Holiday Gift Ideas

...for That Special Vizsla in Your Life! 

Read on for a bunch of ideas to spoil your pup (and yourself and other Vizsla-lovers too!)

Getting in the spirit!

The tree is up, decorated, and we're ready for the holidays!

And yes, I know... it's been over a month since my last post. What can I say, life's busy. But I always appreciate people stopping by the blog, and will do my best to keep it (semi)-active ;-)

A Special Christmas for Captain & Family!

Here's wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year from Captain & family! We are enjoying our first Christmas with our new little one. Captain is adjusting great to having a little sister, despite no longer being "top dog" so to speak ;) He's been getting plenty of walks, with all the family visitors, and now that Mommy is back to walking a bunch too (and always itching to get outside!).

Captain's 5th Birthday

Captain and his birthday frosty paws

That's Captain with his birthday frosty paws- topped off with a dollop of cream cheese as "frosting."

Happy 5th Birthday, Captain!!

 

I can't believe Captain is already 5. Of course, we still often get asked, "Oh, is he a puppy?" Well.....Vizslas are always puppies ;-)

Read on for more about Captain's birthday this year...

Vizsla Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day from Captain!

Captain got a few doggie "conversation hearts" treats to help celebrate...

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year! Captain's resolutions? To take over the bed completely, hone his Jedi mind tricks to get more treats, and to finally put those darn squirrels in their place ;-)

We had some friends over to celebrate, and Captain spared no time cuddling up to all our guests :)

Merry Captain Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Captain! 

Captain had fun sharing his version of the 12 days of Christmas with everyone this year!
For a recap, here's what Captain brought to me on each of the 12 days of Christmas:

TWELVE wiggly wiggles, 

ELEVEN puppies playing,

TEN balls 'a bouncin,

NINE squirrels 'a prancing,

EIGHT hounds 'a leaping,

 SEVEN sweet potatoes,

SIX geese for stalking,

FIVE Fluffy Blankets,
FOUR Squeaky Toys,

THREE Frosty Paws, 

TWO Chewed-On Gloves, 

and an Owl Ornament in a Christmas Tree!

Hope everyone is enjoying some family time, relaxing and snuggling with your dog, cozying up under some blankets, enjoying good food and good company.  

Best wishes to you and yours!

The Fifth Day of Christmas

On the FIFTH day of Christmas, Captain brought to me...

The Fourth Day of Christmas

Let the holiday fun continue! On the fourth day of Christmas, Captain brought to me...

The Third Day of Christmas...

On the third day of Christmas, Captain brought to me...

The Second Day of Christmas...

On the second day of Christmas, Captain brought to me...

On the First Day of Christmas...

It's the 12 days of Christmas, Captain style! On the first day of Christmas, Captain brought to me...

Captain's Thanksgiving Holiday 2012

Our recap of Thanksgiving 2012! Captain has been one spoiled little boy these past few days... an aunt and uncle and grandmommy around to give him plenty of extra cuddles, a mommy who thinks he should get all the turkey leftovers he wants, and plenty of good running weather to work out all that Vizsla energy. Plus, did we mention turkey leftovers? ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Captain to you!!

Here's what's on tap for our Thanksgiving:
1- A Turkey Trot at Point Pinole (I'm doing the 10K, the rest of the fam is doing the 5K... Captain will be joining in too!)
2- Coming home to eat the best pumpkin bread in the world ;-), and probably watching a little of the parade.
3- Getting to baking & cooking! Captain will be thankful for whatever falls on the floor, and for his mommy's weak willpower when it comes to his staredowns ;-)

Captain is also thankful for: more people in the house to cuddle with, couches, beds, covers and quilts, sweet potatoes, frosty paws, slow squirrels, and everyone stopping by to Vizsla Thing!

Hope you all have a wonderful day filled with family, friends, and enjoying time with your dog!!

Check back soon for a holiday recap and for favorite pictures submitted from the giveaway.

HOWL-o-ween

This morning in our local dog park, there were at least 30 dogs gathered for doggie Halloween. Captain definitely does not like the little devil horns I put on as his "costume"- probably because quite obviously he's an Angel ;) - but there were two other "devil dogs" so at least he fit in :)

Captain of Christmas Present!

I'm slightly embarrassed by how much I love this picture. But it's worth it ;-)

Merry Christmas- or rather, Happy Holidays to everyone! Just a few more Captain Christmas photos before we ring in the new year....

This year, has Captain been...                                   

or...

Definitely nice!

I have no idea what's going on, but I know there's treats in that sparkly green thing.

I like holiday napping best.

 Happy Holidays to you and yours from Captain!

(PS- For more holiday fun, see: Captain of Christmas Past, and Captain of Christmas Future).

Captain of Christmas Future?!

Time for the next ghost of Captain Christmas...

King Captain is Christmas Future! (?!)

Ok, maybe not. Maybe I went a little nuts dressing up my dog. My husband walked by as I was taking these pictures and just shook his head.

But, since I have them, here are a few more King Captain pictures:

I CAN NOT believe you are doing this to me.

Seriously, I'm not even going to look at you. This is ridiculous. You realize I'm a BOY, right?! And, you know, canine?

Ok, something tells me Captain of Christmases future will look more like this:

And I'm totally ok with that ;-)

I honestly never thought I would be one of those people that dressed up my dog. Sigh. Oh well. I gave him a bunch of treats afterwords, so I don't think he was too traumatized!

Stay tuned for the best Captain Christmas of all!

Captain of Christmas Past

Time to get in the holiday spirit! Captain does this by staring at me as I bake cookies and pumpkin bread, playing squeaky ball in the house (don't tell!), cuddling on the couch with some warm blankets & whatever human is around while watching Scrooged and the Muppet Christmas Carol, and checking out some photos of Christmases past!

And what's that? The ghost of Captain past?!

Nope! That's Captain at about 5 months, Christmas 2008 -we'd gone to the park after it had rained, so we ended up very dirty! Because instead of snow in San Francisco during the winter, we get rain. Luckily, Captain hadn't heard yet that Vizslas melt in the rain ;-)

And here's one more photo of Captain past... in his old favorite spot, in front of the heater:

You will be visited by TWO MORE ghosts of Captain Christmas! ;-)
(OK, clearly, I've mentally checked out for the week and am already dreaming of the holiday break...)

I deserve a plate of turkey

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Captain was thankful for turkey leftovers, me being clumsy and dropping food in the kitchen, and the smell of good food.

Dogtoberfest 2011- and BACONCAKE!

It's that time of year again... Halloween around the corner, Oktoberfest celebrations, doggie Halloween parties...
but what trumps them all?  

Dogtoberfest! This was our second Dogtoberfest, but it was actually either the 4th or 5th ever.
Every year (for at least the past 4 years, anyway), the dog owners in our
neighborhood get together for a picnic/barbecue and doggie get-together in our local park. 

We were blessed with very warm weather (maybe a little too warm for those of us
that have gotten used to temperatures never straying from the 55-65 degree range!),
sun, and plenty of neighborhood dogs & their owners out to enjoy the day.

Arguably the biggest draw to Dogtoberfest? The bacon cake!
Every year a fabulous dog-owning mom whips one up fresh for
the dogs, who absolutely love it.
This year's cake:

          Shaped like a cat, so the dogs can finally have their cake and eat it too ;-)

          It's a very orderly process, making sure the bacon cake is evenly distributed
and every dog gets his/her piece.

Time to line up!

Waiting.... waiting.....

At last, the dogs' moment of bacon cake bliss arrived ;-)

          Captain loves the bacon cake...

 But it was gone in 60 seconds. He quickly moved on to looking for leftovers:

Crumbs? Did somebody say crumbs?

Ah-ha! I knew there was more. I'll take some to go, please!

Click if you want to see last year's Dogtoberfest!
          

Another Dogtoberfest success!