, down near the water, away from the busy streets.  Tucker, as usual, was the star of the show and everyone wanted to come see him.  Most people had no idea what kind of dog he was, and we’ve heard the old “it must be a red Weimaraner”, “that’s a red Doberman that they didn’t crop the ears on” and “The ridge on that Rhodesian Ridgeback doesn’t look right”, so we felt very good about letting them know that Tucker was a Vizsla, which always brought a look of confusion. Then we would tell them he was a Hungarian Pointer, which usually satisfied them enough to quit asking.

At this show our friend Karen had her newly restored Sunbeam Alpine which was getting a lot of admiring glances.  She asked us to see how Tucker liked the car and whether he would like to get in, and once Tucker was satisfied that this was indeed a Sunbeam Alpine and not the Sunbeam Tiger (since no real dog would be caught having pictures taken inside a Tiger), he quite enjoyed getting in and having a few pictures taken.  Everyone loved the mini show inside the car show, most of all Tucker since he got a lot more attention.

Of course, the fact that we quite often brought a picnic with us to these events made Tucker even more excited. Tucker had no problem making us feel bad by staring at our food after he scarfed his own down, knowing that if he did a good enough job we would give in and he would get a sample. This, at the time, made us feel that we weren’t doing him any good by letting him taste our food, but now we wouldn’t have traded that bonding for anything – memories are funny that way.

So, enjoy the pics, enjoy the story, and remember – take the little guys with you when you get a chance, they enjoy being with you, and the memories are priceless.