Introducing Captain Bitey!

 Most of the time I have a sweet, gentle mannered puppy. Some of the time a second personality emerges from my pup who I am less than fond of. I have named this alter ego/evil twin "Captain Bitey."

Captain Bitey never closes his mouth. He runs around, jaw wide open, hoping to bump into something he can chomp on. Captain Bitey has crazy eyes and energy equal to drinking a gallon of espresso. I hope to someday defeat Captain Bitey and banish him from Earth...unfortunately, that day has yet to come.

Smarter than I thought

Laszlo got a rawhide bone from the vet today. He was super excited about it and kept flaunting it in front of Ginger (his older step sister). Sure enough, she took it from him and he spirit was crushed! She took it, lay down and chewed it right in his face. I thought he would get all growly and try to take it back but instead he lay down nose to nose with her just a few inches away, head down on the ground, with super sad puppy dog eyes. Since Ginger's jaws are much stronger, she quickly had the rawhide in 2 pieces. Laszlo stuck out a paw and grabbed the smaller piece. Ginger let him have it and the 2 of them lay side by side chewing their tasty treats. A dog barked in the alley and Ginger got up to check it out. As soon as she walked away, Laszlo ran and got her piece of the rawhide and hid it in a rain boot I had given him to play with. He swiftly returned to where he had been laying and proceeded chewing away on his little piece, pretending nothing had happened. When Ginger came back, sniffing around for her nugget of rawhide it was nowhere to be found and Laszlo, seemingly innocent, chewed away...

I am a big dog!

Little Laszlo is growing every single day and although he is 4 times bigger than when I got him a few weeks ago, he is still under 20 pounds. However, he thinks he is 200 pounds and about 4 feet tall. He has this amazing confidence and struts around like he is the top dog in all situations. Yesterday I went over to my friends house where 5 adult dogs were running around playing in the yard. The dogs ranged from small (an adorable Scottish Terrier named Monty) to super huge (a gorgeous Rhodesian Ridgeback mix named PJ). Even though Laszlo has only met his house mates off leash, he walked through that gate and started running with the big boys.  Laszlo really wanted to hang out with PJ - follow him around, lie next to him, lean on him, chew on his foot. PJ's head was about the size of Laszlo's body but I am pretty sure that when Laszlo looks at him he thinks, "That is exactly what I look like."

I have to admit that when I was thinking about getting a Vizsla I was nervous that I would get an anxious, neurotic dog. The breed can be very clingy and afraid. That is one of the reasons I am working so hard to expose him to everything I can - fireworks, trucks, kids, storms, etc.  When I see him trotting around with his head held high, all independent and strong I am really proud and happy. I know that his strong will is going to cause other training related challenges but that is okay in my book. As my father would say, "He is turning into a manly dog."

I am waiting for the day when he finally realizes that he is not the king of the world. Today on a walk a large, aggressive German Shepard was lunging and growling at him. Did he crawl in between my legs and cower? Hell no, he stood his ground and growled right back, lunging toward the dog who could eat him in a heartbeat. I know running toward danger is not a good thing and he does need to learn that there are some things that it is healthy to be afraid of. We will have to see what finally knocks him down a peg...