# 4-5 hours a day expected?



## delaney (Feb 21, 2019)

Hi all, new to the forum but have read quite a bit in the last 6 months of Vizsla adjustment.

We got Bobby Rango at 8 weeks and he is 8 months now, and am looking for some advice as my wife and I are still having trouble finding the right ways to deal with the energy he contains. 

My main question is if this experience is expected or if we are missing something? We put in a lot of work with Bobby - 4-5 hours a day gets him to be tired enough to be pleasant in the evenings - if we spend less than that he will constantly ask for more. I know Vizslas are known to cry, and maybe we are too soft in not being able to ignore it? Even if we do tire him out, we have trouble then getting things done around the house because he will not settle unless you sit down. We crate him sometimes during the day which he is okay with, but when he is wanting to go out he barks constantly when crated. Any advice on how to tire him out more or anything is greatly appreciated. 

It seems in most cases people claim that 2 hours of activity is what is expected for Vizsla ownership, but at this point we spend 4 hours minimum with him outside - most of which is vigorous play - and he is still constantly begging to go out to play more.. We aren't sure if we are missing something or if he is just an extreme case.

I work from home and my wife is home half the day so we thought it would be a good time to get a puppy and thought he would fit our active lifestyle. We love to hike and run(though we are avoiding the running until he is older). He is great with fetch(except the barking) so we use that and wrestling with other dogs as most of his exercise. He is obsessed with the dog park we have in our apartment complex and will play ball most of the time, but sometimes he doesn't want to which is more frustrating as he will just have more energy later since we didn't get any out of him. Going on walks/hikes is fine, but doesn't seem to tire him out much. 

7AM(1hr) - take him to the dog park for 1 hour of sniffing and play with the ball
8:30(30m) - take him to the trail behind our apartment to work loose leash walking, get in the creek, stalk some deer.(30 min)
11(10-30m) - He is already crying to go play again - sometimes I will take him for 30 min if work is slow, or just to go pee but he will cry and jump on me if we only do that much.
12PM(1hr) - Dog walker takes him on the trail for 1 hour.
2/3PM(30m-1hr) - He is crying to go to the park and play ball again - constantly jumping on us if not - crying etc.
5:30PM(1-1.5hr) - take him to the dog park to play with the other dogs 1 hour minimum(chase, wrestly, fetch) - usually there are 5+ dogs
Evening - mostly chewing and sometimes wanting to play tug or fetch inside.


We have looked into doing half day day-care or something similar but they all require neutering and we are trying to avoid that until he is older, but we feel like most of our time goes to him and we are unable to do much else. We knew it would be a commitment, but we didn't expect 4 hours of play on top of the attention he wants at home where he wont settle unless we sit down with him. We made it through his young puppy stage including 4 parasites - so he has been on meds and prescription food for a good chunk of his life. Is this the expected experience? Are we catering to him too much?


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## delaney (Feb 21, 2019)

And here's a pic of Bobby Rango doing what he loves most


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

You don't mention any training with him. They need mental exercise, along with physical to tire them.


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

AS TR mentions the mental part is equally important. At this age you can start some fun rally obedience signs (they are learnable even at home, watching you tube or some apps.). Tricks. Puzzle games. Find your toy games / Nosework. Do you feed him from a bowl? if yes, start switching to solutions where he has to work. 
He looks lovely


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Being a Bobby myself I love the name. With all 3 of mine I had the urge to do the eponymous thing but I thought it would be too weird. They get down deep, you know, and become a part of you anyways.

I think there are 2 problems here: The first is that being a Vizsla, he will suck every last bit of attention from you if you let him. That he whines or cries or makes demands for your time is both to be expected (and part of their charm), but also, something you need to be OK ignoring. Otherwise, the dog will wag the owner here.

The other things is that I'm not quite so sure I would label most of what you do as "Exercise", at least in Vizsla speak. They really need vigorous exercise...off lead, like in the woods for hiking and climbing and chasing/hunting for about (but probably at least ) an hr. On lead time, the dog park, throwing a ball, etc., doesn't count. There's simply no way for them to burn off that energy doing those activities, if anything, they count more as the "Intellectual" activity they need. 

Find a time to get him out into the field that you can keep to fairly consistently, preferably before crating him for the day, and do those other activities at day's end. When properly relaxed, he should settle in the evening with the only "Demand" being your lap for his head and a few good scratches behind his ears.

Edit: And don't neuter him..at least without reading the Vizsla study recently completed that indicates the deleterious health effects of doing so.


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## delaney (Feb 21, 2019)

Thanks Gabica + TR for the reply, we have some puzzle games but haven't used them in a while. I will try getting back to that and working more games/tricks. Appreciate it!

Thanks gingerling - we are very happy with his name and seems to always bring a smile to others 
We have a field nearby that we will work some fetch in with him dragging a long leash so we have some control when he gets distracted. We are still building trust to go fully off lead. I'll do some research on that - but have read that Vizslas can take some time to be good off lead - we are just worried as the greenbelt by us is huge and has coyotes, etc.

I'll try to change my morning to be 1.5 hours out in the woods and spend some of it in the field working off lead with him and see if that helps. Thanks for your advice.

I've read some of the studies and is why we are avoiding neutering - it's just unfortunate that so many places are strict about it but I understand why..


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## rustedduck (Dec 18, 2017)

You may be a victim of setting the bar to high. Vizsla's like all dogs are creatures of routine. You set the routine, and your pup expects/demands that you follow it. My V (Arlo) is 12 month old male. He get about 2.5 hours a exercise a day, most of it off leash. In the AM we either take a walk, or romp with a neighbor dog, or a combination of both. In the late afternoon or early evening we go to the dog park, and he chases balls runs, and runs, and runs with other dogs, and pretty much terrorizes the place. If I eliminate any of these he makes sure we are both unhappy.

In addition, he goes almost everywhere with us. A couple of times a year we are enrolled in AKC training, along with home training. Once every week or two we commit him to the local pet resort for the day so we can get a rest. He absolutely loves this and comes home exhausted.

You might check out some other day care's. Arlo is intact, and we havn't had a problem placing him. Some facilities will allow with a note from a vet explaining why they are intact (medical reasons, reproductive, etc.)


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## Panchthedonch (Sep 25, 2018)

delaney said:


> Hi all, new to the forum but have read quite a bit in the last 6 months of Vizsla adjustment.
> 
> We got Bobby Rango at 8 weeks and he is 8 months now, and am looking for some advice as my wife and I are still having trouble finding the right ways to deal with the energy he contains.
> 
> ...


My 10 month old is building his enderance each time. We do about 3-4 hours. But if he gets super great off lead play time then I can get a little more peace. He does need one hr off lead though. I also train him super hard. He’s been in training for months. It’s mental exercise. Maybe try zig zagging when you walk on leash for collection of attention.


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