# Play fighting in the House!!



## CPS624 (Jul 5, 2013)

Hi everyone! It's been a while!

I have two, 4 & 1/2 month old female, litter mates.

They play fight in the house, even when coming in from a long morning walk! Sometimes they are calm & can behave together, sometimes they run all over the place. 

Right now they are just laying at the sliding glass door, watching nature. 

I want them to learn that outside is for play & indoors is for relaxing.

I use the command "That's Enough" when they get too rowdy. It works okay but, they'll jump off of each other for a *second*, then it seems like it's back to playing.

My goal is to eventually leave them loose in the house when I am gone & not have them destroy everything from playing.

I have tried taking away all toys or anything that can cause play fighting, but then they just turn their attention to each other! 

I don't want to have to put them in a crate every time I leave, for the rest of their lives. 

I know at 4&1/2 months, it's very early to do so or expect them to be perfect.

I'm thinking maybe I can leave one loose when I leave for a short period, while the other is crated? In hopes that they will individually learn to be free & calm in the house while I am away. Does sound like it will work?

Does anyone have any advice, training tips or past experiences that they would care to share?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! ;D


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

Good luck with that one! At 6 and 5 years old Bailey and Chloe have a play fight at least once an evening in the living room. Seems the craziest right after their evening meal. 

We call it our evening entertainment act. We no longer have anything fragile anywhere under 3 feet from the ground and all couches and chairs are covered.
8)
http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/07/notice-to-people-who-visit-my-home.html

RBD


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## CPS624 (Jul 5, 2013)

@ redbirddog Are you able to leave your V's loose in the house while you are away?


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## Gingerbread (Aug 7, 2013)

We have 2 boys, 14 month and 9 month who play fight in and outside. We're pretty easy going with it unless it's too noisy whilst we're working or on the phone, then we tell them 'Oy, settle down' which will give us a few minutes breather, they then might start playing quieter. If still too much we send to bed for a few minutes time out. We also use 'settle down' to get them to relax in pubs or when at friends house and they are generally very good at it now and will lie down and snooze. They are allowed free in the house when we're out and they have never trashed anything- we are firm that toys are theirs, everything else is off limits! 
You can always use a baby gate to section off an area for them when you're out (plus toys to keep them interested) then when they earn your trust, slowly expand the area!
Think of it as an electricity saver as you can spend ages watching 'vizsla TV'!!!


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## CPS624 (Jul 5, 2013)

@ Gingerbread, How old were they when you started to leave them loose together?

I'm going to give it a test run today.

I just let them outside to run & play. They're lying down half asleep now. In the mean time I am going to mow the yard, which usually takes an hour. 

I'm hoping they will be OK or snoozing while I am out.

I'll let you know how it goes :]


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## Rudy (Oct 12, 2012)

I can leave Big Rud 2 days would I no without support I trust with my life



Any Pups No mas they eat chew and more

plants shrubs even hot tubs and do not care your skills applied

They have a very hard time processing Man and Women time

Not one difference would you leave a 1 year old 2 to 5 year old child alone?



Willow a shreader when I am with her never left alone she is getting some

We all know my thoughts on crates Rudy is free Willow is crated with waters and bones

He lays by Her crate

I could leave Rudy in a airport

His only cares or words where is the birds? 

Baby Willow searching for bigger options to shread


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

4 1/2 months was way too soon for us to leave our boy Oso alone uncrated. He didn't have a playmate with him, but it just wouldn't have been safe for him as he still got into things occasionally. It took awhile before he could be home alone non crated, I want to say over a year, but if I searched the forums for my own posts I could probably figure it out.


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## CPS624 (Jul 5, 2013)

Well I know that my girls can hold it in the house for 3 hrs... That I am comfortable with. 

But this is with me in the house..Don't know what they would do with me gone? And as far as tearing things up..


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## Emily1970 (Apr 21, 2011)

Chuck and Riley play fight in and outside. We prefer outside, but usually let it go inside until it gets out of hand. Sometimes it's an all out cage match, but other times they lie down on the floor facing each other front paws touching and mouth at each other while making noises that sound like they should be coming from a bear instead of a V.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

> @ redbirddog Are you able to leave your V's loose in the house while you are away?


We do quite often but with these restrictions. The kitchen door is closed and our bedroom door is closed. They get the living room and hall. We also have a dog door that they can enter and exit the house to the fenced front yard so no "accidents." The bedroom door closed because Bailey has a tendency to want to eat my clothes that have my scent on it while we are gone. Doesn't bother my wife's clothes. Can't figure it out but has cost me about three pair of Levis this year and a couple shirts. :-\

RBD


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

oh, just wanted to add that you may consider a safety collar or harness if they are playing unsupervised

ANYA'S TRAGEDY
http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,4425.0.html

DISCUSSION ON SAFE COLLAR/HARNESS (we use tazlab and like it)
http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,4445.0.html


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## CPS624 (Jul 5, 2013)

@ luv2laugh I am so sorry to hear about your loss. 

My girls do not wear collars while indoors, the clinking drives me up the wall.


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## CPS624 (Jul 5, 2013)

But I am happy to say, that after I returned from an hour of yard work. I entered the house to very happy & calm puppies!

No accidents, Nothing destroyed..

I left water down for them too..maybe it's not all bad 8)

Thank you everyone for your advice!


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Emily you made me laugh with your "all out cage match". I can attest to that. When ours start getting out of control I say "outside, outside" throw open the back door and have them zoomie around the yard. It works wonders for wearing them out. If they seem bored once the fighting heads outside I egg them on. Lol. 

After the direction to go outside so often they now no and soon as I say "okay, okay" in a certain tone that they head for the door. Ha ha.


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Personally, I think they are too young to be left out of crate, even one at a time. 

Miles (our 20 month old) started staying out of the crate at 8 months, but he is an exceptionally non destructive V. He didn't ever really damage anything or bite us. 

Chase, our 14 week old, is a different story. He too does not bite us, no shark attack, but he is much more bold and I likely will not trust him out of crate until 2 yrs. Especially because when they are together they rile each other up. I caught my sweet Miles with his mouth around our avocado tree trunk last week because Chase was doing it. 

I would crate until at least 6-12 months. Safer for them.


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## Penny (Sep 22, 2011)

Three yelling kids and two wrestling vizslas under my feet when I'm trying to prepare dinner - that's when I call a halt to all the fun and tell all of them to get out into the garden! I then fantasize about having a bigger kitchen........


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## GarysApollo (Nov 27, 2012)

Only time will tell. To try to get my boys not to play and fight in the house I think I would end up on the loosing end of that one! Fortunately our boys get a lot of exercise and actually like going into the crates when we leave, I think that is the only time they get any real sleep is when they are crated.


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## Gingerbread (Aug 7, 2013)

@CPS624, nice to hear you can back to relative peace and quiet! We haven't used a crate with our V, instead a baby gate to keep him contained to the kitchen, with his bed and a tub full of toys. We did short trips away from him when he was younger, an hour or two here and there just like those who crate their puppies would do. He did chew the skirting boards a bit and the knobs off the radiator, but around 7-8 months we started letting him have short periods at home (about 2-3 hours) with just the bedroom doors shut and if it was a nice day, the back door open into our small garden which has nothing but a hedge to chew and grass to sunbathe on. 
We've had our 9 month V for only a month, but after a week of sleeping in the kitchen behind the child gate and a week around the house showing no destructiveness, we have left them both with full run of the house for several hours with the back door open and have come home to no problems.
You know your 2 best, just be aware of how safe/puppy proof the area you leave your V's is, as the previous posts have said, safety for the puppies is paramount, and things/furniture/skirting boards/walls might get chewed!


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## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

CPS624, at 4 1/2 months we couldn't have even imagined leaving Nelly out of crate and at 9 months she still goes in the crate when we need to pop out. We do plan to graduate to a similar set-up as RBD but realistically this will be a while yet. 

Thankfully I have a lovely Mother who is besotted with Nelly and will take her for any periods longer than a couple of hours that we are working etc. but I know not everyone has the means to do that and on the other side of the coin, 'being alone manners' training is important. 

I do think babygates are a good idea if your V isn't destructive and all your edibles are locked away! Unfortunately we can't gate Nelly in the kitchen because we have now caught her a couple of times on the kitchen counter, yes, right up on there! 

I would personally wait a little while and work on baby steps to training into leaving them together in a safe place. 

Best of luck! 
Chloe


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