HD-A! It is official!

Vojak is free of hip dysplasia. He got the diagnosis HD-A on both hips. Me and Halldor went to the clinic today, and we picked up the official papers from the professor.

We are really happy about the good news; this means we can do everything we've dreamed of doing with Vojak. There will be agility, trekking, jogging, frisbee-playing and possible breeding waiting for him in his years to come! If he only knew all the fun he's going to have!

Here's a picture of his hips. It's not easy to see anything now that it's not on a proper screen. But at least you'll know now you're looking at perfection!

A vetty Christmas month

It's been a while. Again. But that only means there's more to tell.
We've had a busy autumn, with exams and tests piling up, but we've had time for some wonderful outdoor experiences too. The first snow has fallen, and it seems to be staying for a while. I've never seen a happier dog than Vojak on the first day after snowfall! It seems he has missed it, since his first puppy months in Kosice were all about playing around in the cold, white powder covering his world. He can just walk around in the snow, scoping it up with his mouth and enjoying for once to be able to eat his daily water intake instead of just drinking it like any regular dog. But snow makes our little boy happy, and that's what it's all about.













During this autumn, Vojak's had some intestinal troubles. He's been on different cures to deal with an intermittent diarrhea, but after being on expensive pharmacy feeds for a month, we have now put him on Royal Canine Maxi sensible, which seems to be working perfectly! No runny or pasteous feces what so ever. Hooray! The only drawback is that he should have been on the puppy feed for a couple of more months. But from what I've learned from my Nutrition and Dietetics teacher, I can't see what nutrients he'd be missing out on. And a diarrhea free dog on adult food is obviously a whole lot better than a dog with a semi-upset intestine on puppy food!













Apart from this feed-victory, we've recently gotten his hips X-rayed for hip dysplasia. We've only done it as a precaution, and for two main reasons; that we may want to breed on him when he gets old enough, and that we are planning to sign up to train agility after Christmas.
My radiology teacher let me assist in the X-ray procedure, but I still have to find him to know the results, because the proper HD diagnosis can only be made after several measurements and calculations based on the angle of the head of the femur toward the acetabulum (socket) of the hip joint. The radiologist will fill out the official papers for us, and then we'll know for sure the state of his hip joints. I got a sneak peak at the X-rays before they went into the file for the diagnostic procedure, and to my still untrained eye it looked quite good.

We will post the results when we receive them from the veterinary clinic.






















During the X-ray procedure, we discovered that Vojak does not respond to sedatives according to book standards. He got only half a dose of the sedative, and it didn't seem to work, so we just started the procedure with him half-awake. It worked out well enough, he was awake during the whole thing but didn't mind much. But a good 40 minutes after the shot, when the procedure was finished and we lifted him off the table, he sunk together like a pudding. And he stayed that way for most of the day. We were a bit worried, so we made sure to stay with him the whole time. He vomited a couple of times and looked quite shabby, but when we all woke the next morning he was his old self again - and really hungry after only being offered rice the night before!

Vojak learns to fly

This video is from this weekend, when we for the first time got Vojak to jump up into our arms! The first time, I just tried to get my arms around him once he was jumping to reach the tennis ball we were playing with. But he learns really quickly - once we'd done it a few times with the ball as a treat, he now does it with just the command. And it looks amazingly cool! His tunnel move has also (not intentionally though) been captured in this film.

Summer highlights

We spent two wonderful months of summer holidays in Norway, and just got back to Slovakia
and daily student (and dog) life.
Vojak got himself a herd of fans back in Norway, waiting to see him next summer, or even this Christmas if possible. My family's German shepherd bitch fell hard in love with him, and went looking for him around the house when he was gone.
Anyway, these are Vojak's and our summer highlights:

1. Flying from Budapest to Norway
- went very well! No barking, no whining, just happy to get out of the cage after the flight.

We spent two wonderful months of summer holidays in Norway, and just got back to Slovakia and daily student (and dog) life. Vojak loved Norway, and he managed the flight both there and back again so well that he's sure to come with us time and time again! And he got himself a herd of fans back in Norway, waiting to see him next summer, or even this Christmas if possible. My family's german shepherd bitch fell hard in love with him, and went looking for him around the house when he was gone 2. Elisabeth and Halldor got married
















- not a particularly big day for Vojak, but such a big day for us that it has to be mentioned!

3. Learned to swim, or more correctly; learned to love it!













- Bringing back sticks from the water is the favorite past time of my parents dog, and Vojak could not see himself beaten by a girl, and therefore had to splash into the lake with her!

4. Went to Førde on holiday











- had a great weekend, where Vojak got to use his new swimming skills in the sea. He met a lot of live fish and encountered his first crabs. Scary, but hard to resist!

5. Excelled in his first dog show

















- during our weekend in Førde, we spent one day in Karmøy where we'd signed the little one up for a puppy show. He was judged by danish judge Kitty Sjong, and won titles BOB (best of breed) puppy, and came in 2nd BIG (best in group). We got a little critique from the judge for not having the appropriate leash and stuff, but she was obviously charmed anyway. And we promised to get it for next time... We might have done a couple of wrongs, but Vojak was brilliant; we're very proud of him!

6. Spent time with friends and family



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- met a lot of old favourites for the second time, and made many new friends during the course of the holidays.

7. Became familiar with sitting in the trunk of a car
- had some problems with this in the beginning, but after many repetitions he has now learned that driving equals adventure, and is happy to jump in whenever the trunk door's being opened! Which is good, because our little family just scraped together enough money to buy a car this autumn. A white Skoda Fabia combi, with lots of space in the back for Vojak.

8. Went back to Slovakia, only to get bitten by a wild boar on the first day back!
- Obviously, our usual walking terrain had not been used during the summer, because Vojak had the most crazy experience his first day back.
It could have gone really wrong when he suddenly got crazy about a new smell and ran into some bushes just beside the road. Two seconds later, there was the obvious stink of male pig, and Vojak whimpered.

Instincts took over fast, and me and Halldor ran toward the bushes, screaming our throats hoarse to scare the pig off. And we were lucky. Vojak was soon visible again; he'd gotten away with a few scratches and a bitten thigh. He limped markedly and we found some wounds that didn't look very nice. But the vet, who luckily lives next door to us, gave him strong antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, and a week later he was fine, the limping all gone and his curiosity back on track.
No need to say, we're keeping a close watch on him now, whenever an exciting smell gets him high. And for Gods sake, keep your dog out of the bushes!

I think that's all the notable stuff that happened this summer. Now were back in school, Vojak's met his dog friends again. Of course, his best friend Belle is sorely missed.. But we hope she's doing great things in Israel, keeping Lihi company in her new life as a vet!

Summer getting closer

It's the exam period. That's my excuse both for not writing anything for a while, and for actually writing something now!
Vojak has grown a lot, and is currently discovering the wonderful world of puberty. Which means that if he's not either horny, overexcited or just stubborn - he's probably asleep! Actually, to be honest, he's not that bad. He just started to absolutely love the smell of female dogs in their heat, and he is trying to push the limits a bit to see what we'll allow him to do... Yesterday as I came home from uni, I found him chilling out on the sofa with a pack of dog snacks that he'd teared apart. That's what I call a teenager!

Kosice has been attacked by bad weather the last weeks. We've had beautiful summer mornings that have turned into an inferno of rain and thunder by mid day, and I've lost count on how many times we've been woken up during the night by thunder shrells.
Vojak loves being out in the rain, and we have the forest nearby, we've been up there a lot training him to search for and scare up pheasants. Of course, we don't hunt or anything, so it's just because we like to explore the wildlife, and pheasants are such grand birds!

I said before that I'd like to see him swim before summer, but the river is still so flooded and the current so strong that I'm glad he's not jumping in when we go to the park. We want his first real swim to be as pleasant as possible, so that he'll be encouraged to do it again and again...

This week we're taking the antibody titer test to see if he's developed enough antibodies agains rabies virus to be able to come with me to Norway when I leave in a couple of weeks. Probably all will go well, but we had a problem with Liska who never developed any antibodies, and somewhere inside I'm scared it's going to repeat itself with Vojak. So everybody; fingers crossed tomorrow!!

BbZZzzzzzzz.....

That sound is all it takes these days for Vojak to go completely berserk! He was bit by a bumblebee one of the first days of spring, and it must have made a serious impression on our baby boy, who before that had never even seen a fly before. If you want to disturb his concentration, the bumblebee sound is all it takes. That is what happens, I guess, if you're born and raised during winter season. The spring with all it's life can be pretty scary!

But not everything about the spring scares the little one. There have been such waterfall here lately, that the normally shallow river was flooding when we went to the park today. Vojak usually always jumps into the water to play and cool off after a walk, and so he splashed out in it today. Only he didn't take the high water into account, and he looked quite surprised when he had to swim a few strokes to get back on land! I would have thought that would keep him far away from the river for the rest of the walk, but no...he was very eager to get back in, and very curious as to what these currents in the water were. The currents were harsh today, so I didn't let him get in a second time, but I'm looking forward to going swimming with him when the water is calmer.

Me and Halldor have recently been trying to get Vojak to open doors in the flat. Currently it's not going that well, and seeing the flat the other day when we'd been gone a couple of hours I'm thinking that might be a good thing. Vojak has gotten so big that when he stands on his back legs he can reach a lot of forbidden things in the shelves of our living room. Napkins, blankets, wedding invites and books are no longer safe, and today while cleaning I made sure to put the most important things one shelf up to protect them from the little monster. We'll see how long it lasts...

Vojak tracking Kristin

Here is a video of Vojak searching for Halldor's sister, Kristin, who hid in the bushes.
Kari and Kristin stayed here for four days, and there are some really cute pictures from their time here with us and Vojak in the "Pictures" site.

Puppies...they grow up so fast...

Me and Vojak just came home from a couple of hours in the park and at school. Vojak got on the weight again down at the clinic, and this time it stopped at 14.4 kilos. He's becoming a big boy, and all too fast!
In the park he had his first close encounter with the river. I went in as far as my wellies allowed me, and after first looking at me for a while, his eyes clearly saying: "I knew it. Mum's finally gone crazy!", he came running after to see what was going on. He loved it, and went mad after - just ran around and jumped in the air!

A couple of weeks ago we had my mother and two sisters visiting. We had a wonderful time, and Vojak grew very fond of his grandma and his aunties Karen Kristine and Maria! He did not have one boring second while they were in the house, and since he's not really used to getting mine and Halldor's full attention at all times, he actually slept longer than we did in the mornings. How great is that!?
Unfortunately, they didn't stay more than a short week, and I think Vojak really felt that they left a hole when they went back to Norway.

Vojak has lost some teeth, and gained some new ones since I last wrote, and I find it really fascinating to try and get a hold of those he loses to investigate how they look. He hasn't lost his canines yet, and they are small, so he looks really cute with his new, big incisors!I collect the teeth I find or help out of his mouth in a small cup, and I think I collected 6 out of 12, which I think is fairly good work, seeing as I never found a single one of Liska's teeth when she was a baby...
He also got up one pair of molars in his upper jaw, and one in the lower. They are massive! He really looks like a carnivore with those, I'll tell you that.

It's easy to see him developing these days, it all goes so fast. What I like the most is the way he understands more every day. He's good at remembering names - his favourite ones except mine and Halldor's being Belle and Chucha, his best friends in the dog world. Whenever I say one of their names, he runs for the door totally alert and ready to go play!He's also interested in all else that moves around him, and he can sit on the balcony for as long as it takes me to hang out the laundry and just watch people in the street, or birds singing in the trees outside. Totally enchanted.
The biggest problem with training him right now is his eagerness to go play with every dog we meet. We've been experimenting with super-treats and fun toys for every time he chooses to stay with us instead of running out to play, and it seems to be working according to plan. He is almost as crazy about food as he is about playing, and you can see how hard it sometimes is for him to decide, although in the end he somehow jumps to the right conclusion...well, most of the time anyway!

Dogs hate to be given baths, don't they?

At least, that's what experience raising 3 dogs have taught me. But with Vojak that's all turned upside down! He loves to be bathed. He loves attacking and drinking the water sprinkle from the shower, and he loves the warm water on his feet. And more than anything he loves the squeeky shoe he's only allowed to play with in the bathtub. It's amazing to have a puppy where the trouble is not getting him into the tub, but rather to pick him up and get him out of there again! Just watch him playing with Halldor as he's getting his bath a couple of weeks ago. It's a good thing he doesn't have anything against the tub, because he has to be in there quite a lot these days. The snow is half a meter deep outside and Vojak gets his stomach and thighs full of snowballs every time we are out playing. These, of course, have to be removed with a good spash of warm water after every round of playing outside...
Vojak got his rabies vaccine last week, and he'll be ready for Norway in July, which we're very happy about! We also got a general check-up at the clinic, and Vojak is a bundle of health. He weighs 10 kilos as of yesterday, and is gaining weight by the week. No wonder really, we never saw a dog so happy to see the food be put on the ground. He eats it up so fast it's like it was never there - and then he looks at us with those eyes, like saying: "Wasn't there more!?"
For now, we're giving him Royal Canin Maxi Babydog food, and although we've heard some criticism about their products lately, I have to say Vojak's doing wonderful on it. I don't know what to believe when it comes to pet food quality, everyone seems to have an opinion and I reckon the best thing to do is just feed them what you already do if they seem happy and healthy on it. At least that's a whole lot better than changing fodder every time there's a new number one in some review!

We've had a couple of days in Martin, where we used to live, so that Vojak could meet some of Liska's old buddies. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend a lot of time with everyone. Vojak got bitten by a Staffordshire puppy, a really cute girl with razor sharp teeth. It was unprovoced and quite scary, although he bled for just a moment and then ran on, happy as before. Mothers will be mothers, and I felt my heart in my throat as I registered what had happened. Luckily, Anniken was fast to take control of the situation, and it never got serious due to her reacting so quickly. We stayed with Anniken and Angel for two nights, and the two dogs got along really well. We're looking forward to play with them again next time, as well as we're looking forward to Vojak getting better aquainted with the rest of the Dog club dogs. I'm sure he'll be having a lot of fun with Pax, Kira and Ariel too in the future!

One month with Vojak

Lively, unafraid, mischievous, hungry, friendly, beautiful, playful and with razor sharp teeth - we have a new carnivore in the house!
Vojak has done wonders for us after he moved into our flat. Days seem lighter, moods are better, but...well, nights seem shorter, for some reason!?
Vojak is just a big ball of energy. He's already faster than we are, and he takes every obstacle around the house as a challenge. He'll be opening doors as soon as he's tall enough, and I'm sure he'll be able to open the cupbord door to where his food is in not very long now..
He really loves to eat, and in the morning when we've been out for the first pee and poop and me and Halldor really would like to stay in bed just one hour more, Vojak has no mercy on us. It's food time, and he's ready!
We've been busy with socializing him this past month, and he really has gotten a lot of friends both on four legs and on two. The children in the building are all very fond of him, and they often come to the garden whenever we're out to play, just to have a cuddle! And guess who loves the attention!? We've also worked on getting him used to different environments; he's been to vet school and charmed all my teachers, he's also been with us to the city, to the clinic, in the park, the forest, the hills, the noisy guard-dog neighbourhoods...you name it! And he's dealing well with all of it.
In a couple of days we'll be going to the clinic again to get him his rabies vaccine, which he can only get after the age of 3 months. I'm hoping he'll be as easy going then as he was for his last vaccine. If all goes as planned, we can take him to Norway in July - fingers crossed!

Memories - thank you, Liska

It's been a while, and that has it's reasons.
This autumn we learned that Liska had cancer, only 1 year and 8 months old! It was a great shock to us that such a healthy-looking and energetic dog could be that sick. It all started with some sneezing, which we consulted a veterinarian about. After a while, the sneezing was followed by swelling in the nasal region. We demanded that they took an x-ray, and it turned out she had something as odd as an ameloblastoma, a benign cancer in the oral cavity connected to the dental development.
Liska had surgery to remove the tumor, but only got worse. She died quietly the week after, and we asked for a pathology. It turned out the cancer in the mouth wasn't the only thing wrong in that small body of hers. She'd suffered from multiple tumors of multiple origins spread throughout most of her body. Her body was so totally worn out when she finally died, that it's almost unbelievable she could keep going as long as she did, looking so healthy and thriving to our eyes. She must have been fighting it so hard, for so long, while fooling us all with her joy for life and her unstoppable energy.

I think loosing Liska has been one of the most difficult times in my life, and it's still difficult to realize she's gone for good. Still, I'm glad the suffering she must have felt finally came to an end, and that she got to find peace while being held and cared for by the ones she loved, her "pack".

Dear Liska,
being my first dog, you've meant so much to me that it's impossible to really explain it. You've been the best friend in the world, and that's a bond nothing can break, not even something as consistent as death.
I like to picture you in dog heaven, looking down on us as you take a break from doing all those things you love - jumping high, running fast, chasing cats and catching balls!
Wherever you are, I'll never forget all those special moments and memories we had together the short time you got to spend down here. All the hours we spent together playing hide and seek in the fields, your crazy flights to get the frisbee before it touched ground, and exploring the world together every day.
You are the most special dog I've ever met - the most loyal and caring dog, and the most playful one too! Not one day went by that you didn't let me know how much I meant to you.
I remember picking you up in Zabovresky when you were only a baby - the wildest and most lovable baby puppy I'd ever seen. I remember how I was supposed to bring home one of your sisters, but instead ended up with you - because that was just how it was supposed to be. And not one moment have I regretted it. Even though our time together was much too short, there's no one else I'd rather spent it with!

I remember how you came to Slovak class with me in the beginning, because you were not happy being away from me too much.
And I remember how you later used to look for me and Halldor through the window of our flat, waiting for us to come back - or just checking if the coast was clear to do some mischief!?
When I think of you, I remember all those happy moments seeing you grow up to become that wonderful dog that everyone who got to know you, couldn't help falling in love with..
You didn't only mean the world to me, you also lightened up the days and lives of all your other friends who loved you, and who you loved back.

We just brought home a new, little baby. Vojak's from Zabovresky too, and I think you'd really like him. He's unlike you in so many ways, but on the inside he's the same material as you, and having him around keeps all those wonderful memories alive.

Thank you, Liska, for giving us all those wonderful moments and adventures to remember you by!