Vizsla puppies

I have just read a post by someone on a Vizsla group.  Nothing to do with our breeding as it's in America.  But its an important point to bring forward what they were asking in there post.

I always feel I make the breed out to sound awful for a start.  But the truth is they are awful.  But when they suddenly get better we realise they are the best dog you could ever own.  But they are more than hard work.  They can push some people to the edge.  I now run a whats app group for 4 weeks from collection.  This is then stopped and you move to our Facebook group.  This is because we know by then youll start to be getting the hang of things. 

Do I believe a dog should have boundaries? YES!  

All people who contact me for a puppy get told the same thing.  It takes 2 -3 weeks to settle in, 3 weeks to really feel at home.  4 weeks before you start to see routines pay off.  I tell everyone the first 3 weeks of owning this breed are the hardest.  Everyone without question ignores me and thinks it will not apply to them.  But it will do because it's a VIZSLA.

In that 2-3 weeks of settling in that does not mean TRAINED.  That means just got used to its new home, just got used to you.  ITS NOT crate trained or obedience trained or house trained.  Little steps!


It takes 2000 reputations to learn a trick.  Thats a lot and some dogs may take a lot more.  So although you will make leaps in sitting, and giving paw and so on.  You've got. long road ahead before it truly understands. 

In fact I would go as much to say several months before its truly learnt what it can and can not do. 

The poster said he had a 11 week old Vizsla puppy.  He asked people not to be unkind to them and say they have brought the wrong dog for them.  He said they took at year before they purchased.  During that year they met with older Vizsla and went on a walk.  They said they read everything they could online and in books.  So he does not understand where he went wrong.

The puppy is mouthing hard.  The puppy is zooming evenings and lunging at them.  The puppy connects with skin and hurts.  The puppy does not accept the crate and is screaming non stop.   He was asking for help.  Most people's reply is it just stops.  But thats not exactly true.  You have to put your boundaries in.  

Allow a 9 week old puppy to lunge and bite you then it will still be doing it at 16 weeks and it really hurts. 

Vizsla puppy
They are the hardest breed of puppy to own.  Why?   They are not like the adult dog.  You can go visit hundreds of adults and it wont prepare you for the puppy.  It's that simple.  But can I say that as adults I find them the best dog in the world. I love mine to bits.  I find MALES easier by a long shot than females.  Even Darryl will tell you the same thing.  When we finally give up breeding we will have all males around us no females.  I love my females, do not get me wrong.  But if I want an easier life I would have the male version. 

The puppy is quite demanding.  They are firstly scared so you probably might get a good night on the first night.   They are bewildered so really behave.  You will get a false sense of security on the first night.  The second night they start to throw their tantrums.   For the puppy a kind of self preservation happens.  Their home has gone, the siblings gone, the mother gone, the human parents gone.  Left in place is this new person.   They will attach to you for safety and realise where food comes from.  But they are a long way from being the best dog in the world.  
They then start to look after themselves the best way possible, screaming for attention and to do what it wants when it wants.  

The noise is quite surprising.  How can it possibly be so loud.  Why doesn't it stop. ?!!  It does not stop because it has not got its own way. 

No amount of crate training the breeder has done, training, or anything seems to work.  Ive done it all, and still surprised that they can be completely different.  Even dogs ive kept myself I go through same thing.  The easiest time is when ive kept two from same litter and then re-homed one later.  They settle in crate, they do not cry, they house train instantly.  The companionship seems to really work with the breed.  I am not saying have two, but I do recognise you cut out a lot of the tantrums they go through.  We usually sell 1 puppy and say come back for a 2nd in a year.  Train the one and then come back for the next.   Would I sell 2 together? Only to the most experienced of homes. 

Will it get better? Yes of course it does.  This happens around 12 weeks plus.  Unless you have done something silly like picked up a 10 week old puppy.  

Ive heard some say the dog manipulates them.  Behaviourists will tell you that is impossible.  But this is a Vizsla puppy we are talking about and yes they can manipulate you to get what they want through constant screaming if they are crated or told to sleep in a pen.  Because you will give in as you want to stop that noise, and they have won.  So they do it always. 

Puppies require 18-20 hours sleep a day but the Vizsla puppy is a dog on a Duracell battery and will not sleep all those hours.  It will push you to your limits and then it will collapse somewhere on the floor and sleep.  

Does it get better? YES!  But it's not over night and it takes 4 weeks plus before you start to see differences, but it only gets better by your routines and your training.  Other wise it's like a whirlwind of naughtiness. 

Bred to be close to the handlers makes them not want to be shut away from. you.  Shutting them away from you is against everything in its make up.  Dogs have inherited traits and this is one of them.  Youll hear people affectionately call them Velcro dogs.  Its not velcro for nothing, this means your not going out of sight. So you have to train it to be left.

I wont forget when someone said to me they took a week off work, and on the following Monday wanted to go back to work. I thought that will never work.  You may as well start off the way you mean to go on.  Leaving the dog is teaching it to be left.   They are not dogs for full time workers, not unless the dog can come with you.  So they took puppy and a week later realised it was not working.  No of course it wont be.  It takes months. 

I can not wave a magic wand for anyone and make it easier.  The truth is you have a good month of a difficult time.  But with your constant reminder of rules, constant training, constant No, & Yes and now you will see the dog starting to get the idea of things.  Then one day youll sit down and sigh and say it's suddenly better.  We can cope finally.  

So what suddenly changes to make things better?  To conclude?

• Daily routine
• Same dinner times
• Same walk times
• Same leaving times
• Having a 1-2-1 trainer in.
• Booking puppy classes before 16 weeks.  
• Keeping your puppy in training for 18 months.
• Both couples in the family doing the same thing.  Not one rule for one and a different rule for someone else.  The same where the dog is concerned. 
• Having the puppy in your bedroom for at least 4 weeks before you move them out. 
• Not giving vaccines during the settling in stage.  Reactions are common place and some more than others.  Reactions can mean it affects the brain.  You wont know whats real or a reaction if you have vaccinated.  The immune system is still young and developing, to give a vaccine in the first four weeks means you could in fact do more damage.  Vaccine later. 

​I can say that as a breed once you have got over the difficulties of puppy hood they become the best dog in the world.