# Night Sharkies and Agitation



## vizslanewbie123 (Jun 24, 2021)

Hi everyone!

I have been reading what feels like every post on here, but I haven’t seen anything exactly like what we are experiencing. Our girl is 14 weeks and sharkies are in full force. I’ve read all about them and understand the behavior is normal at this age, but my concern comes in the evening when it is really bad. She is sharkie almost all day, but we use the usual tricks during the day: divert to toys, say ouch/walk away, get her going on a sequence of tricks to distract and she backs off. When she’s really crazy we go into the crate (in a positive way and with treats) to calm down. 

In the evenings it’s a different story. I basically cannot even pet her without a full attack and she is constantly growling/barking and just seems on edge. At this time she’ll also get agitated and random things (food bowl, a toy etc) and growl/bark. She barks at me and bites when I try to give her a toy or basically approach at all. It also seems to only happen when I have her alone, and it’s like she’s really frustrated with me specifically. We haven’t been able to snuggle at night at all bc she has to go in the crate to settle down and can’t even chew a toy or bone next to me without switching to attack after mere minutes. 

I was worried she wasn’t getting enough sleep but after a few days of strict enforced napping she truly was not tired and would stay awake just playing in the crate during the times I was trying to add naps. Her normal schedule is sleeps through the night until around 7am, naps 730-830/9 and another long one mid morning. Then around 2 shorter naps (1 hour) in the afternoons.

Is this still normal sharkie behavior? Or am I doing something to set her off? I am the main person who trains her and am with her all day. She’s sharkie with my husband as well but behavior is definitely worse with me. I have gotten used to the cuts and bruises, and I am honestly just worried something is wrong with her or I’m not doing something right training wise  and less worried about myself.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Is this happening around 6-9pm by chance? Its around the most difficult time that I can remember. Its a form of "tired energy" which is quite paradoxical to understand. It seems that they go through this crazy mode before finally turning off for the rest of the night till morning. Seems it is a common phase they go through. I don't know of anything that really prevents it from my research on this board and experience raising Ellie so far. There are things you may try to help manage the episodes.

edit * - I don't think that you are "setting her off" in any way. The sharkies are not them trying to hurt or attack us, and they don't single out people to hurt intentionally. She thinks this is an appropriate way to "play" and is choosing lucky you to "play with". It is our job to help teach them that sharkies is not a proper way to play with humans, the hard part is that it takes a lot of time and effort to teach them. You'll see how she plays with other dogs especially of her same energy level. The snarls, sharks, barks, jumping, body slamming, etc. V's like to play rough! In time she'll learn that humans play other ways that are super fun and to safe the crazy stuff for playing with other dogs.

Your nap schedule seems fine, but maybe try having one longer nap like 1.5-2hrs in the mid afternoon instead of two 1 hour afternoon naps. Try to keep with a schedule in terms of set times for the naps. They work better with predictable structure. Dialing in the nap/activity ratio is the best key to reducing the early evening terror sharkies from my experience. What also helped us in dealing with the early evening zoomie shark was dinner time puppy corral time. While we ate dinner at the table, we placed Ellie in a puppy corral next to the table with toys and a blanket. She absolutely hated it at first and tried pushing it all around trying to get out. With perseverance on our end, she finally accepted that she needed to be in there while we were eating at the table. She would chew on her toys and play if she wanted to or just lay down. Then after dinner she was let loose while we cleaned up and got the house ready for the evening. All of us moving around were targeted for sharkies so we had to be on our toes. We'd kick toys around for her while we took care of the kitchen, etc. By the time we were ready to sit on the couch around 8-9pm she was at the tail end of the early evening terror sharkies. Potty trip, then couch and _usually_ would quickly settle into snuggles. What also helped was a ton of all kinds of toys all over the place to use as self-defense implements. Ellie learned so well from our copious use of "get your toy" and shoving it in her sharkie mouth since the early days that she now automatically grabs one when excited and has the urge to shark on us or guests. It is a rule now whenever greeting people, even just us uncrating her in the morning or when coming home to "go get your toy" before she's allowed to come near.

I'm not going to lie, this was a tough period for us getting through the various sharkie phases, but hang in there!

Ellie at this age was up at 5-5:30am, so I have no pity on you for your girl sleeping till 7am!!! Maybe the extra sharkies are a blood payment for sleeping through so well, I would have traded my blood early on for that !  lol all joking of course!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

What your going through is normal.
In the vizsla world, it’s known as the witching hour. That does not mean it only lasts a hour, but it does happen in the evenings.
They turn in to little red Tasmanian devils. Leaping, barking, growling, and sinking those little needle teeth into everything they can.
It’s a lot of fun for them, not so much for us.
The next morning, they are back to being our sweet little puppy.
The only time I’ve not had a vizsla puppy act this way, is because I had another vizsla to take the brunt of the witching hour.


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## vizslanewbie123 (Jun 24, 2021)

Thank you! Yes, we’ve definitely been lucky on the sleeping!!! I researched crate training for months prior to getting her and she had no problem from day one! I wasn’t quite as prepared for the sharkies but have learned a lot and thank goodness for this forum! It’s all worth it for the moments (though currently few and far between) where she’s a little cuddly bundle of joy.


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