# Normal or Insane??



## Bernie.B

Hey everyone. So, Aldo our 10 month old male is by far the most bizarre dog I've ever owned. I wanted to describe some of his behavior to find out if this is normal Vizsla personality. So, Aldo is very hyper - he never just lays down when in the house - always pacing around, looking for trouble. He gets a lot of exercise - an hour of walking/running/playing in the middle of the day, plus the same in the evening. He's taken out through the evening for off-leash play in the yard also. I've had him out jogging for 20-30 minutes and we'll come home, he will get a drink and pace around a bit, then sometime just flat out go bonkers. Running from room to room at top speed, boucing off the furniture (literally) acting like he got shot out of a cannon! I know these dogs have tons of energy, but I've drained him already to the point of him not wanting to even walk or run anymore, then 5 minutes later he's acting like a nut in the house. I usually just let him go banana's and then he will usually calm down somewhat, but he never gets to the point where he is just relaxed. Only time is once in awhile late at night if I keep him up passed his bedtime, he will sometimes lay on the couch with me, but even then, it seems like he just wants to fight the fact that he is tired. He also has a tendency to bite at us when he's in this frenzied state. I usually will put him in "time out" in his kennel when he gets really out of control, but he will typically come back out and start up with the same behavior again. I am at a loss as to what methods to use to get him under control, and am worried that this is going to be his normal behavior. I had thought that if these dogs got enough activity and exercise that they were "couch potato's" when in the house. That certainly is not the case yet, so I'm wondering if it is just his age? He does good with obedience when we can get him focused on it, and he is going to classes - but even there he is the dog that is always acting up, barking, trying to get to the other dogs, etc. I've realized that the training methods I've used in the past with my doberman's do not work with him, and perhaps I am partially (or fully) to blame for not being able to bring him under control. I know he is still a puppy, but he is not a very lovable dog sometimes when behaving the way he does. He acts like he is completely out of his mind! Just trying to gauge things compared to what others have experienced. Any thoughts, encouragement or ideas would be appreciated!!


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## jp

Normal. And insane. Not mutually exclusive in our case.


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## Crazy Kian

Kian was pretty much like that when he was that age.
We could let him run off leash and play and just be a dog....we thought that was the way to "tire" him out.
Then someone suggested "training" him... making his mind work. 
You'd be surprised how much that can tire him out.
All these dogs are different. I have met some V owners who say their V didn't calm down til he/she was 5 and others that have never had the issue since the dog turned 2.
You just have to something that works for the two of you.

Once we started out training sessions with his trainer it was like a light bulb was turned on in his head and in ours. He now "respects" : us a little better..sometimes he will push our buttons but now we know how to deal with these situations. Mind you, he is 16 months old now, so I chalk it up to "maturity" ;D

Good luck and don't worry, you guys will get there.


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## cooper

Cooper also bounces off the furniture.
He is almost a year and I think he may be calming down some.
One of the biggest problem is getting his attention.
When he is zoned in on something nothing else existed. I am not sure he even herd us 
let alone be able to follow our commands. We use a training collar. It beeps and it is enough
to get his attention so we can step in and stop the behavior. He is still insane but it has made a word of difference for us.


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## sarahaf

Normal. Rosie gets even more exercise than that (because she goes to an off-leash playgroup for several hours each day), but she still comes home and races around bouncing off things like you describe. Strangely, she does this more often when coming in from a long walk. I can't figure that one out, except that maybe it's just her way of winding down from the excitement of the walk (literally burning off some nervous energy).


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## Mischa

Definitely normal. 

To further back up Crazy Kian's reply, we're using the same trainer and are so incredibly grateful and relieved for/after each session. She's, and I never thought I'd say this, "the perfect dog" later that evening. Mind you, the next day, scary "Uncle Troy" is gone and she's back to her crazy self, but it's not the IWantToRipMyHairOutInFrustration crazy anymore. Just vizsla normal/insane.


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## Bernie.B

Thanks everyone for the replies. I feel a bit better knowing that this seems to be characteristics of the breed. I think the frustration comes more from not being able to find a suitable correction method for his unwanted behavior more than anything. I guess we will just keep on being persistent with using the kennel as a time out and hope that he starts to "get it". I will work more on obedience too, to see if this gets his mind more occupied. He's on a kick now of grabbing the sofa cushions off the sofa and just attacking them like they were some kind of mortal enemy! If I had a nickel for everytime I've told this dog "NO!", "DROP IT!", "LEAVE IT!", "DO YOU WANT TO GO TO TIME OUT?!", I think I could retire...


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## Mercutio

I agree with everyone else – normal and insane ;D I remember saying to our trainer when Merc was about 9 – 12 months that sometimes at 10pm at night I just wanted to sit down and relax. Her reply was “well that’s when you put him in his space with a kong or pig’s ear to chew on” and I remember thinking that she was insane if she thought that would work. The good news is another 18 months on (2.5 now) and we very rarely bounce off the furniture anymore and he actually comes in from his walk and curls up on his mat. 

As far as the sofa cushions go I found the best way to get something off the dog is to pretend I don’t want it (hard to do with expensive things though) and to walk a few feet away and play with something else, mostly he will get curious and come over to see what I am doing. Unless he has my gardening gloves which smell of fertiliser…… It may be that with always telling him “no” “drop it” etc you’re giving him the attention he wants. If you’re giving him something negative to do (“stop that”) it helps to give him something positive to do straight after (sit / shake - something easy) so that you can start replacing the bad behaviour with a good one. You can imagine that “don’t jump on me” is much harder to teach than “sit” or ‘drop”. Just persevere – you will both get there.


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## sarahaf

Rosie is younger than Merc and she doesn't fall for the distraction routine, so I think you have a pushover there If she wants to attack the couch, and you seem to think a toy is more interesting, you lose. Then again, maybe we're just not very convincing lol. We do have success though with pretending we DON'T want something. Especially on walks, when she gets a non-food item (vegetation, plastic, aluminum foil), if we get it from her and throw it in the bushes, she goes for it lightening quick to get it back--the only thing that works is to just ignore her until she drops it.


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## Mercutio

Yes we did luck in with Merc (in a few ways) in that inside the house he is quite easily persuaded that I have something better than he does. Outside he seems to know that there are a few things I will take from him and NOT give back (gardening gloves, expensive outdoor clothing and carcasses) and these things he will not give up under ANY circumstance. Well almost....... I did pretend I was taking his food bowl into the house the other day and to follow the food bowl he had to get past me so I could grab the gloves. You could see him weighing up the options. Fortunately his stomach won and I got my gloves back. But again, that wouldn't work on a dog that wasn't food motivated so yes, I am lucky


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## Tulip

I agree, the more exercise I give my dog, the more pumped and wired he gets, perhaps see if you can have a couple of chillout days and see if that calms him down a bit, get a few new toys in etc and do some shorter walks. Mine is still intact and I wonder if that has any influence? :


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## Ro-Ro

The "shot out of the cannon" is a perfect way to describe our little one as well.  If we can get to her and wrap her up in her blanket really tight and hold her, she calms down immediately and actually will fall asleep in less than a few minutes. it is really funny to see her run like a madwoman and then two minutes later be sound asleep on someones lap. Granted she is only 25 lbs right now so I'm not sure this will work much longer.


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