Pepper and Jax

A lady I work with has a deaf Border Collie who is beautifully trained. He's on his way to a tracking title. She has another BC, and that helps her with the recall issue... When Rosie responds to a recall, Geordie does too. Lots of time and patience has gone into his training though, and on many occasions my colleague has had to try unusual methods with Geordie to get the results she wants. If you ever need some support or ideas, PM me and I can put you on to my friend (who also volunteers as an obedience instructor).

Remove the three kids in the car on the way to the vet and you've just described a scenario at our house a couple of months back. Pepper's leg bled so much (and she didn't seem to notice the injury, so she was zooming around the house a bit before we managed to slow her down)... the house looked like an episode of CSI. All healed well, which surprised the vets a bit. Not easy to keep a GSP quiet, but we didn't have too much trouble and I hope it's just as easy for you with your girl. We found that the broken window was the old type of glass, not the safety glass they have to use now. The window is out of bounds... we've been able to call Pepper away from it ever since without too much effort, thankfully. Moving to a new house with a cat run and a different window set up, so it's a great relief to know that it's not likely to happen again!

I had no idea how much cat and dog hair was in the bed until we bought a new set of white sheets. I always knew it was a risk (the white sheets), but I don't think I realised how big a risk. Both the dog and cat have white and black (or brown) fur. Whatever colour we went for, they'd just roll over and leave obvious hairs. But blue/ grey certainly don't show it as much!

Of course, that's what I said!

I've finally got around to ordering! Nothing like a promotion to give me a little push with my shopping wish list. Pepper's getting a red & silver asteroid belt. You know the next thing will be compulsory photos of DOLers dogs + bling...

DOL dogs are absolutely going to be the best dressed... and I've really got to get around to ordering... Congratulations Ruth!

We have a bagless Hoover... not sure what model. We chose it over the equivalent Dyson because you can really pull it apart to get the stuff out (and rinse it off), where the Dysons you couldn't actually remove the full cylinder. Also it got stuff out of the carpet that the demo Dyson missed. Maybe we were had by a sales person - I'm happy to be wrong on that point. It's been excellent for everything. Only con as far as I can tell is that the power head is quite heavy, so not always easy to manouver.

My GSP has been called a chocolate Dalmatian or a Dalmation cross on numerous occasions... Not that it excuses it, but she's liver ticked, not roan like Shimmer, gspx3! (Never mind the huge solid colour across her shoulder, or the GSP conformation and gait)... I'm commonly told that she's obviously a cross breed, and I've been duped.

I emailed plenty of breeders of various breeds, and spoke to a few on the phone too. With the emails, I received some lovely informative responses, some more brief responses, and in some cases no response at all. I remember some of the phone calls were a bit awkward and in some cases I pushed buttons that sent a couple of breeders onto their soap box - e.g. by querying their views on tail docking (this was a few years ago). But other calls were great. I'm still in contact with Pepper's breeder, though she's not breeding GSPs anymore. She has been generally supportive, interested to hear how we're going, and very proud of how gorgeous Pepper looks now that she's all grown up. Knowing what I know now, I might have chosen a different breeder, but not due to personality or willingness to assist, more about long term commitment to the breed and show experience.

Pepper gets called Peppy, sausage, snossi and bitch.

I don't see any harm in being curious about what breeds could be mixed? It's not the OP's dog, and he's come from a shelter with the owners fully aware he's a crossbreed. I don't see the point in throwing out the education rant in this case. To the OP - my breed knowledge is terrible, so nothing to add except he's gorgeous!

Pepper loves carrots too, but she'll eat beans, broccoli, potato quite happily. I love apples a bit too much to share with her, though she's always been interested. Perhaps I'm a mean Mummy. I recall reading that apple seeds are toxic for dogs, so you shouldn't give them the whole apple (or the core). Is someone in the know able to confirm whether this is correct?

If you're really keen to meet a GSP, send me a PM. Happy to introduce you to Pepper.

We have two cats. Pepper (GSP) is very interested in both of them, but in a playful way. We need to keep an eye on them for the protection of everyone (including Pepper!). One of the cats won't have a bar of Pepper. The other teases her. Both have run from her, and that's extremely exciting for Pepper... she hasn't hurt either of them when she's caught up to them (beyond barreling into them), but we still try to avoid the chase situations as much as possible. I have heard of GSPs who have killed a neighbour's cat. But I think that if a pup is brought up with cat/s, especially a sensible cat who has lived with dogs before, you're not likely to have problems.

From what I've read, Vizlas are the velcro dog, where as GSPs are not quite so smoochie. Pepper's a lovely, high energy, fun GSP with a major enthusiasm for life. I suspect both GSPs and Vizlas are similar in that respect. I'm sure FHRP can give you a much better description of the differences, but I think you're choosing between two stunning breeds and whatever you end up with, you and your Mum will be very happy.