The latest addition

As the youngest pointer, Pontus, in my little pack turned 6 years old, I suddenly realised that I was getting a bit late in adding a new puppy. Pontus is a big, strong dog in his prime and he can comfortably do a day on the grouse on his own this coming season as long as I don’t do too many days back to back, but I really do need to bring another dog on.

Pontus, bless him, is not the brightest kid and he is a little bit noisy, so he will not be breeding material and I also fancied getting a Vizsla again, so I set out finding a Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla puppy.

Smeagol was picked up from the breeder at the end of April. I had asked specifically for the shortest, tightest coat in the litter as I just can’t tolerate the long, fine coat the some HWVs have. Heather and debris get stuck in the coat and some even have very little undercoat to keep them warm.

Smeagol has the perfect coat and we made the long journey from Scotland to the south of England to pick her up.

The main event is of course always meeting the older dogs. Smeagol has found it very difficult to charm her way to Pontus’ and Gollum’s hearts. They absolutely found her an unwelcome interruption to their lives in the beginning. Pontus’ nose is still put out as HE considered himself to be THE PUPPY!!!! He is such a baby and is not impressed with her.

But Gollum’s heart soon melted and despite his cancer and 12 years of age, he now plays with Smeagol for hours every day.

Puppy in the house is always slightly overwhelming, but being at home a lot of the time does help when it comes to the house training and entertaining of puppy. There are the usual dangers like puppy unravelling knitting yarn……  swallowing a long string of this, as puppies could, may end up with a dead puppy or a terrible operation.

She settled in quickly and immediately took to the wonderful Tuffies nest with the full cover. There is still a bit of growing to do, but there was no doubt from day one that she felt at home in the luxury dog beds with all their comfort.

The Tuffie nests also function very well as a toy box. She tends to choose her toys, such as a garden glove, a bit of kindling, my slippers, empty plastic bottles and the favourite: the hand brush!!! This particular brush has seen a few puppies and it is an absolute favourite.

And what is it with pups and foot ware? All my dogs love to sleep with my slippers. Sometimes with their nose buried in it. And here is Smeagol with her favourite boot….

Of course the outdoors is the new thing and I have decided to do all my training outside with this puppy. At the moment it is simple recall and sit, but I always fall in to the trap of training indoors in the beginning only to start all over again when the exciting outdoors are distracting the young dog.

I took her out in the heather straight away and she stalked the tea bag I had taken out of my tea cup. She looked the piece….

One of Smeagol’s great friends in a Border Terrier, Freddie, who is not too keen on water, but we got them both in to a little stream and Smeagol is showing no reluctance with water. She has not been swimming yet, but I don’t think it will take long.

As we get more out and about, she will be exposed to everything that she will see in adult life. We had a weekend on the west coast and she took the whole situation in her stride. Rubber dinghy, the sea, the boat and even the trip to the pub. She is a cool dog and it is easy to let her see everything as she is so happy.

Every dog’s dream: The Tuffies nest with full cover.