# Staying calm in a residence complex full of neurotic dogs



## rubicon (Dec 9, 2019)

Around last month I moved from Germany to Hong Kong with my Vizsla. I had to quarantine in a hotel so my parents took him and I feel like he’s developed a lot of problems since then.

One of the biggest is that he went from a country and neighborhood where there is a strong dog culture and most dogs are well socialized and well trained, to a culture (and high population density- people and dogs) where dogs are kept on leashes, with nowhere to play off leash or socialize normally.

spending a few days with him out of quarantine I feel like this has damaged his training significantly. Dogs here hate each other. I constantly see them barking at nothing, snarling and lunging at each other. Most of the dogs are also smaller than him. They aggro him and he barks and lunges back now and it’s become intolerable to see another dog because it’s always a contentious encounter.

We try to get him to sit but he does it for a little bit and if the other dog provokes him he starts flipping out completely. I don’t know what to do. I have a hard time controlling him and i hate seeing other dogs now. We used to have so much fun with dogs. We have to stay here for around a year before we move to a dog friendly country again and I don’t know how I’m going to get through this.


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

sounds though and fully understand your frustration. is there any way you can find some facilities offering dog sports/ training for dog sports? working brain and body during those events makes them much more manageable in my experience. also on the same token is there any country side settings you could access at least during the weekends? just throwing in some ideas, i understand that moving to a different continent and to a big city is a huge challenge and hopefully you can find a little `island` for yourself and your vizsla there too.


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## rubicon (Dec 9, 2019)

Gabica said:


> also on the same token is there any country side settings you could access at least during the weekends?


Our complex is around a 10 minute drive to a national park and a beach which is partly why we chose this place. It’s just that on weekdays it’s harder to access because we have less time to drive him there due to needing to work. It’s just that our walkable surroundings are a bit less dog friendly than we’d like. No major off leash areas. Didn’t realize this until we got here. I honestly thought we chose the best possible place for him. And maybe this is the best we can do in this city.

Socializing dogs don’t seem to be a concept here. I remember having my childhood dog here and honestly he never had a good play session with another dog in his entire life and he spent his life suspicious and wary of other dogs. I don’t want that for my V of course. he played SO well with other dogs in Germany. I don’t want him to start hating dogs here because one day we’ll move to the UK where I know he will make good friends again. Last night we were just walking down the street and saw another dog and he paused to glare at us from a block away! 

We’re also thinking of enrolling him in agility. Hunt/point/retrieve is not really a thing here either…


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

Is the 10 minute drive really that much of a problem? You're probably taking him out for an hour or so anyway, so another 20 minutes doesn't seem like that much. 'Course it doesn't help with the socializing.

If push comes to shove, Erdös might be better off with your parents. It would be a hard year for you, but a much better one for him. (I don't know how your parents might feel about that )


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

Beach sounds great, and national park too. I bet you guys will enjoy agility too. Look up rally obedience too, another great mind game, very enjoyable in my experience. Another one is scent work. i realize when you work full time in a new city you may have less free time as well, so some of those trainings maybe not accessible in a classroom setting. Rally obedience to a certain extend you can practice at home too, and plenty of lessons on youtube for that.


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## rubicon (Dec 9, 2019)

Bob Engelhardt said:


> I don't know how your parents might feel about that


Haha my parents live in the same complex. Almost a month with them with no routine might be the cause of his problems. I feel like the flight was at least a little traumatizing and then he’s thrust into a world full of unfriendly dogs and new handlers (my parents aren’t experienced dog owners to be honest. But they did us a HUGE favor given the circumstances).

As for the car it’s also theirs. We’re working out the drivers license and hopefully with some coordination we can convince them to let us borrow it every morning. For various reasons it would prohibitively expensive to have our own car.

I do have a bit of hope though. We decided to go back to the basics with him. Enforce rules he hasn’t obeyed in a while. It actually seems to calm him down and we were able to get him to stop flipping out and sit quietly when provoked. We went back to treat training and rewarding him for being calm around other dogs. He’s not as calm as we’d like yet but he’s already calmer than yesterday.

Met a neighbor with a big dog today too. I’m going to see if we can set up a rooftop (we have roof access but no yard unfortunately) playdate so our dogs can play off leash. My dad and husband are planning an epic weekend excursion for him. Hopefully that will settle his restless soul!



Gabica said:


> Rally obedience to a certain extend you can practice at home too, and plenty of lessons on youtube for that.


That sounds like just the thing to challenge him and tire him out! Thanks!! I think there is something like this in our area.


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