Now for a fun post: I cannot believe we haven’t been to Callaghan Valley’s Olympic Nordic center (close to Whistler) before! We are super lucky because they have a cross country skiing area that allows off leash dogs (isn’t that the best idea?) and Whiskey ran her little pants off.
Nordic Callaghan site
Everyone, their dogs, and even disabled skiing here
I’ve never tried cross country before, but it didn’t take too long to get the hang of things and I only fell twice going down some steeper sections. Thankfully, we didn’t need to worry about a dog on leash this first time (there are on-leash trails as well) because I still don’t have a clear idea of how to stop!
Beautiful backgrounds and fresh snow on the ground
Whiskey loved running and for once we weren’t super slow
Ears flying like wings
It looked like there were loads of locals out with their pups and lots of kids having fun. Whiskey loved zooming around the groomed trails and she spent most of her time trying to get us to throw snowballs (she even fetches them too). Her speed is just insane going up and down the runs, I think next time we need to bring some Vizsla friends!
Chasing snowballs
Checking out some larger snowballs
The off leash section is large enough that it’s not too boring and it wasn’t very busy for such a beautiful day. We brought booties and a jacket for Whiskey but didn’t need to bother with them and she spent the rest of the day sleeping…success!!!
Bombing down the slopes
What a playday!
Too bad it’s not the cheapest activity (helps if you own your own skis) but I will be back for sure! I just wish our local hills would allow dogs too.
Over the past year Whiskey has been getting bumps that appear pretty quickly and disappear just as fast. The bumps never stuck around long enough to get to a vet and so we put on our detective hats to find out what the problem was.
small ear bumps
Her bumps were concentrated on her upper head, ears, and the front of her legs and were raised but not red. They would get better within 15- 30 mins once we took her away from the environment she started showing symptoms in, and would rarely show for more than 1 hour. At the least, they were a couple round bumps on her ears, at the worst her whole face was swollen to the point she couldn’t even see, but even then, her bumps would fully vanish within 2 hours (so no time for vet). When the bumps were at their worst, (as happened about 3 times) she would be very quiet, tired, and sad looking. They didn’t seem itchy, and she would be back to normal as soon as they went away. They were like bee stings and we did try some Benadryl but it was hard to tell if it helped because the bumps always went away so fast either way. We also tried a holistic Allergy Supplement, as well as local raw honey but neither seemed to show much improvement over several months.
a medium-bad example
It was pretty clear from the get go that these were allergic bumps and since I feed home made raw, it was pretty easy to eliminate food as her allergy source. We noticed a pattern after a couple months that was interesting; if we took her to a park several times a day, only sometimes she would come back with bumps (even if we took her to the same place on the same day). Most of the times if we went into forests or mountains she would be fine, so in general she had more bumps in the city, or close to the city. I have to emphasis that although these pictures look absolutely terrible, the bumps at their worst only stuck around for about 20 mins and in 2 hours, they were gone. I hate seeing Whiskey like this and I’m only posting this as I hope this may help another Vizsla or puppy.
the worst it got with us (about 3x ever)
the worst case only happened when it rained
Something else that was interesting was the worst cases were when it was raining and if she wore a jacket, she would have no bumps where the jacket covered (a strong case for environmental allergies). Also, she had more bumps on the front of her legs, not the back of her legs where she was more exposed to water spray, or where she would have a higher chance of touching allergens. From my research, I found out that tree pollen becomes more concentrated when it rains, and comes down from the air in rain droplets. People that have tree pollen allergies react more in rain as well. Also, in the city, we plant mostly male trees so when pollen is released from male trees, there aren’t enough female trees to capture pollen so there is more pollen in the air causing allergy issues in humans (says Scientific America and Vancouver Sun).
Anyways, since we’ve both been working a crazy amount of overtime, we finally had a chance to book Whiskey in with a pet dermatologist (yes that’s a thing!) about a month ago. I find when visiting vets, I’ve learned I need to really stand up for my beliefs. Vets love to prescribe loads of tests and medications “just in case” and many times these are not needed, and not only will cost more, but you are also giving your pet unneeded chemicals. Now, I’m not expert but I do know my dog so we opted to test Whiskey only for environmental allergies (I had to insist it wasn’t food related) and I opted out of flea control (twice) since I was absolutely sure these were not fleas. We did both a skin test and a blood test. The skin test unfortunately, called for her side to be shaven, a grid to be drawn, and 40 plus tiny allergen injections to compare reactions to a placebo.
Poor girl is also on her heat
Her side is shaven and a grid is tested
Whiskey was given a reversible sedation and I was able to watch the whole procedure. Afterwards we needed to wait 3-5 more weeks for blood test results, and then depending on the results we would have to order either drops or injections to give Whiskey to help her allergies. We ended up with drops and the ordering took another 3 weeks, so a month and a half later, we picked up the drops. At the moment we are just giving her a little drop a day in her mouth and that’s it. We are supposed to see noticeable results from 3 months to 1 year and this is all covered by insurance 80% (I really recommend insurance). Whiskey’s highest reactions seem to be to a mold and some tree and weed pollen. Without insurance this would have cost about $1400 (for all tests and 5 months of drops).
she was half sedated and I was there every minute
For the past 3 months though we’ve not seen seen much allergy reactions at all so we are wondering if this is more a fall/winter thing (or wet season thing) but we are trying the drops (one set lasts 5-6 months) for at least a year to see if this improves. For the time being, we are taking one sided photos while we wait or Whiskey’s hair to grow back!
I’m so late in posting this but I’ve been working like crazy. Here are some photos and video of our latest Vizsla meetup in Vancouver. We met at Cypress Falls this time, and we were about 29 Vizslas!
Awhile back, we had a scary episode where Whiskey was suddenly limping and wouldn’t use her left hind leg. We had taken to her to emergency and had no answers after a rather large bill (xrays were fine). It strangely only lasted a day and she seemed 95% back to normal by the next day.
her first limping episode
However, this happened again a couple months later in late November and while we didn’t go to ER again, we did keep a very close eye on her and like before, it resolved within 24 hours. At this point, I really wanted to get to the source of the issue. We’ve had two tentative diagnosis as a back stress injury (reason why the recovery was so fast, from our vet), and/or soft tissue trauma (ER vet). A friend had a recommendation to a well known vet/surgeon that specialized in lameness assessments as well as chiropractic therapies and orthopedic surgeries, so we called him up to make an appointment. Let me tell you, this is a very rare find indeed!
all is well now!
We made the date to head to Whistler (about 2 hours away) and took Whiskey for her first appointment with Dr. Lane. My goal was to pinpoint the underlying issue that was causing her periodic lameness and hopefully treat it without any drugs. I know many people might think that this issue “isn’t so bad” since she doesn’t consistently show symptoms; two days of limping isn’t the end of the world, especially with active dogs. However, I would much rather solve this now then wait 5 years and have this become a chronic issue. Also, we are covered by insurance (80%) with Pets Plus Us, which I highly recommend since we’ve tested their claims very very thoroughly.
Vizslas are pretty active
Since Dr. Lane is extremely busy and was only working once a week, it took about 1.5 months for us to secure an appointment. He started the appointment by listening and recording our issues and watching our video of her which we had filmed to record the limping event. We then took Whiskey out for a walk to demonstrate her walk, her trot, and then went up and down some stairs. Dr. Lane noticed that going down stairs, she had less “wiggle” in her lower back which seemed tight. He started treating her by feeling with his fingers all over her as well as extending her legs. Whiskey wasn’t too sure of this strange man so we needed to bribe her with treats. Acupuncture as well as massage, lasers and chiropractic therapies were all used and we even ended the session with some IMS. At the end of it all, poor Whiskey was ready to leave, hugging the door with sad eyes 🙁
acupuncture and laser treatment
Dr. Lane narrowed down the problem to a hip misalignment that was causing her to put stress into her back that would eventually lead to a limping episode after too much explosive activity (ie jumping and sprint starts). The activities we toned down were jumping and continuous fetch although we never did too much to begin with. He thinks that perhaps there was an incident that caused her hips to move out of line and over time her body just got used to it. We were working to correct her hips and let her body ‘remember’ the new alignment by having less activity for awhile. This was pretty easy since she happened to have also started her heat, so it was on-leash walks away from other dogs for a month anyways.
her second heat has her very mellow
After the initial consultation, we went back twice more and were given the all clear (and to come back 6 months-1 year just to check up). After every consultation, I could see a difference in the way Whiskey was running (less so on the last one). She seemed a bit looser. We’ve not had any limping since, and hope this is all over. At the worst, we’ve got a clear explanation and someone that can help us out if anything happens again. I think the hardest part was not knowing the problem and throwing money at an ER vet that didn’t have a clue.
Did I mention that we ended up in Washington during a crazy snowstorm? We almost lost Whiskey except for her day-glo jacket in the snow (chillydogs.ca). She can barely surface to breathe…joking!
So I’ve seen so many beautiful photos online of this park and I was really excited to visit. Unfortunately, the worst part about this beautiful snowshoe is the parking price!! You must get a confusing number of two passes (sno-park pass and discovery pass) the total of $30 USD, for just one day of parking which becomes a very expensive hike (and we did see rangers who were checking).
Otherwise, the park was lovely and empty besides a couple cross country skiers, and a couple visitors just taking pictures at the entrance of the lake. I suppose no one brought their own snowshoes to explore for we explored a very easy snowshoe trail with interpretive signs and met no one. The trail would normally be very easy to follow had we not had 50cms of fresh snow, but even then we had no problems at all once we found the “start”.
From the amount of photos online of this lake, I would suspect this park is normally very popular and busy. Here’s to getting outside when everyone else is sleeping in after a snowstorm!
In fact it was so beautiful we went a second time while waiting for the highway to open up again on our way out (there are alot of closures with the snow storms). Here are some photos the day later.
This Christmas holidays my mom visited and we took a little trip into Washington state to get away from the rain and into some snow. What we hadn’t anticipated was the amount of snow! Our first stop was Mt. Baker and with a fresh snowstorm, most of the trails we had wanted to try had vanished into hip-deep fresh powder hidden by 7 feet of snow banks. We did try our hardest to visit Picture Lake but this is about what we saw (assuming we were looking at the lake and not on top of it!)
This is Picture Lake (we are probably on top of it)
Even with snowshoes we were sinking
Mom wasn’t too amused by our attempt to hike
Whiskey was quite happy for her jacket!
We eventually found a really nice and easy mom-friendly snowshoe trail to try at the Salmon Ridge Sno-Park. The trail was called Elk Snowshoe trail and crossed a couple cross country trails.
Elk Snowshoe trail had much less snowfall
the trail wasn’t very well maintained but it was easy to follow
the little balls of snow are covered pebbles
on leash while the drone flies!
There was only one other car in the parking lot and we met no one on the snowshoe trail.
The river is so beautiful
A very nice easy trail
The road to Glacier town
The trail itself was very flat and easy with a couple obstacles and was easily done in crampons or snowshoes. The part along the river was fantastic and we even got a little drone footage.
My partner and I both work full time jobs. Our work is by contract, so sometimes we get a month or two off, and sometimes when there is a deadline we work alot of overtime. Lately we’ve been both working overtime which means 50-70 hours and 6 days a week, and we all live in an apartment so how does this work? I assure you Whiskey is a very happy dog that gets out more than any of us. Besides, every hour of overtime means time off with mom and dad at a later date and extra monies for treats.
We have a lovely walker that takes her to the forest for a hike everyday with 5 other dogs and she still gets her 2 walks on top of this. We stagger our overtime hours so there is someone home with Whiskey just like in a normal non-overtime work week. On the one day we have off, we go hiking rain or shine. Of course this means we don’t have much of a social life outside of dog friends and hiking buddies, but who needs that?
This involves some creative scheduling especially when we also like to socialize, take classes, and do normal errands etc.
Here’s a normal 40 hour workday
7:20 – alarm rings, crate is opened for morning cuddle time
7:50-8:40 -walk to the park mostly off leash
park play
8:45 Breakfast!!
9:00-12:30 Crate rest time (I am suspicious Moo takes this time to walk around and on top of Whiskey’s crate to tease her)
12:30-3:30 Dog walker comes and takes her for 3 hours, 1.5-2 hours off leash hiking in the forest with 5 other dogs, the rest 1-1.5 hours is transit time.
getting ready to be released into the forest
out for her daily hike while I work
3:30-6:30 Free roam of entire apartment (she usually sleeps)
This. While I work!
6:30-7:30 Evening walk in a park, off leash
7:30 Dinner!!!!
7:30-8:30 bother mom and dad for attention, food, and playing
8:30-11 nap
11pm- last pee outside
11:30-12am evening cuddle time, then Whiskey usually crates herself
12am-7:20am crate for the night
Crate- Whiskey has never been destructive (in a year she’s only shredded my sheepskin slippers) and she doesn’t “need” a crate, nor does she like hers much. She never goes into her crate unless it’s a scheduled “crate time”, otherwise she is on her pita bed or our bed. I believe the crate is a good habit to keep up though, and it’s also nice to have a peaceful sleep.
On the weekends we will do longer walks, usually in a forest or mountain, sometimes on-leash in the city with some off leash sections. About once a month we will do a larger adventure if we aren’t working too much.
I’ve been wanting to do this hike for years now and have been finding multiple excuses not to (the distance drive from Vancouver, the crowds, the rain). Finally, I got lucky with a break in the rainy weather and a free day with nothing planned. We woke up rather early as our sun sets now at 4:30 and drove the 3 hours up to the start of the hike (including a coffee stop). There were already cars up and down the stretch of highway that led to the parking lot, but the parking lot wasn’t full of cars because instead it was full of snow! We parked right next to the trail and Whiskey jumped out super excited about the white stuff, amusing all the day hikers while we got geared up.
the parking lot and start
kisses on the way to the camp ground
The first lake is a tiny walk from the parking lot, but even then I would suggest well soled boots if there is snow. Assuming you are planing on the hike past the first lake, I would highly recommend crampons because although the trail is very packed, it’s extremely slippery and you will spend most of the time back on your butt if you don’t have spikes. Although my sweet Vizsla was initially excited about snow and was fine while moving on the trails, she did get chilly if we stood still too long (like while waiting for a drone flight).
first lake
just really beautiful everywhere
the trail is very easy to follow
catching snowballs (sort of)
I really couldn’t believe how fast winter had hit here and everywhere I looked I was smiling at a winter wonderland. We took the drone for a couple spins but otherwise hiked up to the 3rd lake in a much faster pace than websites have you think. Because of the weather and season, the hike was less populated than normal but on weekends I hear it is a line-up and you must get here very early to find a camp spot. In the winter or shoulder season though, you may still find some moments to yourself and we were so happy we came despite the long drive time.
I’ve been working overtime so it’s been hard getting out, taking photos, and writing. We are so fortunate to have a good group of V lovers in Vancouver and we met again despite the threat (and eventuality) of a downpour. This time we headed over to Richmond’s Mcdonald Beach Dog Park. I love that we always go somewhere different and I’m pretty sure the dogs appreciate it too. What follows is lots of barking, some collisions, fast chases, and the owners just trying not to get too much in the way. We’ve had some puppies grow up and some new ones join us. I can’t imagine a better morning activity and if are in the area next time (V lover or owner) just join us!
This post is a long time coming as I’ve been working on a sweater for Whiskey for a couple months now in between other projects. I’ve started knitting a year ago and mostly use Youtube to learn as well as Raverly for patterns. When I first started, I noticed someone had posted a pattern for a dog sweater with a Vizsla modelling it so of course I needed to make it! We live in Canada, it can pretty chilly in the winter, and Whiskey is a bit skinny (no matter how much she eats) so it’s great to have a nice warm merino to throw on.
Good for male or female
This was my first experiment into joining parts together and picking up stitches for a sleeve. The only other things I’ve made before are lots of hats, scarves, snoods, and blankets. This was so much fun and much quicker than a human sweater.
She’s so warm in it!
The pattern isn’t highly detailed but for $2.00 it was very helpful for a starting place. I choose two skeins of superwash merino wool from TOSH VINTAGE (Laurel and Jade) but needed to buy a third skein for the arm sleeves (not needed but I just wanted a nicer finish). For a more interesting knit, I started some cabling down the spine of the sweater as well as a gradient from dark to light green. Also, I knitted the neck in the round rather than flat since I thought it would make the joining easier and cleaner. I finished the bottom with ribbing and added more ribbing on the “sleeves”. I had to adjust the arm holes a couple times to find the right fit for Whiskey.
Starting out I worked the neck in the round
splitting off into flat after the neck
So much fun changing into the second color
showing the split
In all, it was an easy knit, and now that I know her size, I can make the next one much quicker. Whiskey tolerates “clothing” quite well for a dog but I would make sure your pup is ok with sweaters before starting out. I would also suggest to knit in the round so you can constantly try the project on the dog as you go so there are no surprises. I think for the next one, I’ll extend the length of the inner belly section, make that section a bit more narrow, and maybe make the whole thing a bit longer.
