# Need Help Breaking BAD HABITS



## suzannethemom (Oct 27, 2015)

We have a 2 year old Vizsla and we are adopting a puppy in June. I read that we need to resolve all bad habits of the 2 year old before the puppy arrives to avoid mimicking bad behavior.

Issue #1 Chloe pounces on us when she is excited. She puts her paws on our chest and scratches our arms for attention, especially when she first sees someone arriving home.

Issue #2 Chloe scratches the side of the chair that we're sitting in when she wants to play. We tell her "no scratch" but she thinks it's a game. When we throw her a toy, she returns with the toy and scratches the chair. She won't release the toy because she wants us to chase her. If we don't, she continues to scratch the chair.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I'm guessing by pouncing, you mean jumps up on you when standing. I don't do this to puppies, but will to dogs her age if other things have not worked. 
Have some one just stand and act normal. They don't call the dog or interact with her. You walk up to them with her on a loose leash, with her at your side. The leash being loose is important, and she needs to have on a flat collar. As soon as her front feet come off the ground, yank her sideways. Be sure it's sideways, and not back. Some dogs are going to yelp, and most of it is from being shocked at happen. Don't praise, scold, or coddle her. Stand for a few seconds, and then walk away with her on lead. 
Walk a good 20 feet away, and have her do any command you choose. Praise her for doing the command, and then repeat the walk towards the person. Most dogs get it very quickly, and stop jumping up on people. 

The scratching at the chair gets her what she wants, and that's why it continues. We all have small things we let them do, that we really shouldn't. My June will roo at me in the late evening. She wants me to sit on the floor, and watch her play with her toys. 
I consider it a time reserved just for me, and her. So I don't try and change it. It's just one of the small things I allow. 
If I have late evening plans, I try and remember to initiate it myself. That way she has her one on one time.

If it was something I wanted to stop. I would make sure you do toy retrieves with her on your time schedule. These dogs love to interact, so you don't want to stop the game. You just trying to stop her from demanding it. Put her on a leash, and then have her sit, or down. Wait 10- 15 minutes, and then you initiate the toy retrieves. Once the game is over, put her back on down, or sit if she tries to scratch at the chair.


----------



## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

I like the no-jumping training. I'm going to try it with Charlie, who's much better about it, but still has room for improvement.


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Keep in mind, it may hurt Charlies feelings a little bit. It needs to be a sharp correction. They get over it quickly, but it's not the positive training that they are accustomed too.


----------



## Rbka (Apr 21, 2014)

Great suggestion for the jumping training by TR!

We trained our boys not to jump by stepping on the leash when new meeting people out walking (so they simply couldn't jump up) and blocking them with our hands when we saw they were readying to jump. We also trained an "up-up" command with patting our chest for when it's allowed which I think helps. Nico never puts his paws on a person unless invited and Sam (now about 5 months) very rarely jumps up anymore, he just wags uncontrollably.

My suggestion for the evening is get a high quality chew treat to distract. Bully sticks (best price is on amazon) or frozen kong may do the trick? Or as TR said, initiate a play time interaction and then maybe teach a "game over" or "no more" command for when the game is done.

Good luck!


----------



## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

texasred said:


> Keep in mind, it may hurt Charlies feelings a little bit. It needs to be a sharp correction. They get over it quickly, but it's not the positive training that they are accustomed too.


Charlie's feelings are not easily hurt - he shrugs off corrections that would put Daisy to tears, so to speak. And while I prefer positive training, I use corrections (negative), too.


----------



## viszla (Apr 28, 2017)

Viszlas are very committed to their owners all they want is LOTS attention and just to please them and be pleased. I have same problem with my 6 months old Ziggy and I am open to any suggestions as well!


----------

