Dog Days

What’s a poor vizsla to do?

We’re outdoor dogs, and this mid-summer is a miserable time of year. Hunting season is over and won’t start until fall. We try to train, Pops and I. Once a week or so we work out on live birds with some other dogs, and I get to run off-leash. But mostly I sit in the shade because the trainers work on one dog at a time. The rest of the week Pop stays indoors because, he says, “It’s too hot to go out.”

Now I wouldn’t know this firsthand, but I’ve heard that my ancestors used to hunt all day long, even in heat like this. The Great Hungarian Plain, where we come from, gets as hot as this in summer—90 to 105. That’s what it is here now. We vizslas have thin, short-haired coats. I guess my ancestors simply got acclimatized to it. But I’m acclimatized to air-conditioning.  

So I put on weight, and my muscles get flabby. And sometimes I just go stir-crazy and run top speed around the house to burn up energy. When that happens Pops better get out of my way.

When fall comes I’ll have to work hard to get back in shape. Can’t wait!