# Do Vizslas always need a job?



## RedRosie (Jul 5, 2021)

Do Vizslas always need a job? My 12mo old Rosie is still struggling on walks. She's pretty well behaved during walks around our apartment, but when we take her to a new forest preserve or other stimulating environment, she struggles to contain her excitement. This manifests itself in lots of pulling on the leash, biting/eating grass and plants, and pretty much forgetting I'm even there. I've tried to engage with her in these new environments with high value treats and toys, and sometimes she won't even take the treat she's so over-stimulated 😳. These are treats she goes NUTS for in other environments. 

My usual method in the forest is to let her explore for a couple minutes, bring her focus back to me with some easy commands and high value treats, and rinse and repeat. That focus is hit or miss however - sometimes she does well and is able to regulate her excitement and do the commands and other times (like today), she loses it at some point and goes into zoomie zone. Due to laws in the area, I need to have her on leash and anyways her recall isn't good enough yet where I can trust her in a new environment.

I've noticed that in general Rosie does best when she has something to do (which makes sense given the breed). She's excellent in obedience and agility training, and really loves it. She's focused, engaged with me, and has a blast. When we go to a forest preserve however, she's just kind of sniffing around without a purpose. I'm wondering if this lack of purpose or a job, combined with the already-exciting forest and being on leash, is too much for her right now.

V owners - do you guys ever have over-excitement issues on walks? Have you found successful ways to give your V a job in exciting new environments? Rosie is doing so well in so many other areas, but this is a big one I'm still trying to figure out.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Our Ellie is 9mos old now and can say that the zone they get into when it seems they don't seem to care that you exist is kinda normal. I've also read on this forum a few times that at around 8-15mos they go through a rebellious stage as they mature testing boundaries and may result in re-visiting earlier training methods just when you think you have everything dialed in.

While the leash rules are pretty strong where I am, I have found secluded wooded areas where I'm permitted to lawfully be while letting Ellie have off-leash time. She is permitted to do her zoomies, explore, chew on grass, stalk, and smell every inch as long as she stays within fairly decent sight range of me.. usually around 50-100 yards or so. Of course recall and such type practice / training is essential. We worked up from a harness with 25/50/100ft leads then moved into an e-collar or combination of all. I get Ellie out almost every day for a 1 hour woods off-leash hike and it does wonders. I practice her recall and commands like "wait" when i want her to stand still during her check-in. I guess you can say that she views this activity as a job. In her mind she is hunting and stalking prey, and in my mind I'm training a dog to stay around me a certian distance and to come back to me when asked.

It is quite possible that Rosie's instincts are awaken when you take her out to a forest and she's just brimming with angst to act. I would personally look into long lead/harness training with her to give her some freedom whilst still adhereing to the leash rules.


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## RedRosie (Jul 5, 2021)

Dan_A said:


> Our Ellie is 9mos old now and can say that the zone they get into when it seems they don't seem to care that you exist is kinda normal. I've also read on this forum a few times that at around 8-15mos they go through a rebellious stage as they mature testing boundaries and may result in re-visiting earlier training methods just when you think you have everything dialed in.
> 
> While the leash rules are pretty strong where I am, I have found secluded wooded areas where I'm permitted to lawfully be while letting Ellie have off-leash time. She is permitted to do her zoomies, explore, chew on grass, stalk, and smell every inch as long as she stays within fairly decent sight range of me.. usually around 50-100 yards or so. Of course recall and such type practice / training is essential. We worked up from a harness with 25/50/100ft leads then moved into an e-collar or combination of all. I get Ellie out almost every day for a 1 hour woods off-leash hike and it does wonders. I practice her recall and commands like "wait" when i want her to stand still during her check-in. I guess you can say that she views this activity as a job. In her mind she is hunting and stalking prey, and in my mind I'm training a dog to stay around me a certian distance and to come back to me when asked.
> 
> It is quite possible that Rosie's instincts are awaken when you take her out to a forest and she's just brimming with angst to act. I would personally look into long lead/harness training with her to give her some freedom whilst still adhereing to the leash rules.


This is very helpful, thank you! When you first started out on the various lead lengths when Ellie was learning, did she pull a lot, and if so how much pulling did you allow? I'm curious as to how her behavior transitioned/progressed during the training phases of your hikes in the woods.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

@RedRosie , Ellie sure did pull a lot with the harness and lead and still does to this day. The harness is pretty much made for pulling if you ask me, it is super comfortable for them to do so. The reason for using it with the long lead is that the lead will get stuck and the harness is much safer than a collar to have on when it does that especially if they are running fast.

I would use a collar or prong collar for walks on a 6ft lead for no-pull training and walks. Then switch to the long lead and harness for when you get to a more secluded area for the pup to run about. I learned from this forum to tie a larger knot in the long line at the end, and maybe a few along the length of line as well to act as grabby points for you. It may be helpful to wear a glove(s) when using this if you need to grab it and not get a rope burn. What I did was to start with the 50 or 100ft lead, and let Ellie have freedom whilst keeping her near with whistles, commands, etc but generally let her run about. Continue walking around, they pay more attention to you when you are moving than just standing still from my experience. Helps keep her paying attention. Keep positioning yourself so that she would have to run past you dragging the lead to get away. If its coming close to getting to the end of the line without her staying near you, simply step on the lead to halt her, redirect, and start the process again. The knot at the end will also eventually get stuck on sticks, bushes, trees etc so even if she did get away she won't get too far in a wooded area. While doing this , she most likely won't pay too much attention to you the first few times as she'll be super excited. Try your recall command with lots of praise and reward. Throw a party, make being near you super fun, then give her the release command to let her go out again. Anytime she checks in with you, acknowledge with praise or even reward when she's close by.

Just a heads up , the advice here is compiled from me reading the veteran's advice on this forum with some of my own twists! I just want to avoid taking all the credit. 

As for pulling on the leash, this technique using a flat collar has been the most effective. Pulling on lead.. not listening to commands help!


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## RedRosie (Jul 5, 2021)

Dan_A said:


> @RedRosie , Ellie sure did pull a lot with the harness and lead and still does to this day. The harness is pretty much made for pulling if you ask me, it is super comfortable for them to do so. The reason for using it with the long lead is that the lead will get stuck and the harness is much safer than a collar to have on when it does that especially if they are running fast.
> 
> I would use a collar or prong collar for walks on a 6ft lead for no-pull training and walks. Then switch to the long lead and harness for when you get to a more secluded area for the pup to run about. I learned from this forum to tie a larger knot in the long line at the end, and maybe a few along the length of line as well to act as grabby points for you. It may be helpful to wear a glove(s) when using this if you need to grab it and not get a rope burn. What I did was to start with the 50 or 100ft lead, and let Ellie have freedom whilst keeping her near with whistles, commands, etc but generally let her run about. Continue walking around, they pay more attention to you when you are moving than just standing still from my experience. Helps keep her paying attention. Keep positioning yourself so that she would have to run past you dragging the lead to get away. If its coming close to getting to the end of the line without her staying near you, simply step on the lead to halt her, redirect, and start the process again. The knot at the end will also eventually get stuck on sticks, bushes, trees etc so even if she did get away she won't get too far in a wooded area. While doing this , she most likely won't pay too much attention to you the first few times as she'll be super excited. Try your recall command with lots of praise and reward. Throw a party, make being near you super fun, then give her the release command to let her go out again. Anytime she checks in with you, acknowledge with praise or even reward when she's close by.
> 
> ...


This makes a lot of sense. Thanks for all the detail - super helpful!


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