Feeding Time!

Reflections...

Fifteen years ago today, my beloved first Vizsla, Ricochet, was born. I first saw this little pup when she was about a week old. I remember the excitement that built during the next several weeks until it was time to bring her home. I had no idea how my life would change over the next 15 years. Ricochet got her name when I first visited the home of her breeder, Carol Wynn. I watched Carol's Vizslas race around her yard and commented that they sort of ricocheted around the place. And Ricochet certainly lived up to the name. As a young pup, she would fly up or down the staircase and literally bounce off the wall on the landing to make the 180 degree turn. When she whelped her first litter, I pondered what kennel name I would adopt as my own. I could not come up with anything better than her call name, thus the birth of "Ricochet Vizslas".

Ricochet has been gone for about two and a half years now, but her memory lives on, as does her spirit in the generations that have followed her. Dylan and Dixie's pups, three days old today, are Ricochet's great-great grandkids.

The "Pound Puppies" are Growing Fast

I jokingly refer to Dixie's litter as the "Pound Puppies" because they all weighed in close to a pound at birth. Here it is a little over two days later, and my how they've grown! Tonight's weigh-in goes like this:

Black (male): 16.6 oz
Blue (male): 18.0 oz
Yellow (female): 18.7 oz
Red (female): 20.0 oz
Green (female): 17.5 oz

Tomorrow they take their first road trip - to the vet's for tails and dew claws. They will look more like Vizslas and less like rats in the next pictures!

Puppies Have Arrived!

Signs of labor started on Friday late afternoon. Dixie's temperature had dropped, and she was getting restless. She and I both just catnapped throughout the night. Hard labor didn't begin until after noon on Saturday. I figured the first pup was going to be a whopper because she was having difficulty pushing it out. Finally, at about 3:00 pm, he arrived. For the next four plus hours, the pups came, and they all were quite large. Sadly, the last pup's sack broke prematurely and I was not able to get the puppy out in time to save her. Resuscitation attempts were futile, so I had to lay her to rest. But Dixie and the rest of the litter are all doing fine.

Each puppy has a color ribbon around its neck to easily identify them, especially in pictures. So Dixie, Dylan and I proudly introduce:

Black - male - 15.7 oz
Blue - male - 15.6 oz
Yellow - female - 16.5 oz
Red - female - 17.1 oz
Green - female - 15.6 oz