ADOPTED!!! Home Sweet Home: Rusty & Papi's GREAT New Beginning!

Stacey, Rusty, and Papi

A little over a week ago, Rusty and Papi left us for their forever home with Stacey Leigh and Kelly Long of Sacramento.  I was holding off posting this update until I was sure the placement would work, and I can happily report that things are working out great with the adoption.  Stacey and Kelly are experienced vizsla owners who recently lost their second of a pair of vizslas and are wonderful, very active people.   I want to thank Stacey and Kelly for opening their home to Rusty and Papi - I doubt that I could have found a better home for these two special boys.  I am extra happy to place them nearby so we can stay in touch and hopefully see them on hikes.

Kelly, Papi, and Rusty

I also want to thank all the wonderful people who donated so generously to help make this rescue happen.  Without the support of folks who donated to the UCaring account set up for Rusty and Papi, we would not have been able to transport these pups and their gear from Ramona, begin training them, and it would have been much harder to keep them during the 2 weeks that we fostered them.  Although the vet reported that their health was excellent, Rusty and Papi do need a good teeth cleaning, so the remaining funds from the account after our expenses were donated to their new owners to help with this expense.  Thank you again everyone for your support and positive thinking to make this happy ending come true!!!  We fell in love with these two wonderful creatures and are so happy that we could find them the great forever home that they deserve.  A few more pictures below showing why we wanted to give these two a chance to find a home together!  :-)

We Love Our New Bowser Beds (Rusty's grin says it all, "Bowser Bed - Yes!  I have arrived!")

But Bowser Beds are Best When You Can Be With Your Brother!!!!

Adopted: Two Wirehaired Vizsla Boys for Adoption: Rusty and Papi

Rusty and Papi (for Paprika) are two wire-haired vizslas that I am fostering in Sacramento on behalf of the Wirehaired Vizsla Club of America (WHVA). You can learn about the this cool breed at:  http://www.whvca.us/History.html (scroll down the page for info and you can also explore the breed personality on the site).  In a nutshell, they lived in Ramona (down south near San Diego), but their owner was losing her ranch and having health problems.  They are littermates, 6 years of age, and similar in size - both between 55 - 65 lbs. We traveled down to pick them up over the weekend of 2/22 and drove home with them on monday 2/24 (the first post on this blog has a link to a pdf post of the longer story of our journey to pick up the boys).

They lack some training having lived outside in a pen, with only romps outside on the ranch when their owner was home.  In spite of this, in the few days that I have had them, I have found them to be very trainable (fortunately treat-motivated!).   Although not tehnically potty trained, they only did a #1 the first two nights we had them - I suspect this may have been because they drank a lot after being stressed out from the 13 hour drive north from Ramona we had on Monday.  On the third night there were no accidents.  Although never trained on leash, they are now walking well with the Freedom Harnesses I purchased for them.  We are working on teaching them that the car leads to fun places, as they still are a bit stressed getting into a car (again, no exposure off the ranch really).  They have incredibly sweet, calm, and sensitive personalities, common traits of the breed.  They will require some daily exercise and crave being near their people - traits of all vizslas.  I will begin working on crate training over the weekend.  They are good with other dogs (I have two smooth coat male vizlas that they are doing well with - and this is saying something with 4 males in a small house).  They have been gentle with children in the past.  Rusty chases our cats, but he could probably grow out of that with time as our rescue vizsla was the same.  Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in these two.  Because they are very bonded, we would like to place them together.  You will need to be patient and gentle to succeed with these special sensitive boys.  Even though they will take some work in terms of training, you will be paid back by the affection and devotion that they willingly share with pretty much anyone they trust.  Potential adopters would need to fill out an application with WHVA, pass a home evaluation, and pay a small re-homing fee.  Please don't be put off if you are interested by live elsewhere in the U.S.  We likely have some funds for transport for someone who would be definitely willing to give these boys a great home.

More pictures and further information below:

This photo captures Rusty's essence:   laid-back, tail up and cruising, He’s just a tad taller than his brother leaner, and very affectionate.  He is a bit less sensitive than his brother and faster to explore.  We saw at the dog park that he is the more playful of the two - jumping on and initiating his brother (all in fun - they had fun wrestling like our boys do) He is just an absolute gem and wants to make sure you are close and get lots of cuddles!

Papi - he's a sturdy guy – not overweight, just much stockier than his brother..  At first he is the shier of the two dogs, and will take longer to suss you out.    He is the more serious of the two, but is very sweet and soulful - he wants to lean into you, cuddle, and get love. With other dogs, he is mellow, but a bit of a general (the kind of dog that will wade in and settle things he doesn't like - like my two silly boys playing rough).and will stick up for himself.  He's the more sensitive of the two and will go back into his igloo if he is scared, although his previous owner said that he was the more assertive of the two - so he might just be stressed right now.  Both boys are absolutely endearing and are bonding with us more daily - more willing to greet us and cuddle (vizslas in general are just very cuddly - our boys sleep with us and are right next to us whenever on the couch).

Snooze Session with Igloo in our Kitchen in Sacramento – Rusty is in the igloo and Papi claimed the throne of dog beds.

We like treats!  Yes that's me bribing Rusty and Papi, who are very bribable!  My little Rudi says he will also sit for a treat!

Papi has decided that bullysticks are a-okay!

Rusty taking a nap after his first hour long walk in our neighborhood.

Nom - noms!!!!

Rusty and Papi - the Two Wire-haired Vizslas that I am fostering in Sacramento, CA

Hi!  I'm keeping this blog to aid in the adoption of two wire-haired vizslas that I am fostering - sorry the text is so small on this post - I wrote out the complete story of our Rusty and Papi (the wire-haired vizslas from Ramona, CA) rescue expedition with a little of their history. I wrote it in word, but then saved as PDF and couldn't figure out how to upload here, so uploaded as jpg.  It is also available for download from  a free pdf hosting site (click on Download link: Rusty and Papi Rescue Story in blue ...it won't download anything to your computer, but you can save the story from the link if you like). Feel free to share all are part of this anywhere you would like! We need to get these boys the great home they deserve! Enjoy - sorry for the verbosity, but there are pictures too :-) :http://www.thepdfportal.com/b004d7c8-ba6e-4459-86f2-e42a10b456b0_169773.pdf