# Goes crazy during walk!



## Entities (Jun 26, 2015)

I have a 4.5 month old Vizsla. Me or my wife take him for walks daily but lately atleast with me when we turn around to head back he goes nuts. He pulls hard then he will start to run circles around me growling. Next he will jump and bite at anything he can get in his mouth. Today it happened when we turned around usually it happens closer to the house. 
It was hard to even get him home. Its also embarrassing having him so out of control. I try to just stop walking and let him calm down, doesnt work. I pull out a treat and give him a command works at times but as soon as he get the treat its back to being nuts.
It took everything I had to hold in my anger at him.

Help me!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

You own a vizsla, so be prepared for them to embarrass you at times.
I've done the stand on the lead, and wait on them to calm down. I've just sat down, and taken a break. I have also just done shorter walks where we only went 1/2 a block from the house, and then walked part of the way back, and just kept repeating the process. Lots of changing direction before the pulling/hoping around got bad. I've also just drove them to some place else to walk, and that took the crazy walk home out of the equation.
I don't know which way worked best, because I used all of them. The behavior went away over time.


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

x2 the suggestions you received from TexasRed. I tried all of them, too.

After one particularly bad episode, I was talking (whining) to a neighbor and she said occasionally dogs just needs to reconnect with you. Keeping that in mind, I started stopping during walks to sit down on the curb and talk to Savannah for a few minutes before getting up and continuing with the walk. Sometimes she wanted to be pet, sometimes she wanted some lap time, sometimes she just hung out for those few minutes and listened to me. 

I'm not sure if she had just gotten older while I tried different options or if this technique would have worked all along, but it solved (mostly) the going-nuts-on-a-walk problems.

Good luck!


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Yeah....

The easiest modification here is to your expectations. A 4 month old is a baby, and they're basically a very cute furry ball of impulses. The job of training is helping them manage those. Best to do it in bite sized increments.

So, in addition to what's been said, I'd start with shorter, more frequent walks on varied routes followed by some off lead play time..he's figured out that home means done...at that age, golly, the world is just so exciting who'd want to stop exploring it?... So if you change that a bit so home also means play time, he'd be anticipating fun instead of inside.

While you have him on lead, every time he's being good and not pulling, or when he's looking up at you with that face..reward him with a bit of cookie...or cheese, they love that and will do anything for it. Again, keep it fun and happy and figure out how long he can stay focused and figure a route that ends before that focus time ends, so you're ending before it gets into a power struggle. 

Also, don't reinforce his whining by coaxing him or giving him a treat, etc...pick him up and carry him home, but still play with him when you get there.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Oh, I do NOT miss those days. Dexter has had a couple recent episodes like that (now it's directed at Birch instead of me though, he just randomly needs to wrestle) and it was quite a reminder how much I hated that! The only thing I found to help with it as a pup was carrying a squirt bottle of water. That stopped him in his tracks. Of course, he caught on to that really quickly and anytime I forgot it at home, made an embarrassing spectacle. Now that he's been up to old tricks again (the cold weather makes him extra spunky) I can tell when it's coming (he gets bouncy and tries to pull to the side to climb on Birch). I just hold his harness or keep him on a very short leash until it's passed. It usually happens near home, too. I think he just needs a good zoomie around the yard to get it out of his system.



TexasRed said:


> You own a vizsla, so be prepared for them to embarrass you at times.


Get used to him embarrassing you (it won't be the last time ) and know that they do grow out of it (mostly!).


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

(I'm pretty sure on more than one occasion I actually had to sit on top of him in the middle of the subdivision until he relaxed. They can be ridiculous!!)


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## Entities (Jun 26, 2015)

Gingerling said:


> Yeah....
> 
> The easiest modification here is to your expectations. A 4 month old is a baby, and they're basically a very cute furry ball of impulses. The job of training is helping them manage those. Best to do it in bite sized increments.
> 
> ...


I try to keep reminding myself he is just a baby. He still bites hard though! drew blood with the walk the other day. 

It seems most outgrew it which is good. He does despise the squirt water bottle so thats definitely coming with us on our next walk. Also going to turn around next time and see if that stops him.
Have any of you done obedience school? if so was it worth it?


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Oh, those baby teeth are like razors! The squirt bottle is OK...I'm not a big fan of punishment, they often don't understand it and the result is that they can become fearful of you. I'd use this as a last resort for the really bad stuff.

Try to figure out how much he (and you) can tolerate, when it just starts to turn bad, and tailor the walks to that time frame. Again, if he loses control, just pick him up and carry him home. I think if he can begin to anticipate a bit of play time he won't mind going home as much.

My experience with obedience (as a pupil and a trainer) is that hey really vary. Most of the work is really training the owner...If he (and you) haven't been in puppy kindergarten I think that's an excellent place to start regardless.


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## Vizsla_Luka (Sep 8, 2015)

Oh I remember those days! My scars have finally healed and I've replaced the torn jeans and shorts...our Luka like most V puppies had really bad episodes of shark attacks whilst out on a walk when younger. I never figured out what it was related to as sometimes it was in the morning, sometimes after a short walk or sometimes after a long walk. most of the time it did happen in the evenings around 7-8pm. He'd get this weird look in his eye and really bear his teeth and bite HARD! I was at a loss and like you found it hard to control my emotions. Our neighbours who witnessed these episodes must have thought he was a really vicious dog! 
I know V's don't respond well to punishment and we only ever redirected when he was naughty. But my breeder had told me if he displayed really bad behaviour, to grab him by the scruff of his neck and shake him whilst saying "No" firmly. I'm not even sure he knew what No meant since we never used this word with him back then, but he did understand that I did not approve and he stopped shark attacking after doing this only twice. He'd still run around me and growl but he'd stop himself from jumping up on me and biting me.

Now he's 6 months old annd doesn't get shark attacks so hang in there and it'll pass!

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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

> But my breeder had told me if he displayed really bad behaviour, to grab him by the scruff of his neck and shake him whilst saying "No" firmly.


While some still grab a pup by the back of the neck, very few will recommend shaking them. 
Even a highly touted protection dog breeder/training has stopped using the practice with his GSDs, and I'm sure they can handle a lot rougher treatment than a V.
I think you could run the risk of making the puppy hand shy.


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## Vizsla_Luka (Sep 8, 2015)

TexasRed said:


> > But my breeder had told me if he displayed really bad behaviour, to grab him by the scruff of his neck and shake him whilst saying "No" firmly.
> 
> 
> While some still grab a pup by the back of the neck, very few will recommend shaking them.
> ...


I know, which is why I only resorted to this as a last option and I didn't shake him like you'd make a cocktail, more like firmly getting him by his neck and hold him closer to the ground. I guess I won't know what difference it made in his training but he's a very well behaved dog given his age and responding well to training. Everyone has a different opinion about what's right and what's wrong, but it worked for us (since I only ever did this twice - we're very patient with him!) and I don't believe it's necessarily had a negative impact on him or our relationship with him. Just wanted to share my experience, not saying whether it's right or wrong ^-^

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