# Bites and aggressiveness....



## Mift (Apr 12, 2021)

Hi all, 

We have had our girl for 2 weeks now and we love her very much. She is great most of the time and I am very torn weather to send her back to the breeder or not.

Here are my thoughts:
She is ok in the crate. Definitely doesn't love it, but she is ok after 3 min of whining, and she falls asleep. She sleeps around 4 hours at night, which I think is great. We only wake up for her once and then go back to sleep till the morning time to go pee again. I haven't been able to get her to just love her crate. During the day she is never mellow. If we are not playing with her, or feeding her or training her she is trying to bite us. She doesn't really go for furniture unless is wood, but she seems to prefer our skin. She will not go to sleep no matter how tired she is until we put her in the crate. Which is more challenging to do in the day since she hears us and wants to just be out of there. 
Her potty training g is going ok. She still has accidents but they're just random ones. She doesn't really like the grass and I feel that's why she doesn't want to go outside but we are working on that.
Everything is pretty normal with her being a puppy, except the biting. I have had puppies before but never a vizsla and I know they can be bitey and might go away soon but she is not just teething, she actually goes for any part of skin she can find. If we are playing with her and hold her toy to throw it she snaps and bites legs, fingers, arms, anything that she sees skin. We have tried to redirect it and until we are able to get to hold her and take a few bites, she stops. But as soon as we put her down she starts growling again and biting. I read that it could be that she is hungry or tired, but we have kept up with her schedule on both, sleep and feeding plus quite a few treats through out the day for training. 

We play with her at least 3 times a day for 10 min each and then we train for another 10 minutes through out the day. She knows how to sit, down, roll over, and relax (even though she is just pretending to relax and doesn't actually relax lol she just lays on her side) 
She is great with that but once training is over and there's no more treats, she starts running everywhere and pees a little and then growls and comes toward us. No matter where the biting lands. I've tried teaching her to wait or to be gentle but it hasn't worked and we are bleeding from many places now since her bites are not just nips. 
I feel so torn. I really want her to be our family dog and be sweet but she doesn't even like to cuddle unless we pick her up and she ends up falling asleep. But that's it. And we haven't done it too much since we want her to be ok in her crate.
Are we doing something wrong? Is she too aggressive to be a family dog? I feel like I keep forcing it to just be a puppy thing but yesterday it was all day of having to protect my body from her and I don't want to live like this. I also don't want to seem like an irresponsible and just want to give her back for nothing. It has been challenging and deep down it feels like this won't go away just with training.
We don't have the option of running her or taking her out since we live in a condo and she is not fully vaccinated yet.
Help me


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## InTheNet (Jun 1, 2016)

Mift said:


> Hi all,
> 
> We have had our girl for 2 weeks now and we love her very much. She is great most of the time and I am very torn weather to send her back to the breeder or not.
> 
> ...



I think you are expecting to much.!
At 10 weeks or so they have little if any attention span. The biting /growling is just play at this time. ( search for "shark attacks and zoomies) Her teeth are razor sharp and yes you will bleed!
Until you reach about 6 months of age when things will start to get better you will need all YOUR self control. 
Vizsla pups are known for being mouthy. In the long run you will have a great friend but the first 6 months are hard no matter how prepared you thought you were.

It will get better.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Sounds like you have a bad case of sharkies. We went through this period with our girl, and seems most people do. Biting, zoomies, jump/zoomie/bite, ripped clothing,etc. We too considered asking the breeder to take her back a few months in. Hang in there. Our is 6mos now and all of that is in the past! She's too little to do anything other than redirect. We purchased tons of toys, amazon has some great dog toy bundles with lots of rope and other things. We scattered them all over the house to use as self defense tools to redirect into the mouth. As she matures you can start using techniques like getting up and leaving her when she gets too mouthy so she learns that behavior drives you away.

She will basically need nonstop attention for some months. Unless they are sleeping or crated, it will be nonstop attention even if it is just making sure they aren't getting into trouble. As she grows, mental stimulation games will be very important. Also can't stress physical exercise enough too. As soon as she's vaccinated its time for some short walks now and getting longer as she ages. It seems off leash free run time is a requirement for this breed, they will never get tired walking no matter how far it is at a human pace unless maybe if its really hot outside which wears them down quicker. Start planning on spaces you will be able to take her for safe off leash run time, at least 45min-1hr per day. When old enough a doggy day camp a few times a week could also help a ton plus give you a break.

Reading this forum really helped us learn and hope the same for you!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I wouldn't label it as aggressiveness.
She sounds like a normal Vizsla puppy. At her age, they can turn just about any game, into a bitey game.
They like it. They growl, they bark, they bounce around, and they latch on with those little needle teeth. Hands, feet, clothes, it's all fair game to them.

They do get better, and lose those needle teeth. You just have to stick it out the first couple of months while they are learning.


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## Gidget (Jan 6, 2010)

We were exactly where you are 7 months ago. This is normal Vizsla puppy behavior. They are a lot of work but as others have stated, it does get better. Our girl is now 9 months old and still mouthy but does not bite. She is our second Vizsla and is much more “driven” than our first was. As a young puppy, we too thought about returning her to the breeder since she was so much more intense than our other one had been. We Decided to put the work into it and stick with it. She has settled in nicely. Training early is important, playing games that keep her mind going ( when she is a little older ) and lots of exercise is key. We have had other breeds of dogs and our vizslas have definitely been the toughest as far as puppyhood is concerned. They are absolutely the best dogs though and we would never go back to another breed. Stick with it. With time it will get a lot better!


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## CanadianVizsla (Mar 5, 2021)

We just went through this as well. Our guy is almost 5mos now, but it's been a lot! Try to re-direct with chew toys. Have a schedule where you can play and tire them out and then have some solid crate naps. Outdoor time is key and some socialization in a puppy class helped too.


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## ana19 (Jun 26, 2020)

Mift said:


> Hi all,
> 
> We have had our girl for 2 weeks now and we love her very much. She is great most of the time and I am very torn weather to send her back to the breeder or not.
> 
> ...


SHE IS NOT AGGRESSIVE! Aggression is really really really rare in puppies. She could just be over tired or over stimulated. Rest rest rest! Also, enrichment!!! It can calm her down and provide her with a job. I have a post on that. Good luck and enjoy in puppyhood as much as you can


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## ana19 (Jun 26, 2020)

Also, reward for calmness


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## maulik13 (Apr 20, 2021)

We are a new Vizsla puppy owners getting him at 8 weeks and today is our 3rd day. The biting and jumping has increased a lot today, especially on the skin. What we noticed is that whenever he is too tired he gets crazier. Yesterday we were excited to take him out around the house (we live on a hill, so there is some slope involved) and probably we pushed him too much. I read somewhere that a puppy at around 8-9 weeks need at least 16-18 hours of sleep (correct me if this is wrong), so we are now trying to shorten our puppy's active time after he wakes up and this has worked better, meaning less biting . 

As for the sleeping, what has worked for the most parts for us is make him fall asleep on our lap first. When he is almost down we put him back to his bed and this works mostly fine. Me and my wife work from home so this gives us this possibility and we distribute our workload. We are thinking to have crate training in a week or two once he is comfortable with us and the new home. We try to remind ourselves that he is in a completely new place, with new people and new smells so we have to go easy. But it is a constant struggle to find a balance between forming habits and allowing him to be a puppy. 

I am not a naturally dog person (but I wanted to be hence we got the puppy), so biting and barking feel like an attack to me. So I am also re-training my brain and keeping patience. And I keep telling myself, the worst case is I might bleed a little


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## maulik13 (Apr 20, 2021)

ana19 said:


> SHE IS NOT AGGRESSIVE! Aggression is really really really rare in puppies. She could just be over tired or over stimulated. Rest rest rest! Also, enrichment!!! It can calm her down and provide her with a job. I have a post on that. Good luck and enjoy in puppyhood as much as you can


Would you mind sharing your post? I would really appreciate that.


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## ana19 (Jun 26, 2020)

maulik13 said:


> Would you mind sharing your post? I would really appreciate that.











A thing that changed everything for Aron and me...


Hello guys, I wanted to talk about a thing that changed everything for Aron and me because I don't think a lot of people actually do it. It's called enrichment or mental stimulation. We all know how Vizslas can run and run and run for 6h and still be like brand new, right? That excess energy...




www.vizslaforums.com




If you have any questions ask, I'm always down for a good chat.


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## maulik13 (Apr 20, 2021)

ana19 said:


> If you have any questions ask, I'm always down for a good chat.


Thank you very much. I will keep that in mind  

We just followed you on Instagram and you have some really great tips and photos!


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## ana19 (Jun 26, 2020)

maulik13 said:


> Thank you very much. I will keep that in mind
> 
> We just followed you on Instagram and you have some really great tips and photos!


Of course! Puppyhood was really challenging with Aron so I know how you feel. Instagram is @aronvizsla for anyone interested in following our journey 😊


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