More Agility Success!!

Polo earned his NAJ title with his best ever Jumpers run. He Q'd with a 100% - clean and under course time! He also took home a second place ribbon.

Rudy took first place and his first Q in Open Standard (the only dog that Q'd in all of the Open class), making the contact on the A-frame that Gary's been working so hard with him on. But in Jumpers, Rudy decided that the tunnels were the way to go whenever they were in sight. So now there's another focus to his agility training - tunnels!

Rudy loved the open pastures for retrieving his favorite toy.

Polo just wanted to check out the things with wings.

Rudy earns another Agility Title

Rudy Q'd this weekend finishing up his USDAA Starters Jumper (SJ) Title. He ran great in the Standard but missed the contact zone on the A-frame two days in a row. Rudy took second in Jumpers on both days and was three seconds behind a fast Border Collie , so he is one fast Vizsla (17 seconds for the BC and 20 for Rudy on a 35 second course). We will be back to the field tomorrow to work on the pesky A-frame ...

Polo was one sniff (~ 3 seconds) over course time in 3 of the 4 clean runs this weekend. He was distracted by his buddy Austin (super Agility Vizsla) on the other run. Polo likes AKC which has slower courses that allow for a more refined gentlemanly pace.

Novice Agility (NA) Title for Polo & Rudy

Polo double Q'd twice this weekend finishing up his NA title and Rudy finished with a single Q in Standard finishing up his NA title. Polo was a super agility pup in the muddy and wood chip covered agility fields. Rudy also did great, and having a fast Vizsla on a muddy field has it's challenges.

It is great to see how all of that hard work in practice turns out! Trials always provide a new list of focus areas and courses to set up. Time to cook up some more stew meat and chicken for training.

USDAA Day 2

We only ran jumpers this morning and took the afternoon off to cook ribs, chew on bones, eat peach cobbler, and relax.

Rudy finished 1st and took his 2nd Q. Polo ran a relaxed clean run, looked beautiful, but missed the course time by 1.5 seconds. Polo wants USDAA to have a "Real Feel" adjusted course time since it was getting hot at 9:30 this morning.

USDAA Agility fun

Today we had fun AND success at our first USDAA agility trial. Polo got 3rd place in the Standard run with a "Q" (qualified), and Rudy got 2nd place in Jumpers with a "Q"!!
It was a warm day, but we made ourselves a nice shady spot and tried to stay cool any way we could.

A big, long chew

The boys were very pleased with what we brought back from the Durham Kennel Club dog show this weekend. YUM!!

Hungarian Gold again!

Polo and Rudy cheered for both the US and Hungarian Water Polo teams during the Olympics. In the end, the Hungarian's took gold and the US silver.



Polo says "that's my team!"


Ch. Tivoliz CPR CRK Hungarian Gold

What we did on our summer vacation ... Part 4

At Aunt Debbie's we got to frolic in the woods with Mommie Siren, and some of our favorite relatives ... Owen, Baxter, and the newest addition to the Tivoliz clan: Miss Harlow. She's quite a beauty and not shy in the least. Here she is showing the boys who's boss ...
Check back later for some videos of this visit.

What we did on our summer vacation ... Part 3

We were sad to have to get back in the car for the long drive home, but visiting with more Vizsla family made for a terrific trip. Next up, a visit with Polo's sister Hannah!Polo (left), Hannah (center), and Rudy (right)

We went to a wonderful park for off-leash running and swimming. The weather was perfect - we could not have had a better time. Thanks, Melissa and Hannah!!







We tried to talk them into posing for a picture with treats, but those Vizslas are too smart for that! Hopefully, Aunt Melissa got a good one ...
One more stop to go ... a visit to Aunt Debbie's and Mommy Siren! Video to follow ...

What we did on our summer vacation ... Part 2

The Beach!!

We went swimming in the ocean on Cape Cod and loved it. No swimming pictures, but here's what we did when not swimming:

Digging in the sand, retrieving a toy in the back yard, and reconnecting with our human cousins.

What we did on our summer vacation ...

We had a long car ride up north, but got to visit our Vizsla family along the way.
First up - Rudy's sister 'Q':

Rudy (left) and Q (right)

The two of them were so much alike! They had a grand time chasing eachother around the yard and inside.

Thanks to Sue, Q and Rumor for a great visit!!

Hungarian Gold!

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago we were anticipating bringing home our first Vizsla pup and struggling to find the right name for him. We searched Hungarian websites for names and word translations, but nothing came together until we were watching the Olympics and heard that the water polo team was Hungary's national sport! And they took the gold medal in Athens. So that's how our 'Polo' got his name: Ch. Tivoliz Cpr Crk Hungarian Gold.

Polo sends "Congrats" to his native countrymen for winning their third straight gold medal in water polo at the Olympics!! And to the U.S. for getting the silver!
Polo trying out his water polo skills at the lake this weekend.

It's Summertime!

Which means it's swimtime!

We're in the summer routine now that it's in the 90s most days. So Saturday mornings we go swimming at the lake.

Rudy races out to retrieve a thrown stick, and then shares a chew with Polo.

With all the practice swimming, we might have to try surfing:

http://loewssurfdog.blogspot.com/

Hey, where's my plate?

Welcome to the world!

Rudy's Mom, Siren, brought 3 new puppies into the world. Check out how adorable they are ...

Congrats to Q!

Rudy's sister 'Q' won the Vizsla Club of Northern California's 2008 Hunter's Gun Dog!! Awesome, baby!!

Weekend Fun - Day 2

Day 2 started out slow, since the weather was a little cool and overcast (everyone was still tired from Day 1!). But we soon headed out to Dupont State Forest to check out the waterfalls.

Polo was so excited to go swimming!! Rudy dove in to retrieve a stick, then found out the water was kind of chilly! But still enjoyed retrieving it again.

Weekend Fun - Day 1

We took off to the mountains of North Carolina for a long weekend away. Had a beautiful day for hiking in the Pisgah National Forest where the trees were just starting to get leaves. The boys had a great time pulling us along on the trails, over creeks and streams ... then up, up, up to the top of the rock face to some incredible views.












Back at the parking lot we could see where we had just climbed to - WOW!

A good hike makes for some sleepy Vizslas!

Four Q's

We survived our first Agility Trial and have many "tails" to tell. Thought we would provide a quick update for Aunt Debbie and sister Q. The boys loved seeing Aunt Peggy at the trial, she really knows how to get a Vizsla excited!

Saturday - Polo wins Novice Standard and Rudy is number 2, both Qs

Sunday - Rudy wins both Novice Standard and Jumpers, 2 Qs

Think Rudy knows he crushed the competition and took home more ribbons and toys??

Ready Or Not ...

We are entered in our first agility trial this weekend! Hopefully, the handlers (aka Mom & Dad) have trained enough to allow Polo and Rudy's natural talent to be on display. All the jumping, tunneling, weaving, and climbing are no problem for these versatile Vizslas. It's the handlers job to know the course and show them where to go. And sometimes signals get crossed, mis-read, forgotten, ... stay-tuned for results next week.

Relaxation Time

Rudy knows how to make us relax.

Go Austin!

Melanie and Austin are competing at the AKC Agility Nationals this weekend. They seem to be doing great and switched from 26 to 24" jumps if you want to check the results for Friday and Saturday.

Melanie is our Agility Instructor and she understands how to train a hunting dog to excel in Agility.

Go Austin!!!

http://www.akc.org/events/agility/national_agility_championship/

Pictures
http://www.akc.org/events/agility/national_agility_championship/2008/popup.cfm?image=lg_5308.jpg&caption=Vizsla

http://www.akc.org/events/agility/national_agility_championship/2008/popup.cfm?image=lg_5310.jpg&caption=Vizsla

AgilePolo

We are working on Polo's Agility motivation and he is doing great. Everyone is amazed in our agility class at his progress and he seems to be having a great time! His AKC jump card arrived today.

Good luck Rocket on your Agility lessons. Polo and Rudy can always help if your handler has problems. Remember steak is the prime motivator (medium rare, seared stew meat).

AgileRudy

We are practicing running the a-frame and dog walk. Rudy needs to touch the yellow contact zone at the end of the obstacle and not jump off. The best way to make sure he hits the contact zone is to have him down at the end of the ramp. Not an easy thing to teach, Rudy would rather skip the bottom and leap from half-way up the ramp. He loves to run!

Garden & Gun

Polo and Rudy each want to be the Prince and the Pea like the following pup in a Garden & Gun advertisement. We get all sorts of interesting magazines.

Remodeling

We are still trying to finish off our first bathroom remodel. The boys think we are boring and do not understand why they cannot help with the painting.

Getting Ready to Trial

Rudy received his official AKC Agility Height card and Polo's may be lost in the mail. We have moved up to the advanced sequences agility class and the first class gave the handlers quite a challenge (especially Rudy's handler, aka Dad). Front crossing a speedy Rudy can be difficult, and if you are not there on time, all you see is Rudy flying past.