# Hoping for support



## Erin80 (Jan 4, 2019)

I know this forum isn't very active, but I'm hoping there might be someone out there.

We have a 9 week old Vizsla puppy. We got her on Sunday afternoon. All I have to compare her to is my previous Weim puppy, and he was definitely an EASY puppy.

House training is going ok so far, I think. She runs around and whines when she needs to pee....and I can read her cues for when she needs to poop. There have been accidents in the house (just pee) - my fault.....

I have 3 kids and consider myself a pretty darn patient person, but this little puppy is testing that 100%. I haven't slept in 3 nights. I am sleeping on a mattress on the floor beside her crate, so I'm right there with her. Last night she howled for a bit before bed because she'd just had a big nap and was ready to play (lesson learned on our part), and then howled again at 4am after I took her out for about 10 min. She settles but she groans and moans all night....so I don't sleep. 

She is constantly trembling - either with excitement or nervousness. Is this normal? The breeder said it absolutely was. We are only on the second full day here in our house....so I know I can't expect too much. It feels like a month though!! 

She barks at me - if I'm cooking or doing anything that isn't totally focused on her. Do I ignore this? 

I'm teaching her crate time during the day. She will chew her bone (or kong) for 5 min before she starts whining. She screams and whines for maybe 7-10 min before she lays down and settles. She will start to doze off, but if there is any movement....if I change positions on the couch, if one of my kids comes into the room, anything...she is back up and the screaming starts all over. I ignore the screaming and I let her out when she's dozing off and quiet. She trembles in there though, even at night beside me....because she's nervous I'm assuming. I think it's a good thing that she does settle? Am I right to let her scream like that until she settles? Should I be doing anything differently? I don't want a negative association with the crate and sometimes I feel like the screaming and her being upset in there will cause that. She does go in there on her own when the door is open - pulls her toys in there, chews her bone for a short time in there, etc. She doesn't hate it, but she doesn't love it either. 

House breaking, biting, training in general, I think we are good with. She learned sit today. She learned her name solidly yesterday and also learned not to eat the plant in the house, lol. 

It's the whining and barking during the day when she's following me around that's making me worried she will be an anxious dog, and I'm confused if I should give attention or ignore that. 

Anyway - sorry if this is jumbled. I am DEAD TIRED.

Thanks!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Some are a little more demanding than others.
I wouldn't be concerned about her barking for attention. If you know you've given her enough attention, then ignore her. If she gets attention with demand barking. She will keep doing it, and it will increase.
As far as trembling. A small amount maybe normal. I just wouldn't consider her doing it a lot normal. Hopefully its excitement, and she's not nervous. Also not sure where you live, but pups don't regulate their body temperature, as good as mature dogs. Maybe see if a light weight jacket helps her.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Vizslas are not Weims! Everything you describe is mostly normal for the breed and age.

Get into a routine: eat, potty, play, potty, crate for nap. At 9 weeks, this should be probably in 45 to 1hr cycles. They love consistency. They also need to go out probably 2-3 times an hr, even at night (sorry!), and if not, then that could account for the trembling and the whining. Put the crate in your bedroom or just let her in the bed.


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## Wasatch Vizsla (Jan 19, 2019)

That's too bad you're off to such a tricky start. It does get better but those first night are rough. 

We had excellent luck with a Snuggle Puppy. It's a stuffed animal with a heartbeat and warming pack. We had our puppy home about 4 night before we bought one. Same as you, needed more sleep. She instantly snuggled up with it and slept like 6 hours! Worth every penny. Now at 11 weeks she doesn't need it anymore. But those first 2-3 weeks it was invaluable.

What chew toys does she have? Following you around sounds like she might be a bit bored. Although you definitely want her with you to avoid accidents I'd make sure she constantly has something to keep her busy. Rawhides rolls, bully sticks, and filled femur bones seem to get our puppy to settle nicely. She also has antlers, Nylabones, and a huge beef bone she can gnaw on. I'll sometimes dip the rawhide into peanut butter to attract her if she's not real interested. 

As has been mentioned a routine is key. No napping near bedtime. We learned that the hard way too. Figure out and work with her natural rhythm of potty, play, eating, and naps.

The first 2 nights I slept next to the kennel on the couch. Our puppy seemed to need a lot of reassurance. And boy was she loud. After that we moved a end table next to our bed, same height as the mattress and put her kennel on there. Keep in mind it was a very small kennel like cat sized. That way if she whined I'd just reach in and pet her. Each night she got a bit better but the huge leap came from the Snuggle Puppy. After 2ish weeks we moved her to the floor in our room. Now at 11 weeks we have moved the kennel (larger one) to the living room. She's fine both there or in our bedroom. Since during the day the kennel gets moved around between these 2 places depending on household activities. 

One more tip. You puppy seems to like her crate already. Which is awesome! If you can make sure she gets all meals in there as well. That will build even more positive associations. I'd say the crying is very normal. Our puppy would cry much longer than that when kenneled during the day. 

Our puppy only shivers when she's outside going potty. We got her a coat but it's mostly used for walks. I'm not sure why yours is doing it so much in the house. Seems like the more experienced Vizsla owners should answer that one. 

You should make some good headway over the next few weeks. As she matures and settles in. Don't be discouraged. You're doing just about everything correctly. She's definitely worth the effort. Hanging in there!


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

Agreed with all above. 
As for the following every movement and waking up in crate: try with a crate cover or a small travel crate. We have used both with our second pup and it has worked very well with him.


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## Erin80 (Jan 4, 2019)

She is doing soooo much better! We have definitely turned a corner. She sleeps from 10pm - 4am, wakes up to pee and back up at 6:30 for the day. 
She did amazing in her crate this morning. We are starting to get into a good routine now. I or my husband sleeps on a mattress on the floor with her for now, but I think we are almost ready to be done with that. Her crate will always be in our room. 
She doesn’t eat big meals, seems like more of a grazer. She eats small bits at a time. 
I bought her some really good chews today, so we will try those out tomorrow. She’s doing great and is very loved! Thanks everyone.


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## spiraling (Jul 21, 2018)

We had good luck with the crate in the room, pointed towards us, and about 2 feet from the bed. Then when our little guy was fussy after his middle of the night pee I could just put my hand in front of the crate or pet him through it a bit. 



I never understood why these dogs are considered harder puppies. Now that mine is 8 months old I know soooo well. They are smart, destructive, and into everything! If they don't have your full attention they will let you know. Barking, whining, stealing things, jumping, chewing things, knocking over your coffee while you go to the bathroom. The list goes on and on. But he is a wonderful cuddler and a sweet dog!


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## [email protected] (Jan 26, 2019)

We too like wasatch vizsla got a snuggle pup for our puppy as well, and recommended one to my sister who adopted our puppies liter mate. Anyways my sister and I both had really great success using this tool in the crate to help him settle in at nighttime, now he looks for his “puppy” and bedtime and will snuggle up next to him when it’s time for him to go to bed for the night. He is 11 weeks old now and has been sleeping through the night for at least a month now with it.


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## Moby_1851 (Dec 11, 2018)

You already received plenty of good advice. I suspect what you need to hear is that it will get better. So I will tell you - it WILL get better. I brought my pup home at 8 weeks. She is 9 mos now. The first couple of months after taking her home I seriously questioned my decision to get a puppy. Vocal was an understatement - more of an intolerance to frustration - but manifested mostly when in the crate or when I went into a different room...screeching, howling, neighbor complaints...now at 9 mos - while she still has her moments - its much, much better. Structure, patience and totally ignoring her when she vocalized...nothing is instant. And progress isn't linear. But if you apply some discipline and ignore the temper tantrums they will become less frequent. And mine - according to one of the day cares I used - has the loudest "screech" any of the staff had ever heard...they kept her in "remedial" day care until it eased up a bit.


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## Wasatch Vizsla (Jan 19, 2019)

Erin80 said:


> She is doing soooo much better! We have definitely turned a corner. She sleeps from 10pm - 4am, wakes up to pee and back up at 6:30 for the day.
> She did amazing in her crate this morning. We are starting to get into a good routine now. I or my husband sleeps on a mattress on the floor with her for now, but I think we are almost ready to be done with that. Her crate will always be in our room.
> She doesn’t eat big meals, seems like more of a grazer. She eats small bits at a time.
> I bought her some really good chews today, so we will try those out tomorrow. She’s doing great and is very loved! Thanks everyone.


That's fantastic! So glad to hear she's settling into your home and a nice routine. These really are the sweetest little pups around. How's she liking the new chews?


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## Erin80 (Jan 4, 2019)

She really loves pigs ears and bully sticks. She has zero interest in anything like nylabones etc. 
My husband is driving me more nuts than anything. I’m at work today and he’s at home with her. He isn’t on top of her enough with going outside (she literally needs to go out every 20 min all day but sleeps almost all night now), and he’s getting frustrated with her for peeing in the house. She doesn’t have accidents with me because I’m on top of it. There is nothing I can do because I’m at work! I literally follow her around ALL day or keep her on a leash with me. He just lets her run on the main level and doesn’t watch as much as he should. I feel like this day is going to hinder any progress I’ve made with her (which honestly feels like none). I find house training the hardest part of puppyhood. Especially in the winter!


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## Wasatch Vizsla (Jan 19, 2019)

Erin80 said:


> She really loves pigs ears and bully sticks. She has zero interest in anything like nylabones etc.
> My husband is driving me more nuts than anything. I’m at work today and he’s at home with her. He isn’t on top of her enough with going outside (she literally needs to go out every 20 min all day but sleeps almost all night now), and he’s getting frustrated with her for peeing in the house. She doesn’t have accidents with me because I’m on top of it. There is nothing I can do because I’m at work! I literally follow her around ALL day or keep her on a leash with me. He just lets her run on the main level and doesn’t watch as much as he should. I feel like this day is going to hinder any progress I’ve made with her (which honestly feels like none). I find house training the hardest part of puppyhood. Especially in the winter!


Our dogs have always liked the more natural type chews as well. I've found the best price on bully sticks is a 2lb bag at Costco for $25. They're the large ones and each bag has at least 10-12. Our 12 week old puppy just started her second one. They last awhile at this age. I toss them when they get 3-4". After that the choking or ingestion risk is too high. 

I understand winter potty training is a league all it's own. I'll just offer up clarification on one piece of potty training knowledge. Potty training is a two part equation. First the dog needs to learn where it's acceptable to go potty. Second the dog needs to learn where it's NOT acceptable to go. A dog must understand both these concepts to be fully potty trained. Your husband's lack of attentiveness will not set you back in the first regard. But it absolutely will in the second which is the trickier one to teach (where not to go). You'll have to brainstorm together a plan of action to prevent that from happening again. Start by explaining dogs learn every second they are with you. They're constantly picking up good or bad habits. By allowing her too much freedom the bad habits are going to become ingrained and serious problems as she grows. And that's sad because it's completely avoidable. Best of luck getting your husband on board.


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## ArloV (Jan 9, 2019)

I felt the exact same way as you a few weeks ago and can definitely say it does get better!

Winter potty training is the worst! The one thing I did find really helped us was crate training to go along with it so that if either my husband or I didn't have our full attention on our little guy he would be in the crate and did not have any accidents in there. 
Two weeks ago, I had finally had it with the pee pads and messes and dedicated the whole long weekend to crate training and potty training. Now it's only been a week and a bit but we have only had two accidents in the house and that was on the long weekend that we started so we must have done something right. It is a process and seems like it is taking forever but like many people say on here if you put in the hard work now you will see the results in the pup later.


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## freealfin (Jun 8, 2017)

Erin80 said:


> I know this forum isn't very active, but I'm hoping there might be someone out there.
> 
> We have a 9 week old Vizsla puppy. We got her on Sunday afternoon. All I have to compare her to is my previous Weim puppy, and he was definitely an EASY puppy.
> 
> ...


You got a normal Vizsla pup but barely. Weims and Vizlas have almost nothing in common when it comes to behavior associated with people. Most weims are detached form people compared to Vizslas which are Velcro dogs.. Vzslas crave people and company. She's going thru severe separation anxiety. You need to provide her with the opportunity to tire herself out specially at your bed time and a week or so down the road star isolating her for short periods of time. If you have a room (extra bathroom) where she can be by herself and you not hearing her you may want to try that as part of her training but not now. The first thing that needs to happen if for her to feel secure. BUT NOTHING WILL CHANGE OVERNIGHT.


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