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.

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.

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.

I just wanted to put up a little remembrance post, a little touch of Tucker’s love, companionship, incredible temperament, loyalty, great nature…, well, just a touch of Tuck-a-poo.

Tucker was, for 12 incredibly short years, our little guy, he was there whenever we needed him, was our companion, would put himself between us and harm (as we would do for him), he was there, alongside me, comforting Nancy when she went through her cancer, he went with us on trips to comfort us and my Father when my Dad was dying of cancer, he was there with us to carve pumpkins, to cut Christmas trees, to hang out at car shows, he was there when we had good times celebrating, was there to comfort us when we had bad times, and was there when we just needed that warm body to hold on to.

We never went anywhere that we either took Tucker, or wished that we could have taken him, whether it was to the office, to friends houses, on trips to Las Vegas, cruising the sand dunes up at Pismo or up to Lake Arrowhead for the weekend. We never worried about introducing him to people, since to Tucker, if they were a friend of ours, they were a friend of his. He trusted us completely, and we trusted him completely, and I don’t think anyone who was ever around Tuck wasn’t touched by his beautiful soul.

Tucker was one of those dogs that seemed to never be happier than when he was with either Nancy, myself, or both of us. He truly came into his own and never looked more majestic than when he was with us, showing us off, or just hanging out. Nancy and I were also blessed in the fact that Tucker never chose one of us over the other, never took one of us as his “Master”, he always shared us, to the point that he would move from one sleeping point on the sofa to another 4 – 5 times a night, just to share his love with us and not spend too much time with just one of us.

As Nancy has said lately, “I know that time heals and it gets better, but the longer he is gone, as more and more time passes… the more I miss him”, and it’s true – since we did so very much with him, spent so many years with him in our hearts, we truly can’t look anywhere without seeing his spirit running around us, without thinking of him grabbing a toy and talking to us, without thinking of all those moments that we shared with him.

Lately we have been going to some of the special places that we shared with Tucker, we are sharing them with Bodi, and we are spreading a little bit of Tuck’s ashes. These are the beginning of the memories that we will be sharing with Bodi, of the companionship that will be forged by the three of us passing through these hard times, and sharing the beautiful memories.

So, hopefully things will get easier, as time goes by, hopefully the hole in our hearts will start to heal. By writing these memories down we don’t want to bring anyone down… we just want to share our “little guy” and our memories with everyone who knew him, and we want to spread a little of what Tucker was, and still is to us, to people that didn’t have the chance to get to know him.

Nancy and Bodi, bonding

Luckily we live in a slightly less populated area then most in SoCal, and this affords us the unique ability to just leave our door and be in the hills, away from people, and able to stretch our legs a little bit.

Bodi loves getting out and up into the hills, smelling all of the new smells, looking for new friends, or old friendships that need to be renewed.

Bodi is a hunting dog true to his breed, and down to the core, he thinks the most special thing in the world is leading us on little excursions into the brush as he sees a lizard dart off the trail, jumping at the chance to chase a bird, or a birds shadow at times, making sure that all in the immediate vicinity knows that this great hunter has entered their space and they should be fearful.

Bodi Terrorizing a Lizard

We, of course, try to reel him in when he goes off the deep end, we actually baby him to no end, worry that he will get into something he shouldn’t, work diligently to make him pay attention to us, all of the things a “Pack Leader” should do (at least in our minds).

One of our favorite hunting grounds is a water tank trail that is near our home, Bodi loves to get out there, criss-crossing the trail looking for critters, running back and forth, ahead of, and behind us… waiting for us to call him before he breaks off of the hunt. As we get higher on the trail, we get a great view of our little corner of the world and we can watch the sunrise or sunset from our viewpoint. The air is clean and cool in the morning, we can stop and give Bodi a little water and when he isn’t paying attention we can squirt him with the water from our water bottle.

Walking out here never fails to bring joy to all of us, working out, breathing the fresh air, we are all lucky to be here, be safe, and enjoy the good company of friends and friendly puppies that we run into up here.

Bodi, mugging it up for the camera

And Bodi, well he is off chasing something down, standing proudly on the rocks, letting all who pass know that he is the master of his domain, and the hunter extraordinaire…  at least until we call him back to reality and put him back on leash.

Tucker, After Being Caught By The Sunbeam

This is a post that I had started back in May… I thought that it had started to flow to melodramatic and set it aside… But now it seems kind of prophetic. I’m not going to finish the post, just wanted the picture and the feeling to be shared.

We miss him every minute of every day, we know things will get better – but damn. the hole in our hearts is big.

We thank god for all of our friends, and for the dear, dear love of Bodi, and soon the mood of the blog will move forward, but in the meantime, please bear with us, and enjoy the love that we have for our little family.

***** Original Text *****

So Tucker is going to be 12 this year, very soon as a matter of fact, and he has been slowing down a little over the years.

We always let him jump up into the trucks, even our M715 which is about a 3 1/2 to 4 foot jump for him into the seat and back down, he always jumped into bed etc… About a year ago he started to have to work a little harder to make the jumps, sometimes he would only make it half way up onto the bed and have to try again. For the last year or so we have stopped him from doing all of the jumping figuring that would be a little less strain on his joints. He has taken easily to just putting his front feet up on the item that he is getting on, or into, and then we lift his butt up for him.

So now he for the most part doesn’t…

Bodi (in front) and Tucker out for walk

Bodi has been thrown for another loop, started a new family 6 months ago, now having his new best friend disappear from out of his life, then having to take the role of our canine emotional saviour.

Bodi is doing his very best, he normally is the happy-go-lucky boy that we are always trying to calm down just a bit, now he is much calmer, always stopping to look for what our next move is, looking for Tucker throughout the house and backyard frequently.

The toughest thing is when we feed him.

We had taught him right from the beginning that Tucker gets his food first and on his food stand, then Bodi would get his dinner in the kitchen – they eat at the same time, but even with Tucker starting first Bodi would always finish first and then stand by to clean anything out of Tuckers bowl that may be left (which usually was nothing).

Bodi sleeping in my office

Now we feed him at Tucker’s old food stand, and when we put the food down he runs back to the kitchen as he had been taught, and waits for Tucker to come in and start eating so he can get his food. It takes us a little while to coax him back to the food stand and convince him that it is his and he can start eating, he keeps stopping and looking around, sure that Tucker just hasn’t gotten there yet, and convinced that if he starts eating he will surely be in deep trouble – it is really quite touching, and slightly heart breaking.

Bodi is now the “man”, and we are laying a lot of love on him to help us to get through the pain… The wounds are still fresh and deep, the tears flow freely whenever we think or speak of Tucker, and I’m sure his little heart is feeling pangs of sorrow that his new-found brother has slipped out of his life and doesn’t seem to be there for him anymore.

We love Bodi with all of our hearts and we don’t plan on bringing another puppy into our lives for quite a while, we want more than anything to take the time to bond even more with Bodi, to not split our love with another dog, and to allow Bodi to become the very best Bodi that he can possibly be, we don’t want him to be another Tucker, that would be totally unfair to Bodi, and to Tucker’s memories, but we are excited to bring Bodi along to be his very best.

We took Tucker last year for the first time, and he loved it, playing for hours, chasing and eating snow, slipping through the crust to freeze his stomach, all the fun in a winter wonderland.

So we wanted to make sure to take Bodi this year, we aren’t sure whether he had been to the snow before, but we knew he would have a blast either way.

We found a perfect place up in the mountains that was far enough from the road that we didn’t have to worry too much, and it was down in a valley allowing us to keep an eye on the two boys. As they hit the snow, it all came back to Tucker and he was having a blast, running around and dancing in the deeper stuff. Bodi took a second to take a look and became the hunter that he is, looking under every fallen log, digging wherever he picked up the slightest scent, running to every vantage point to see if anything would show its face and let him chase it.

Tuck & Bodester both were having a blast chasing every snowball that they kicked up with their feet to kill and eat and the one time that I laid down to make a snow angel (hey, everyone has to be a kid every once in awhile) Bodi climbed on top to claim his prize. Even in the snow Bodi dives in with all of his body and soul, licking your face and neck with his entire tongue and throwing in the little nibbles every once in a while… The kind that hurts even more when his face is cold and you are freezing!

Tucker, as usual, is the more careful and subtle of the two, coming up close to rub against your body and lick your hands, but always trying to be just that little bit careful. He is slowing down a little, not quite as strong with his playing, age is playing it’s mean spirited games on him all the time, but we are determined to get him out to as many fun things as we possibly can, and keeping the extreme fun loving and powerful personality of Bodi at hands reach so as to not overpower Tuck’s enjoyment.

Way back in the year nineteen-hundred and ninety-seven, we opened our life and hearts to the sporting breed dog, known as the Vizsla. And… as we welcomed “Tucker” into our home, he became a major fixture in our landscape… and we would not have it any other way.

This blog is not just about reflection and the incredible life we have with Tucker… but also about the journey of adding a second Vizsla to our little world and opening up our hearts to take in an adopted dog by the name of Bodi.

UPDATE: 6/15/10 – As time goes by, life changes… We have now welcomed Oliver to our little menagerie, Tucker has moved on to the Rainbow Bridge, Bodi has mellowed into a simply incredible companion, and we continue moving back and forth through the little minefields that are created for our pleasure…

We would like to welcome you all aboard and enjoy the journey with us!