# Vizsla Behavior/ wife pregnant/baby



## JaC12 (Apr 14, 2021)

I was curious if anyone else has ever had an experience like this. So my wife and I have a 7 month old V and we also just welcomed a new born baby into the world just 6 short weeks ago. (Yes we are crazy, a puppy and a newborn at the same time) While my wife was pregnant, i was the one who spent most of the time training, walking, etc. our V, so my wife didn't really have the energy to do all of the things with our V like I did. I noticed that when i would take our our V out of her crate in the morning, she would be calm and collected but if i wife ever did that, she would be going bananas, jumping up and down, super excited, constant for about 5 minutes until she settled down. This as you can imagine got kind of old, especially for a pregnant woman. Fast forward to today, she still does that to my wife every single day, jumps up, goes crazy etc. just wondering if it's because i had spent more time with her as a puppy.

As for the behavior change that i've noticed since our baby was born, she seems to not want to eat when we put food in her dish, she used to eat right way in the morning but now will let it sit for a few hours. not sure if that's related having a baby or if it just changes as they get older.


----------



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Hey there! I’m actually 6 months pregnant myself but in contrary to your wife I have spent most hours with our V (14 months old) from the start, and during my pregnancy I’ve followed a weekly hunting training up until this week (final exam). I have to admit my pregnancy has been quite easy so it allowed me to continue training. I haven’t noticed any change in her behavior since my pregnancy.

She sees me as the one in charge, mostly I believe because I consistently reward good behaviour and train her extensively. She listens to my boyfriend, but tests his boundaries a lot more often. When I’m around she usually looks at me for confirmation after he gives her a command. I never confirm but usually look away in order to enforce my boyfriends command. She rarely follows up his commands right away and definitely defies him more often.

In my opinion, the behaviour of your 7 m/o teenager has probably nothing do with pregnancy but everything to do with the amount spent on training.

As for V’s with newborns, no experience here ;-) but I’m reading a lot of information on this forum about it. I can’t wait for my V and my kid to grow up together so I completely understand your choice of a puppy and a baby  Hope you’re doing well!


----------



## JaC12 (Apr 14, 2021)

Frida010 said:


> Hey there! I’m actually 6 months pregnant myself but in contrary to your wife I have spent most hours with our V (14 months old) from the start, and during my pregnancy I’ve followed a weekly hunting training up until this week (final exam). I have to admit my pregnancy has been quite easy so it allowed me to continue training. I haven’t noticed any change in her behavior since my pregnancy.
> 
> She sees me as the one in charge, mostly I believe because I consistently reward good behaviour and train her extensively. She listens to my boyfriend, but tests his boundaries a lot more often. When I’m around she usually looks at me for confirmation after he gives her a command. I never confirm but usually look away in order to enforce my boyfriends command. She rarely follows up his commands right away and definitely defies him more often.
> 
> ...



Great to hear and congratulations! yeah i was just more curious if others had a V that one spouse was more in charge than the other, i think she is just testing my wife to be honest but i wasn't sure if that was something that others experience. My wife just didn't have a lot of energy for a puppy, so props to you! our V was still only about 5 months old when we had our baby so sounds like you had a few months on us with the Vizsla age. I would agree that it probably doesn't have much to do with pregnancy but what came with our pregnancy, me being the one doing most of the training etc. and it really isn't so much training, having her sit, etc. it's just the over excitement that she has for my wife and others really, she doesn't jump up on me at all. 

My wife's job also doesn't allow her to be as flexible as me. Overall our V is great and i'm sure its just a puppy stage that shes still going through. my sister has a V that grew up with her 3 girls so we can't wait for them to become best friends! appreciate the feedback.


----------



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

JaC12 said:


> Great to hear and congratulations! yeah i was just more curious if others had a V that one spouse was more in charge than the other, i think she is just testing my wife to be honest but i wasn't sure if that was something that others experience. My wife just didn't have a lot of energy for a puppy, so props to you! our V was still only about 5 months old when we had our baby so sounds like you had a few months on us with the Vizsla age. I would agree that it probably doesn't have much to do with pregnancy but what came with our pregnancy, me being the one doing most of the training etc. and it really isn't so much training, having her sit, etc. it's just the over excitement that she has for my wife and others really, she doesn't jump up on me at all.
> 
> My wife's job also doesn't allow her to be as flexible as me. Overall our V is great and i'm sure its just a puppy stage that shes still going through. my sister has a V that grew up with her 3 girls so we can't wait for them to become best friends! appreciate the feedback.


I’ve experienced my V becoming a lot easier after she turned one, but I have to say that over the following year I have actively folllowed obedience classes as wel as hunting training.

But honestly the commands that matter most to me during daily management are: “place” which mean go to and stay on your bed. At this command she defies my boyfriend many many times by leaving her place without giving a ‘free’) and I usually only have to send her back once (she is still testing this every time). Solid recall, as well as “wait” (before crossing streets or paths leashed and unleashed). We taught her “no” which keeps her from stealing food or destroying anything in the house but doesn’t keep her from eating gunk of the streets. And all these commands only really started to work around the time she turned one. At 7 months old I very often questioned if it ever got easier. But it does. But adding a baby to that is definitely a big challenge and yes, I am glad we got to get that extra few months in. However af 7 months we started to introduce her to young kids already and I am still maxed by how careful she is with kids. Can’t wait for her to meet the baby and grow old up together. 

Goodluck!!


----------



## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

No experience with babies with V’s but our girl around 7 mos stopped woofing down her food. She now eats some breakfast then saves the rest for lunch when we get back from the woods. Then she’ll eat anything from half to all dinner depending on her mood.


----------



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Dan_A said:


> No experience with babies with V’s but our girl around 7 mos stopped woofing down her food. She now eats some breakfast then saves the rest for lunch when we get back from the woods. Then she’ll eat anything from half to all dinner depending on her mood.


Yup mine does too, actually she was never a big eater. Not even as a pup. If she skips breakfast / dinner I let her, unless she has daycare or we have extensive exercise planned. Then I drizzle a little cheese on top and she eats right away. Even switching food never made her eat better (we feed her Orijen now). She is a small / short girl and weighs 22 kg (48,5 lbs). She looks very lean but not skinny. I believe at 7 month old she weighed about 75% of her current weight.


----------



## C1w (Jul 22, 2021)

When your pregnant, you can also train the dog and everything Just let her do this or the dog is above your wife in rang


----------



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

C1w said:


> When your pregnant, you can also train the dog and everything Just let her do this or the dog is above your wife in rang


I’m going to assume you wrote this after you experienced pregnancy yourself, and you are not a man writing this. But even after experiencing it, this is not something you can judge others on.


----------



## LMP (Oct 25, 2020)

Couple ideas for the craziness when getting out of the crate 

1) open the crate door and scatter food on the ground. Eating is calming for dogs and after he finished eating he probably won’t resume jumping and will learn a new habit to exit more calmly. This is probably the faster of these two options to get results. 

2) have your wife open the crate but ignore him until he is calm. Eventually he will learn, but this one may take a little more time. He isn’t actually learning to be calm, but he is just amped and excited for attention as soon as he leaves currently


----------

