Irisz history                      

Irisz was born on 11 March 2002 on the west side of the Danube river in Budapest , Hungary .  Her parents were Csövárberki Csúzli and Vadállókövi Virág. It was her mother’s first litter and there were 7 puppies in it, all called with names starting with letter I. The mother, Vadállókövi Virág, was owned by Dr. Piroska Lévai, who runs the MÉNESVÖLGYI KENNEL. Irisz received her full name as Ménesvölgyi Vadasz Irisz. Irisz’s father, Csövárberki Csúzli, won the European Cup Field Trial for Hungarian Vizslas 5 months earlier and became Field Trial European Champion.

Irisz was growing happily with her brothers and sisters under the watchful eye of Pipacs until the time came to separate from her first family.

On the sunny morning of 4 May Kinga and I enter in Irisz life. She was already in a separate cage waiting for her unknown future. When she heard the noise of people entering she turned her head to see what was happening. Her joyful blue eyes saw Kinga for the first time. When I looked into those eyes within a second I knew I would love this dog forever.

Having asked Piroska some final questions on the same day we started Irisz’s first journey to Bielsko-Biała ( Poland ) were we live. We arrived late in the evening. Irisz entered her new home for the first time. In the entrance there is a big mirror. Irisz looked at it and she thought she saw another puppy. She went absolutely mad. Started to jump and bark and run around the table so fast that we couldn’t catch her. Kinga decided to take Irisz outside so she could run as much as she wanted. As soon as they exited the house Irisz saw that it was dark outside. She understood this was the time to sleep. She curled herself in the corner of the stairs and fell asleep immediately. Kinga came back with a puppy asleep in her arms.

Irisz was growing very nicely. She was learning the world and we were learning her. It was necessary to construct a ring for her in order to restrict her never-ending curiosity. After some weeks she learnt to sleep alone in the little plastic kennel she had inside her ring. In the morning when we would come down Irisz would wake up and greet us with incredible joy. For many weeks Kinga would get up half an hour earlier and go inside the ring to play with Irisz.

Irisz was an extremely HAPPY PUPPY. Friendly to all living creatures, animals and humans (maybe with exception of cats, who would run away from her for some reason). When she went to PUPPY OBEDIENCE CLASSES in a dog school “il Biancospino” in Italy (www.ilbiancospino.it) in September she was the most playful puppy. Even in the classroom she managed to involve a German Shepherd, Zelda, in a play.

Irisz grew bigger and bigger. Soon she started to discover the world outside the house we lived in. First it was the park across the street and then popular hiking paths in forests and mountains around Bielsko. But it was not until the spring next year that Irisz discovered THE FIELD. We started to prepare Irisz for the FIELD TRIAL that she had to pass if we wanted to BREED her in the future. We had to wait very long for the snow to go away to start training. Although as a result the training was very short Irisz passed the FIELD TRIAL successfully. And her PASSION FOR THE FIELD started.

In 2003 Irisz started to compete in DOG SHOWS. In a very short time she qualified for JUNIOR CHAMPION OF POLAND and later on for CHAMPION OF POLAND.

By the age of 2 year old Irisz was a fully MATURE BITCH. She became a great companion, both at home and for long walks that we all love. She became much more obedient than she was when she was a puppy. And her passion for the field was very evident.

When Irisz turned 3 years old we made a big decision – the first litter of MOJA VIZSLA KENNEL, which was registered with Polish Canine Association in April 2005, would be born this year (or at least this was our plan because execution was up to Irisz). The decision was also facilitated by the fact, that after a long search for appropriate candidate for the SIRE we found a really good one – BOGAR MERYBEN. Bogar was not only a beautiful MALE VIZSLA with excellent HUNTING SKILLS but he was also qualified for INTERCHAMPION.

Bogar lived with his owner in the Czech Republic but only 1-hour drive from our home. Irisz went to see him for the first time on Saturday 23 April 2005 . They have met before at number of DOG SHOWS but never really had an opportunity to play together. Irisz stayed with Bogar from Sunday until Friday. They MATED three times.

On 20^th May it was confirmed by the vet that IRISZ IS PREGNANT!!! The first LITTER OF BABY VIZSLA from MOJA VIZSLA KENNEL was planned to arrive at the end of June or beginning of July 2005.

As planned on 27th June 2005 Irisz delivered 7 beautiful puppies - 4 boys and 3 girls.

The whelping went without any problems although the appearance of the first puppy seemed to surprise Irisz a bit. Where this crawling creature came from? But she quickly understood that these crawling creatures are her children and they need to be taken care of – to be fed and kept clean.

Between 1:30am and 6:00am puppies were born in the following order: Art, Amoena, Argo, Agar, Astra, Amber and Acsa.

Irisz raised all her seven puppies with devotion. When they were 2-3 weeks old they started to open their eyes and try to make their first clumsy steps. At the beginning they reacted only to their mother and siblings. It was an incredible experience when for the first time a puppy waved its tale at the sign of Kinga.

The puppies were growing strong and healthy. They became an attraction of the park where they were undergoing their socializing process. In the end it was difficult to part with them but we are happy that they went to good homes, where their presence provides the same kind of joy as we had the pleasure to experience thanks to Irisz.

We stay in touch with owners of dogs from our kennel. Some of them became our close friends. Sometimes Irisz’s children come to visit us “for holiday”, sometimes Irisz stays at their place for a couple of days. Every year, at the beginning of holiday period, we meet to celebrate the Moja Vizsla Day. We closely follow the “carrier” of Irisz’s children and report it in the “Events” section.

Since Irisz entered our lives we have met many people thanks to her. There is one thing we share with these people – passion for Vizsla. This passion gave a beginning to a new initiative – since 2006 our Kennel contributes to organization of National Vizsla Rally (more in “Rally” section).

Right now we are anxiously waiting to enlarge the number of Moja Vizsla dog owners. In December 2007 Irisz met with Bogar again. A visit to the vet at the beginning of January 2008 confirmed that Irisz is expecting puppies.

In the evening of February 8th 2008 Irisz gave birth to 4 girls and 2 boys. All the puppies were born strong and healthy however, most of them decided to come to the world … tail first.
Puppies will stay with their mother until they are 8 weeks old. Then they will go to their new home. All of them, except one little girl – we have decided she will stay with us!