CH Vizcaya's Raisin Caine MH VC CGC ("Raisin")

My foundation bitch and inspiration for my kennel name, Raisin is an outstanding ambassador for our breed, a true Versatile Vizsla. I always said and still believe that Raisin teaches me everything there is to know about vizslas. Though I dearly loved two before her, I never appreciated them for their natural abilities...then Raisin came into my life. She let me know that vizslas were much more than just great friends, that they actually perform important jobs.

As a puppy Raisin was just a constant blur. I do not have many puppy pictures of her where she is not in motion. She was completely exasperating, and I was honestly not confident in my skills to handle her. So, we had some obedience training, which helped. And, at her breeder's prompting, I took her into the ring. My decision to do so was not so much to show off how pretty she was, but more to settle her down and reach a mutual consensus on who was boss. Turns out Raisin and I had an absolute blast traveling and prancing around the ring together. We learned a great deal about each other, gained a real respect and trust in each other and developed a loving bond. Raisin is obstinate, fiercely independent, stunning, hard working and I quickly came to understand her energy and harness that into productive activities in which we could both play a part. After a jilted start as a newbie handler, Raisin finished her championship with four 4-point majors and some change. She also went on to take three Best of Breed wins, two Awards of Merit and several Best of Opposite Sex wins. Now spayed, I plan to show her in Veterans classes when possible. She really loves to show!!

When Raisin was about a year old, I found out our local Vizsla club was hosting a weekend-long hunting seminar. We attended, and I began seeing Raisin through new eyes. She suddenly turned into a dog I had not known before. Birds were her new addiction, so....soon after that weekend, this city gal found herself in the field, and along with friends nurtured her natural instincts and finally honed her skills through to an obedient, breathtaking, broke dog who lives to hunt. It was deeply humbling how together Raisin and I essentially trained each other in the process through trust and respect. She continues to teach me as I fumble around in the field, but she is gracious and patient and a very willing team player. Together we sharpened our skills and our bond and participated in AKC hunt tests. What a rush to watch this puppy out there!! Raisin qualified in four consecutive Junior Hunter tests with high scores throughout to obtain her Junior Hunter title, and during the process chased many birds (retrieved one to hand) and honored her bracemate in her fourth test. After some serious training and preparing her for the next level, she proved equal to the task and qualified in four consecutive Senior Hunter tests. Getting through Master Hunter proved a bit more difficult, but the difficulty was all mine. Handler skills are just as important as your dog's, but we finally found our rhythm and obtained her Master Hunter title in 10 tries.

Raisin and I tried our hand at agility classes, where she proved superb in that arena as well, in fact so much so that I felt I could not match her skills. Six months later the time was right for her to meet her husband and get pregnant, so we put agility on hold, where it currently remains. However, we are going to try our hand at competitive obedience very soon, where we hope to obtain a Companion Dog title!

Raisin has shown me there is nothing she cannot do. She loves to swim, hunt, show, run, retrieve, play, and she is sweet as sugar. She will always greet you and hit you up for a good butt rub, and if you are lucky, she will park herself between your legs. And, she knows how to make great babies!! Raisin produced one litter of six wonderful pups in March 2005, who are deeply loved and lead wonderful lives of their own.