Back in 2001 we had our first Vizsla puppy, Remus (CH Shakin' My Booty Rezzamatazz CGC SH), at a dog park. To our great fortune, a woman active in conformation was at the same dog park with her lovely Vizsla. She welcomed us into the Vizsla World and asked if we had plans to show our puppy in conformation. We had no clue what language she was speaking in but were intrigued. We asked how we could learn more and she invited us to the handling class she took her girl to. From there we were hooked. Aaron decided he would like to show Remus in AKC conformation and try to get a championship title (CH) on him. Suffice it to say we were very green in this dog show world with no understanding of the bigger picture and no mentors to help. Had we gotten Remus from a reputable or responsible Vizsla breeder they would have filled the role as our mentor. But, we were pretty much two unknowns with a skinny little Vizsla and his unproven pedigree. Some eyed us warily but most welcomed us.

We have so many memories from those early days that seem like ages ago and we learned many lessons. We learned that there are a whole bunch of really nice people willing to help "newbies" like us. If it weren't for those kind souls our "Vizsla Story" may have been recorded as an entirely different history.

Truly against the odds (we were too naive back then to know about the odds!), Aaron showed Remus to his AKC conformation championship title. We entered the local dog shows but also traveled the circuit looking for majors. Each win felt so special as we learned as much as others were willing to teach us. We learned how to enter dog shows, what kind of bait Remus liked best, how much exercise he needed before showing, how to stack and "take him around the ring". We bought our first show lead and started putting our "show bag" together piece by piece.

Like our entry into the show world, our entry into the field world was much the same--stabs in the dark. Aaron decided he wanted to hunt upland birds with Remus since this is what the Vizsla was originally bred for. Having never trained a bird dog, we hit the pavement as we did with the show world, seeking out any help others were willing to offer. We bought books, magazines, and researched on the Internet. Back then, without a field mentor or a local Vizsla club to help, we plugged along making more mistakes than finding success with our incredible and very forgiving boy, Remus.

Because we were having so much fun with Remus, we decided to add another Vizsla puppy to our family but this time we understood about going to a reputable/responsible Vizsla breeder. We had met Judy Hetkowski of Boulder Vizslas at the local dog shows and through our research learned about her Foundation Stud Dog, Cassidy (BISS CH Rivercity's Quenton Cassidy MH ROM). He was our exact image of a Versatile Vizsla and we decided we wanted a "Cassidy kid". Judy put us in contact with Sarah Barr of Derby Vizslas who had just used Cassidy in a breeding. From that litter we brought home our very special and handsome boy, Kosmo (CH Derby's Read Em And Weep MH) in November of 2002. Kosmo had a lot to teach us but you can read more about that on his page. Sarah and Judy mentored us through our showing of Kosmo. Because Aaron was having so much fun in the ring with Remus, Mel decided she would make her debut into the show world with her "lil' baby" Kos. Lots of laughs came from watching that pair in the ring but they somehow managed to finish Kos' AKC conformation championship title in a short period of time (by the time Kos was barely 13 months old!) and with 3 majors.

Simultaneous to showing the boys, we were also field training them. Having made so many mistakes in our training with Remus, we made several more with Kosmo just to make sure we touched on every "what-NOT-to-do-when-training-your-bird-dog" scenario out there. But, the moral of the story here is that we were tenacious in our desire to learn. And, we did our best to keep our egos from interfering with our ability to learn from those with more experience. This is the part in our story when Lin Kozlowski and Jean Thomas of Everedi Vizslas take the stage as our first (but not our last) field mentors. Lin and Jean were so giving of their time, opened their home and hearts to us and the buds of a friendship developed.

The telling of the early days of our "Vizsla Story" wouldn't be complete if we didn't include our beautiful and feisty girl, Lola (Boulder's She Is A Showgirl JH). She came into our home in the fall of 2003 as a puppy and left us tragically in December of 2006. Tears still fall when we think of her and although she's no longer on this earth we know her spirit is everywhere we see beauty--a field holding pheasant, a rainbow after a crisp summer rainfall, a cool lake beckoning a Vizsla to come for a swim. Losing her was like losing a child (sorry if this offends those of you with human children). The story of her illness, battle to live and unfair death is told on her page. Her tribute is on her breeder's website, Judy and Edj of Boulder Vizslas, http://www.bouldervizslas.com/Lola/lola.htm.

And so, Aaron and I had our hands full with our three high-energy, talented Vizslas. Because of their natural talents we found ourselves almost completely immersed in "a dog's life!" Key in on the word, almost. Much as we love the training, off leash runs, and games we play with our Vizslas, we do try to involve ourselves in the occasional "non-dog" event. You can learn more about that on Aaron's and Mel's pages!