# 13 week old being snarky and biting us



## CSF (May 19, 2017)

I have been reading posts for the last 5 weeks- since we got our girl Piper at 8 weeks old. 
My Husband and I both work from home- I am a stay at home Mom to our 4 year old girl. We have had puppies in the past but never a Vizsla. 

Piper is pretty much with us all day- except for naps in her crate and at night. She gets at least 4 training sessions per day- if not more. She knows Sit- Stay- Lay Down- Down and Off- Leave it- Shake-Touch-Come- Release and Wait to go outside or come inside and for her food. She doesn't do them 100 percent of the time-but she is only 3 months old. She gets 2 walks a day, plus lots and lots of ball fetching in our yard or basement. I would take her on more walks but she really is listening to every sound and wants to eat everything she sees and have any one or any dog she sees- say hello to her. She does seem to be frightened/excited/curious sometimes by dogs barking or loud trucks. I have tried picking her up and letting her know it okay or getting down to her level or bringing treats to keep the walks moving a bit more. But within the last few days- she has been getting very bitey and attacks myself or my Husband on our walks. 

We thought she was making good strides- but this week we seem to have hit a wall.
We are always second guessing ourselves- is she not getting enough exercise or too much exercise for a little pup- If we keep her up for more then 1 1/2 to 2 hours at a time- she goes into to Shark Mode and then it is hard to settle her down. She usually takes 2 (1 hour naps) and 1 (1 1/2 to 2 hour nap)- is that not enough sleep for a 3 month old dog? 

She has also been trying to bite at as when we have told her to get OFF our beds and couches. She has her crate and 2 other dogs bed that belong to her. We had a 10 minute long stand off about who the couch belongs to. She will finally give up and submit- but not tell it almost seems like she has tried to attack you.

We don't want our little girl to get bite by her own dog She is never left alone with Piper- but when Piper gets in to a mood- it is hard to say what will happen. 

We have not gone to puppy classes yet- been just working on things at home and reading and listening to a ton a dog training books and videos. 

We don't want Piper to get worse or stay like she has been the last few days. 

Does anyone have a Vizsla Human Trainer that they have used or know of in the Seattle area??

We plan on taking her to places off leash- mostly dog parks near by-(or hiking trails- when she actually listens outside) once she is finished with her vaccinations. 

We need some help! We want her to work out and be with us- but we don't want to be attacked.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

"We plan on taking her to places off leash- mostly dog parks near by-(or hiking trails- when she actually listens outside) "

You have a ways to go, before she will listen outside. But she will never learn to listen outside, unless she is taken there. 
Each thing you teach in the house, will have to be retaught in each new place you take her. 

Contact your breeder for tips on getting you through this stage. 
Then contact your local vizsla club, and vizsla rescue. They should know some trainers/behaviorist is your area.

First ones can be a handful, and some don't realize just how nippy they can be. Look up bite inhibition.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

CSF said:


> ... She does seem to be frightened/excited/curious sometimes by dogs barking or loud trucks. I have tried picking her up and letting her know it okay ...


Most of the time your best response is no response. Act as if the situation is perfectly normal. Comforting her can reinforce her feeling that it is a bad situation.

Now, as to the sharkies: didn't anyone tell you? No, I know there is no way that anyone could be prepared for them. The 2 things that you need to know first is that they are perfectly normal for a V, and that they _will_ stop. Some people have had some success in mitigating them, but there is no guaranteed approach. If you use the Advanced Search (in Tools) on "shark" and "sharkies" in the _title_, you will get the more on-point threads. But there will still be lots and lots of them.

Some day you will be reading a post here from someone in desperation over sharkies and you'll remember how desperate you were and how it did pass. The logic of it - that it has to pass, in a more-or-less reasonable time, is because if it didn't no one would ever own a Vizsla!


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## CSF (May 19, 2017)

So far a better week then last week- today Piper went a little crazy tonight and the only thing that settled her was her crate for a bit. 
Seems like the water bottle keeps her in check 99% of the time- she will get off the furniture-if you just show it to her. 
I have been bringing high reward treats with us on walks and she is so focused on the treats- she can hardly walk The spray bottle keeps the Sharkies away even on walks right now- Also learning to read her and find out why- she is Sharking us on walks- overtired and overstimulated seems to be the main reasons right now. 
We have a elementary school grassy football field (completely fenced) within a few blocks on our house that I will be taking her to hopefully as soon as her shots are done- as I know other dogs visit that area as well. 
Thank you everyone for your comments- I think just know that this is Vizsla puppy behavior is a big help.
Still think I will want a trainer for us though
Though she does have my husband trained to let her out of her crate and snuggle on his lap until 6:30 or 7:00 AM


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## DixieDawg (May 28, 2017)

Hi CSF. Our first Vizsla will be 12 weeks on Tuesday. Our experience is mainly with German Shepherds (though we have owned other dog breeds as well) but I wanted to share some thoughts and/or advice that may be useful as we seem to be "enjoying" similar behaviours. Our pup also knows OFF and NO BITE but because she wants our attention (good or bad) will repeatedly do things sometimes just for our reaction (sounds like your couch episode). Because Vizslas do not like to be ignored and we do not have a fully contained empty indoor space where we can put her for a time out, we do put her in crate when she is repeatedly not listening or we are sick of our own voices telling her NO or OFF. We never put her in there immediately after telling her not to do something. We wait a moment, pick her up, talk softly and put her in her crate. Sometimes she barks for a minute and then settles down. We ignore her for about 15 minutes and then let her out (unless she has fallen asleep). We have also started saying the negative commands in a softer voice (we have never yelled them, of course, but we were sharper and that seemed to "excite" her more). In summary, giving her a bit of alone time to calm down and saying the "do not do that" commands in a softer voice are working really well for us.


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