# 3 month old male puppy



## Algie's mom (Dec 7, 2021)

We've had Algy for almost 3 weeks. He sleeps thru the night in his crate and is generally well behaved during the day. He is well exercised and socialised each day. Once it turns 5 pm, though, a devil dog appears. He's been exercised and played with his toys and then he eats. And then he just goes nuts, I mean truly nuts. He bites his feet, has frantic behaviour and is not quieted by interactive toys like bully sticks or other chews, even those with a little hemp butter on them. He basically becomes uncontrollable. He is now in his crate in another room screaming his head off. What is most distressing is that I am a retired dog trainer and I've always felt like there are solutions to this type of behaviour. But I've been unable to find one. Wondering if anyone has had an issue similar to this and has found a successful solution. Thank you in advance.


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## suveran (Oct 22, 2021)

_Hiya Algy's mom, _
_Is there an allergic reaction happening to the food? My Vizsla had this issue as his bloodline was directly from Hungary,
Perhaps an IDEXX test?_
_Cheers _


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## Algie's mom (Dec 7, 2021)

I had taken him for a walk thru the woods yesterday and I know we went thru some nettles. So I gave him a bath last night and he seemed better, in fact fell asleep after the bath. It's been 40 years since I had a sporting breed and I don't recall this intense behaviour but I am also 40 years older and perhaps a bit less tolerant than I used to be. I'm really hoping I can get a handle on his excitability. Trying different things but I am feeling discouraged.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Food, environment, routine. Changes in these have the biggest impact, positive and negative, on dog behaviors.
"Well exercised and socialized". What does this translate to as far as schedule? 
I will tell you that Finn, my current Vizsla, is nothing at all like my first Vizsla, or Vizsla's 2-5, through the years. He was, as you put it, uncontrollable at certain ages. Just a nightmare. However, he was not biting himself, he was biting us. The biting of himself seems a little "neurotic" to me.
Some dogs get "over tired" and negative behaviors can develop and come out, but they aren't biting their own feet. That it happens every day at about the same time, seems a little odd also. That he calmed down with a bath is also interesting. Maybe the diminishing light is effecting him, or maybe at that time period for some reason he has anxiety and the bath calmed and reassured him. Obviously you can't give him a bath every day, but a dry toweling is possible.
One other thing to check is his teeth. He should be in the process of losing puppy teeth, and it could be that the evening meal is bothering his teeth. Try giving him an ice cube and see if he chews on it to get a little relief from cutting new teeth. Maybe even have the vet check to make sure that his adult teeth are coming in properly.
My additional advice would be to mix up his routine in a controlled manner, and see if he calms a little bit. Maybe put a training session in during the times he goes bonkers and see if that snap him out of it.

Don't get discouraged. Finn, my 26 month old, was also a nightmare as a puppy. Of the six Vizslas I've had over a 35 year period, he was the worst by a far. Not even a second close.
Nothing worked! Not positive reward based training. Not discipline based training. Nothing.! He did what he wanted to do and nothing short of physically restraining him would stop him, and then you had Wrestlemania on your hands. My hands looked liked I'd been stringing barbed wire at times. It stopped at about the 8 month mark, and all I can attribute it to is genetic breeding and immaturity. He just had to "get past a point".
He is still a very excitable dog in new situations and with new people, but in the field, with a bell on his neck, he has laser focus. He is completely different outside the house, than inside the house. He is getting better though, and I'm betting on maturity and age to resolve some of the behaviors. He also just got neutered, so that may have a slight calming effect. Maybe.

Vizslas are kind of like the Ferrari's of gun dogs. All that athletic ability, speed, and intelligence, in one small package is a lot. They can be a little hyper at times. Of course mine is asleep on my foot right now, at 9am, demonstrating me to be full of baloney. 

Keep with it, find the routine that works for this phase, and you'll be past it all by President's day. It's not that far away.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Every vizsla puppy I’ve owned has had a witching hour. Some worse than others, but they all seem to get a little wound up in the evening.
They are either over tired, or over stimulated. This leads to them acting like little red Tasmanian devils, then they crash, and fall fast asleep.
If you know your pup has had mental, and physical exercise. That he is not hungry, just stay calm when this happens.
Either your pup will follow suit, or it’s tired and needs to be crated for a nap.


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## Mrs M (Jul 21, 2021)

suveran said:


> _Hiya Algy's mom, _
> _Is there an allergic reaction happening to the food? My Vizsla had this issue as his bloodline was directly from Hungary,
> Perhaps an IDEXX test?_
> _Cheers _


We’ve found that food and any allergies to food impact everything.
Our Oscar had gut issues when he was a pup and we were advised to put him onto chicken and rice.
Not knowing that he can’t tolerate chicken at all. 
He used to go nuts every night and on our last walk in particular jumping and biting.
Also had a couple of mini seizures which we were advised by the neurologist could have been caused by gut issues.
Once off the chicken and onto a raw diet we’ve seen a huge improvement.
No further episodes and behaviour improving all the time.
His dad and grandpa were both Hungarian imports.


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## Kai (Nov 25, 2021)

Algie's mom said:


> We've had Algy for almost 3 weeks. He sleeps thru the night in his crate and is generally well behaved during the day. He is well exercised and socialised each day. Once it turns 5 pm, though, a devil dog appears. He's been exercised and played with his toys and then he eats. And then he just goes nuts, I mean truly nuts. He bites his feet, has frantic behaviour and is not quieted by interactive toys like bully sticks or other chews, even those with a little hemp butter on them. He basically becomes uncontrollable. He is now in his crate in another room screaming his head off. What is most distressing is that I am a retired dog trainer and I've always felt like there are solutions to this type of behaviour. But I've been unable to find one. Wondering if anyone has had an issue similar to this and has found a successful solution. Thank you in advance.


We have similar behavior with ours, but we have littermates, which allows them to spend that BVE (Big Vizsla Energy) on each other. 

We take multiple walks, hikes and dog park trips to expend even more energy than yard time alone. 

Structure and routine as you know, is also paramount.


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