Happy Vizslas In Their New Homes

[Cody]   [Kansas]

Success Stories

by John Morris

CVVC Rescue has been involved in placing many dogs, most of which have worked out very well. These dogs have come from shelters where they were threatened with euthanasia, as well as homes, that for some reason, haven’t worked. I thought I would share a few of their stories with you.

“Lazslo, a dog that came from a shelter, was adopted by a family in CT who did not know about Vizslas, but liked his looks. Because he did not work out with his first family, his owner gave him to a co-worker. He had been there for a year or so, when the family, through Diane Dodge, got in touch with the CVVC Vizsla rescue program. We then placed him in a home in RI, where he was finally loved and understood. He did very will with his new family, but , this story ends on an unhappy note. He developed some strange illness and had to be euthanized. The last year-and-a-half of his life, however, was spent in a good situation.

Inga was bought in a pet shop in NJ, but her new family could not deal with her high activity level and general personality. Fortunately, they went back to the pet shop owner, who had the names of most breed rescue people. He gave the family my name, and they contacted me. Elise Wright assisted by visiting and assessing the dog’s suitability for placement and eventually driving the dog up to CT to Dee Chuisano’s. Dee kept her until we could set up a visit from perspective owners. She was adopted and is doing reasonably well with her new family in MA. Inga was a lucky dog, who could have faced a sad ending, if not for the care shown by the pet shop owner and Elise and Dee. She is a perfect example of vizsla lovers working together for the benefit of dogs in need, which probably saved her life.

Sweetie was a dog owned by a family in MA, who decided that they had too many dogs and needed to reduce the number. She was given to the first owner’s sister, who wanted to keep her, but was forced to contact me, since she had one young child and another on the way. Sweetie was an extremely active and totally untrained dog, but very nice once she got to know you. She was placed with a family in Milford, where she lived for a year or so, until her lack of training came back to haunt her, and the family called me to place her once again. Fortunately, Mary K. Chelton from Long Island was looking for another dog through National Rescue, so I contacted her to see if Sweetie might do. Mary K. went to visit her and ended up taking her. She is now doing extremely well at Mary K.’s, and has gotten into agility and some sort of obedience work as well. Mary K. and Sweetie have found each other, and turned this into a success story.

Milo was found in a pound near Saratoga, N.Y. In a story similar to Inga’s, Jennifer True, who has vizslas of her own, found out that there was a vizsla about to be euthanized in a pound near her home. She contacted me, went to the pound to evaluate him, and then took him to her house and kept him for quite some time to see if he would be a viable candidate for rescue. She did determine that Milo would be a good candidate, and he was subsequently placed with a family in Stamford, where he is doing extremely well. It was touch and go for a while, as this placement changed their lives, since they now had to think about a new member of the family who came with some behavior issues. It has turned out to be a wonderful placement for Milo, one that could not have happened without Jennifer going out on a limb to have the dog join her and her own vizsla until we could place him. Milo owes his life to her and to his new family. I am glad CVVC could also play a part in saving this dog’s life.

Cooper, (shown blowing in my Cruiser’s ear,) has a very interesting story. He came from Colorado, moving to CT along with his family. He is probably one of the nicest dogs, personality-wise, to come into rescue—but he did have some big issues. He was deathly afraid of thunderstorms, the noise of the wind, and beeping sounds of any sort. He would whip himself into frenzy if no one was home when any of these things happened. In his quest to get away from the noises, he would scratch at things until he bled, and would destroy his owners’ home in the process. It sounded like a hopeless case, but after visiting the family, I decided that part of his problem was a lack of understanding on the part of the owner. They did not know how to deal with his problems and tended to push him away during his times of stress instead of giving him extra love and attention. Fortunately for all concerned, a retired family from western MA called looking for a dog. They had previously owned vizslas and used to be very active in the central New England club. They were willing to take a chance on Cooper despite his problems. They have a lot of woodland and a place to train for hunting that we would all envy. At any rate, they took him, and so far, it appears that Cooper is all set. He still has issues, but they work around them, and the dog has improved greatly in his behaviors. Placing a dog like this is really a thrill for me, because he was heading for euthanasia—and what a shame that would have been!

Richochet, whose name was changed by his new owners because of his very puppy behavior (remember those brain cramps???) was bought from a pet shop because of his handsome looks. What the original owners couldn’t handle was the activity level of the young male vizsla. When it became a case of the dog or the husband, the wife reluctantly called V rescue. At the same time, a family in Weston contacted me to request a dog—they had a lab and wanted a playmate for him. What we discovered when we brought the rescue to their house, was that they also had lots of fenced-in yard, a beautiful pool, and three young children who couldn’t wait for their new puppy to arrive. Although the parents were out of town when Richochet became available, the babysitting grandmother was just as eager to accept a new member of the family. After watching him romp in the yard with his new playmates, we left him sleeping on a cushion in the TV room, nestled up against the children.

There are several other stories with happy endings that I could tell, but these were a few of the more touching ones. As you can see, rescue is sometimes a difficult job, requiring the ability to take dogs from unpleasant and/or dangerous situations quickly, evaluate and foster them, move them from place to place, and have suitable homes waiting. Our vizslas ask very little in return for all the pleasures they give to us. I think we owe it to our breed to be willing to put ourselves out a little for the wayward dog.

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