# How to entertain our 5 month old Vizsla/Crate training



## Jonesythewonderpup (Oct 31, 2020)

SO happy to have found this forum! Our family of seven got our first dog ever, our beloved vizsla Jonesy, 2.5 months ago (he is currently almost 5 months old). I have to be honest, as much as I love him, there are times when I would give him back to the Breeder in a heartbeat if she asked. He is just so much more work than I realized. We really researched and felt that this breed was right for us, and practically signed our life away to a good Breeder before getting him, but I have had five kids and I honestly think that right now, he is harder than a baby. My question is, he is on basically this schedule; crate (1-1.5 hours or so, walk for about 20 minutes (or as long as he will go)... then what? It is getting cold in Pittsburgh and he hates the cold so he wants to go back in, but then he tears our house apart. Our dog trainer Has taught us to work in training with him and the dog is brilliant when there is a treat in it for him... but then what? I feel bad just putting him back in his crate after a half hour, but we don’t know what to do with him and can’t have him tearing through the house. Our trainer recommended deer antlers but he gets bored within 30 seconds of those. We full the dog toy pacifier with peanut butter or a treat, but again, it only entertains him for a minute or two. I will be honest, we didn’t realize we would literally have to entertain this dog every second that he is not crated. Please tell me this will get better! And any advice on what to do with him/how long he should be out of the crate for each “outing.”/and toys that might entertain him would be greatly appreciated!!! We love him dearly and are committed to him, but he is a LOT of work!


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Fred is 6 months and we have the following scedule:

8:00 wake-up, potty, food, playtime or 5-10 mins training
9.00-11.30: back in crate while we work from home
11:30-12.00: potty break and 30 mins chewing on a bone.
12:00-13:00/13:30 walk to the park where she has off leash playtime with other dogs, playing fetch and walk around the park while we practice on recall and heel (off leash).
13:00-15:00 crate time
15:00 -15:30 potty break, short play or training session
15:30 - 18:00 is when she usually hangs out around me, chewing on a bone or cuddling or annoying me ( but I let her). I may put her back in her crate at some point, or take her out for a game of fetch if my work and the weather allow it. This is usually the most varying moment in the day where I let it depend on whatever I feel like.
18:00 -18:30 dinner for Fred and me cooking while we practice down stay
18:30 - 19:30 potty break and then crate time while we have dinner
19:30 - 22:00 watching tv and sleeping and cuddle time
22:00 potty break and bedtime

So all in all she spends a lot of her time in the crate, she sleeps a lot. At 6 months they still need 18h of sleep so make sure you do that. Puppies get a lot more annoying and destructive when they don’t get enough sleep.

Outside the crate Fred hardly ever settles unless she has a chewbone or is cuddling with me. She can play by herself for about 15 mins but usually tries to get me to join in. Without a large stock of chews, she would’ve destroyed a lot more in the house. We practice long down stays while I prepare dinner to teach her to settle.

So my answer would be: more crate time and more chewtime should help your pup to be less destructive. Also start working on down stays for a longer period (10-20 mins).

For chews we vary between rawhide (bully sticks are alltime favorite), Fred also likes to devour puppy sticks (super thin raw hide sticks), bull tail, and filled rawhide bones, pigs ears, etc. I try to buy the more durable raw hide stuff. No organs, that’s done within 30 seconds. I bought an antler but I can’t stand the cracking sound of her chewing it.. I’m scared it’ll break her teeth. Honestly we do spend a lot on chewbones. She doesn’t get the Kong, doesn’t like her nylabone. Spoiled brat.


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## Jonesythewonderpup (Oct 31, 2020)

Frida010, thank you so much for your helpful response! That is about Jonesy's schedule too... thanks for sharing that he needs that much sleep. I didn't realize that. Also, thanks for the suggestion on specific chews. I can tell Jonesy needs this but everything the breeder suggested (nylabone or kong bones) and the dog trainer suggested (deer antlers) have not held our pup's interest for more than a few minutes at first, then not at all. I will buy some bullysticks today!! Question: what do you mean by "working on down stay." How do you work on that? Also, have you found an effective way to keep her from jumping up with her two front feet onto kitchen counters or the table? Jonesy has started doing this repeatedly and trying to grab food off the table or counters. Our trainer suggested spraying him with water, but that is not deterring him at all. Thank you so much - your response was greatly appreciated and so helpful!


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

No problem! I’ve had a lot of great advice on this forum. Time to do something back whenever possible. 

Out breeders gave us one piece of advice: “when your pup get’s out of control, she needs to go to bed”. And that advice really proves to be gold advice for us.

Hopefully the bully sticks will last!

Down stay: I strongly recommend Kikopup YouTube channel. She has fun games to teach the concept of down stay. For example this vid: 



 and also her approach in capturing calmness: 




What I do is, while preparing dinner I put her pillow close to me and tell her to lie down. I start with praising and rewarding every 10 sec and build up to every 3 mins or even 5 mins between rewards. Eventually she settles and just relaxes near me. When she stands up I ask her to lie down again and start with higher frequency rewards. She can decide to walk away, but she is not allowed to hang around near me except for lying down on her pillow.

About counter surfing: Fred is trained not to steal food, even if it falls on the ground. She doesn’t counter surf, if she even sniffs at a table or the kitchen counter we tell her ‘no’. We have spend a lot of time teaching her ‘no’ in all situations. I started teaching her no with again another video from Kikopup: 



 and after she understood the concept I started placing rewards really close to her nose and asking her to leave it. Next step was dropping food off the kitchen counter and asking her to leave it. We now practice it so much that she looks at me for a cue anytime I drop food or a reward on the floor. I can tell her to leave it (“no”) or “ok get it it”. This also works when we place food on the table, even on the couch or on the ground. She’ll leave it.
Dogs learn by their succesrate. Fred never learned to grab food, so she doesn’t know the pleasure of success. In your case, Jonesy already knows what her reward when countersurfing so you need to: 
1: diminish her successratio to zero Bh leaving nothing on the counter
2: reward her generously when you tell her ‘no’ or ‘leave it’ and she actually backs off or sits down. 
This actually goes for anything she needs to leave alone. In a few weeks it could turn around. But rewarding her generously is important. Jonesy is perfectly able to weigh her options. 

But - she is ofc just a puppy so walking out of sight is not what you can expect at this age. Also outside the house (on a walk) Fred still can’t leave anything sticky or smelly.

Goodluck!


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## Kazi (Jun 8, 2020)

Frida010 said:


> No problem! I’ve had a lot of great advice on this forum. Time to do something back whenever possible.
> 
> Out breeders gave us one piece of advice: “when your pup get’s out of control, she needs to go to bed”. And that advice really proves to be gold advice for us.
> 
> ...


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