# Vizsla Sleeping Arrangements and Being Left Alone!



## koda13

Hi Im a first time Vizsla owner, and my partner and i have recently bought an 8 week old pup (nearing on 9 week now). We have put his bed in the bathroom for him to sleep at night time. (It's a bed not a crate) We leave the bed in there during the day so he can freely walk in and out if he chooses. At the moment we are waking up every couple of hours during the night to take him outside to go the toilet, but when we put him back in the bathroom he cries/squeals/barks continuously for ages! Eventually he will fall back asleep.. but we take ages to get back to sleep!!
I know he has recently been taken from his litter where he had others around him and is probably scared being left alone. His cried have gotten better over the week we have had him.
If he slept in our room he would not cry, although i would like him to be feel comfortable being on his own. Because some times during the day he will be left alone outside and when we head out etc.. At the moment when left alone he gets very paranoid and anxious. Will this pass over time? 
Any suggestions would be fantastic!!

Thanks!!


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## redbirddog

koda13,
Welcome.
Put a crate in the bedroom with you would be my suggestion. My dogs at 5 and 6 years old have always slept in their crates in the bedroom with no problems. When they were young I sometimes slept next to the door of the crate but NEVER let either of them out when they cried. ONLY when they stopped crying would I let them out to potty. They would only get to go directly out and then back into the crate at night.
Vizslas want to be in the same room as their owners as much as possible.

Good luck.
RBD


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## koda13

Hi Redbirddog,

Appreciate the response - Yeah i definitely think a crate is going to be the option. It's just taken me a while to get my head around it. I was hoping that a bed would suit him fine and eventually when he got older and his bladder could withstand the night he would sleep the whole night before waking and howling. At the moment we don't take him out during a night time when he is crying - we wait until he has stopped then take him out. He has slowly been getting better which is great. 

I was just hesitant about having our V, Koda, sleeping in the same room as us because i didn't want him to be too dependent on us. Furthermore do you have any suggestions about leaving him outside on his own? He squeals and cries when left alone!!

Cheers,


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## mswhipple

Welcome to the forums, koda13!! 

Bear in mind that your pup is still just a little baby, and will be considered a baby for quite some time.

Also bear in mind that all dogs are pack animals, and as such, will want to be with their pack as much as possible, and for the rest of their lives. _(He will be dependent on you.)_

Do you have any photos you might like to post? ;D ;D ;D


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## koda13

Hi Mswhipple,

Yeah i completely understand he is still a pup and will be for a while, just wanted to know if there was any tips i could implement for the future to make him the best he can be!  

I love the fact that he will be dependent on us! He is great fun thus far! (although the lack of sleep of a night time catches up on you! hahah!) But wouldn't change it for the world. 

Here is a couple of pics of our boy Koda!


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## mswhipple

Awwww... Koda is a sweet little guy!! I especially love the first photo of him and his monkey (I think that's a monkey?). Thanks for posting. I never get tired of looking at Vizsla puppies! ;D ;D ;D

_p.s. I hesitate to offer advice on sleeping arrangements. My dog sleeps on the bed with me... at the foot of the bed, on top of the covers, but under his own blanket. Also, he doesn't much like being left alone, so I bring him along with me whenever I can. _


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## MilesMom

I would put a crate in your room. Then they know that you are there and you don't have to worry about him getting into trouble since he's in his crate, which also promotes bladder training. 

Miles was out of the crate at night at 4 months and is in bed with us ;D Chase is 7 months and is transitioning out of the crate. He's a little slower in his transition because we are battling getting them to sleep vs. play at night. We just got him a new cave bed so we plan to give him that and see how it goes maybe over this weekend. He's in our room though and he doesn't cry because he knows we are there.


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## MeandMy3

I was one of those non-believers when it came to crates. Three pups in three years made me a believer. We do keep the crate in our room and use it only for the youngest. My husband works out of town and is gone a lot. When he is gone, she sleeps in bed with me. When he is home, she knows her bed is the crate and will wait for my husband to open the door for her. Good luck!


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## koda13

thanks for everything guys!! Looks like i'm buying a crate!!

another question though,
does everyone crate their V when they leave the house?

If i leave the house i would love to just leave him outside to play - Although just like sleeping at night he howls and squeals when left alone! Any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone for their help thus far!!


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## MilesMom

I would not leave a little puppy outside unattended... too many dangers of him chewing/ choking and if you live in an area with wildlife he could be prey for a coyote or large bird.


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## lilyloo

I don't know that I would leave an adult vizsla outside unattended, either. I know my girl would be very upset if she was left outside. However, we do leave her out of her crate. We started this when she was around 9 months old. 

Definitely don't leave a puppy unattended, inside or outside, unless you're willing to deal with the consequences!


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## Watson

The way we taught Watson to be "alone" was done while we were home with the help of a crate. He spent a lot of time in his crate for the first few weeks he was home. It was a bit difficult for us since we wanted to cuddle with our brand new puppy, but one of the best pieces of advice from our breeder was *"The more confined your puppy is the first few weeks at home, the more freedom they will enjoy as an adult for the rest of their life!" *


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## Rick

Hi, we have a 15 week old V pup, Meg. We had not planned to get a crate but it's been the best thing for everyone! We now crate her at night and also when we go out, always leaving her with a kong or similar chew toy. She now loves her crate and goes in there on her own. We have encouraged it all the time, even feeding her on her crate to reinforce the positive experience. 

When we first got her she slept in her cage downstairs, and for the first two weeks we actually slept in the same room down stairs, we basically camped downstairs but she now sleep on her own all night...most nights!

It has worked really well for us.

Hope this helps.


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## mlwindc

Watson said:


> The way we taught Watson to be "alone" was done while we were home with the help of a crate. He spent a lot of time in his crate for the first few weeks he was home. It was a bit difficult for us since we wanted to cuddle with our brand new puppy, but one of the best pieces of advice from our breeder was *"The more confined your puppy is the first few weeks at home, the more freedom they will enjoy as an adult for the rest of their life!" *


Agreed heartily! Wilson was crated at night until he was 13 months old... And gasp -- he was crated on a separate floor and never never whines or cried and always happily went into his crate. He was well exercised and loved and happy to go to bed at night. We also crated him when we weren't home until he was about 11 months. We started with 20 mins, then an hour... Eventually 3-4 hours for a few months. At about 14 months, we stopped crating him so he is loose in the house for 3-4 hours in the morning and another 3-4 in the afternoon after his walker comes and leaves. I wouldn't leave a little puppy alone outside for any amount of time while you are gone -- you never know what might happen. Also, the openness of it may cause him stress and anxiety.

Fwiw - Wilson is now 16 months and sleeps on my bed, on top of the covers. He's also loose all day. No outside unless we are with him. He enjoys a tremendous amount of freedom - my friends can't believe he's loose and does okay when we aren't home. We attribute it to his getting plenty of exercise and being taught good house manners, since he was only ever inside when we were supervisjng


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## JessicaUK89

Hi Koda, congratulations on your little boy he's beautiful! 

We went through exactly the same thing with our puppy Peppper, I had the first week off work so the no sleep wasn't too bad, but when I went back to work it was hard having no sleep and working in the day. 
We started her off with a crate in our lounge downstairs, she loved it and it was definitely her 'den' other than at night when we were upstairs and she would cry and cry for hours!.. Eventually we moved her into our bedroom and she slept through the night other than a toilet break. She's now 13 weeks old and we've recently moved her crate out into the landing, she sleeps through the night in her crate on the landing happily.

I think there was a lot of change in her life at just 8 weeks old and she just needed us close until she built some independence.

Good luck


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## Lenalou

We were so lucky with Toby. We have a play pen with his bed that is just off our kitchen. He cried and barked every few hours for his first 3 nights but we didn't go to him. Instead we walked downstairs without the lights on, past him to the kitchen, then back again with no contact, just so he knew we were around. He then settled within 10 mins, although we didn't! On the forth night he was amazing and didn't cry once, and hasn't since. We tend to go to bed 10.30 and get up 6.30-7.30 and it's very rare for him to have an accident. We have two children that haven't slept in our room since they were babies so we were adamant we wouldn't have a dog in our room, or upstairs. 

He's also been brilliant when we go out. I give him a really good play, or nowadays a walk and know I can then leave him for up to 3 hrs with no fuss or accidents a couple of times a week when I work. Our neighbours say they've not heard him bark and his newspaper never moves. 

I personally feel happier leaving him in a pen, where he can walk around and toilet if desperate, than a crate. But that's just my opinion


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## tknafox2

Speaking of sleeping arrangements...
Only a VIZSLA could manage this!!!


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