# Do you wrestle your Vizsla?



## AcadianTornado

Haha, ok... So here's one of my guilty pleasures:

I have an almost daily/nightly WWE style wrestling match with Whistler before going to bed. He just LOVES it. And he knows its coming because he races upstairs around bed time.

I know this sounds "childish" but man does he ever love it and it brings out the big kid in me too 

....so I'll go upstairs and semi wrap him in a sheet and just flop over him as to trap him a bit or tumble him up a bit... The sheer joy and fun he has is amazing. He'll just want to got at it like crazy!!! Loves every second of it and the beauty is that he tires out super quick. I also use it when he's super excited to train him to calm down really quick. It's amazing to see how he can go from Superman in a second to a crawling turtle the next. The most amazing thing is that it's like a flick of a switch: when I tell him its over, he understands...

With my 6 foot 4 frame its just easy to flop over him and pitch him around a bit. Granted, I don't have Rudy's monster pythons he calls biceps  but still have enough of these stringed beans to give Whistler a good go at it...

Am I the only crazy one here doing this? :

I'll take a video of this soon...


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## lilyloo

No, you are not alone! My husband wrestles with Ruby all the time, especially when we wake up in the morning. He does the same thing as you and wraps her up in the sheets and flops her around. She LOVES it. I'll try to sneak a video next time I remember.


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## datacan

Yes, we wrestle and also encourage jumping on appropriate ground surfaces only (never on shiny, slippery floors). We wrestle for treats and pure speed and stamina.
As part of my training fun with a V... would not dare do it with a Shepherd dog that was not properly bite inhibition trained. Sam has my whole arm in him mouth...


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## born36

Yes we do this too. Only Mac always cheats and smacks me in the face with his paws! Cheeky dog. He is soft as anything with his teeth and always has a whole hand or arm in his mouth.


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## MCD

I dunno. Mark seems to wrestle with Dharma. I don't approve of it. I think it encourages her to bite more and she does not have a gentle mouth yet but that is being worked on daily by the "mean and nasty ogre of a trainer"(Me). I guess it helps to burn some of that high energy off though. One more thing for her to do other than do zoomies around the open concept main floor.


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## texasred

It must be a man thing.
My husband wrestles with Cash every evening when he gets home from work. I think they both look forward to it.


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## Kobi

I like to wrestle Kobi... although not as often. I have to be a bit more tame about it now as our other dog has aggression problems, and getting Kobi excited can bring out the b**** in her. 

When he was younger he would always try to mouth at me and make sorta half growl sounds as he did it. That turned into a game where I would move my hands really fast around his face and he would try to grab them. He never hurts me, but sometimes manages to get my hand. The funny thing is he also has the "off" switch. As soon as I say "no biting", his ears go back, he settles down, and starts licking me. He knows exactly when to stop!


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## giandaliajr

I wrestle with Berkeley too. I dont do it every night, mostly when i need to distract him from bugging my wife while she is working. He knows as soon as i get on the ground on my knees its time to play. I wont film it because its probably too embarrassing, but he enjoys it. Periodically, i stop and tell him to sit and he is pretty good at knowing to stop and sit. As long as there is some control i think its a positive training tool instead of negative. Occasionally he will get a bit rough and i just tell him no bite and he closes his mouth and just tries to wrestle with his head and front legs. Afterwards he always has that big panting grin on his face, although he is never ready to stop.


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## Watson

TexasRed said:


> It must be a man thing.
> My husband wrestles with Cash every evening when he gets home from work. I think they both look forward to it.


Maybe not completely a "man thing", as I wrestle with Watson quite a bit as well.  
My husband doesn't have the patience to, since it's a lot of rough play but training as well - ie teaching him to control himself and be gentle. He loves it!!


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## texasred

No, this is full on leaping, Cash hanging on his arms. Them rolling around on the floor. Heads get smacked together and cloths can get torn.
I did teach Cash No More. He will stop as soon as he hears the command. But until that time, he is a puppy in a 4 year old body.


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## GarysApollo

Not at all.

When I had only Apollo we would wrestle all the time, now that we have Ares also there is no room for me they wrestle each other non stop.


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## Rudy

Doc they call the Holiday ;D

Warriors age as well

as time waits for few

Your Passions and spirit and fun are awesome 

and My guns at now only weenie 19"

shameful 

are stringers not the dingers of years past 

The Pec decked has held on ;D

Yes we wrestle and they win

its more fun to pass the fun to them



Give more then you get

and remember nerves can be all destroyed broken necks, backs, brain bleeds and even strokes disease can be wared if you have guts heart and grit

A Muscle never forgets if its a earned fast muscle high reps mass sets

they save me still

and the Gun slinger might be the Doc"

He is a up and comer 

I am just trying now some fun

pushing 60 its just a number

give more to the reds

the String bean I am ;D :-X :-\

next time in the chair far less gas 

I thought I heard the bell

round 12 ;D

The once triceps that humbled Hogans roider arms now may just be a puffer fluff Cupcake to me 

thank Lord I still have the pink easy bake oven


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## redrover

I'll wrestle with Jasper, though it causes me some bruises and scratches! He likes to "box" and that beats me up pretty bad. My favorite is to wrestle him outside in the winter, because I'm covered in a winter coat and snow pants, so it's less problematic for me. 

He has been taught "All done," so that he knows when to stop, plus the tried and true "Ouch!" He loves to wrestle! I don't do it all that often, but most of the guys we know will wrestle with him, so he gets very excited when we visit them! One friend in particular could roughhouse with Jasper all day!


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## AcadianTornado

Ahhh! I guess I'm not the only ''big kid'' after all!! ;D ... but no 19 inchers here... hahah, more like 9 inchers if that... hahah, glad to see we're all having fun and enjoying our pups!

MCD,... ''mean nasty ogre of a trainer...'' ...I LOLed at that comment! We are all trainers, mentors and leaders to our pups.. no harm there! Just means we're being leaders to our champs!

8) 8) 8)


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## MCD

Yes I admit it.... I do wrestle with Dharma a bit. Thank you for the LOL Acadian Tornado. We have been going through some very rough times with Dharma and the crate and the potty training and the Schooling thing. I have been very hard on myself in regards to our puppy who means the world to us. We are starting to show signs of progress.


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## datacan

Yes, keep it up MC http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vxtETfCAdN4&feature=related



Wrestling is a great way to train stop or sit or stay. The best part, no treats needed.


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## Vizsla Baby

Vizsla's do love to wrestle. Fortunately ours have each other. They are prohibited from doing it in the house but spend a lot of time outside tugging toys & wrestling. It WEARS THEM OUT! ;D


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## grnyg

I do not think it is silly at all to wrestle with one's Vizsla, though my opinion is biased by the amount of roughhousing Guszti and I do on an almost daily basis. Soon after I come home from work, he will come see what I am doing and will have that look in his eye and then will stretch out to invite me to 'attack' We will slap each other around, get tangled up in blankets/towels, and in the summer I will pick him up, toss him across the back yard just to get him really riled up. He is a great companion for everyone in the family, but the wrestling is something he and I do almost exclusively. He always seems to know whee the line is drawn and like other posters have mentioned his mouth is still soft, and despite some pretty rough wrestling, he has never bit me, sweet dog.


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## Nelly

Oh yes! Nelly could take the best of them. She and Martin wrestle. A lot. 

I do sometimes but like MCD I am the horrible headmaster and end the game quicker. Great for training. Pays dividends for when she is roughhousing with other dogs and you can see one is getting fed up. 

'Enough!' Everyone takes a break. 

Nelly is a master initiator (see below!) Martin was trying to do stretching exercises :

http://instagram.com/p/ej3_ZsRYaM/


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## MCD

Unfortunately 2 weeks ago Dharma got overwound outside playing and bit my hand quite badly. It could have needed stitches but the DR. decided to leave it open. Roughhousing and wrestling is not permitted any more until we find an off/on switch for "Miss Dracula Fangs". I wish it didn't work this way............


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## redbirddog

I sometimes go into work on Monday morning with scratches on my face. "Wrestling with the dogs again, huh Rod?" All I can do is smile. 8) Keep the nails trimmed short is my suggestion on the subject.

RBD


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## Kafka

Nelly: that is an awesome video. Made me lol! Thanks!


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## Nelly

Sorry about that MCD! What age is Dharma? Quite young if I remember? I should point out that wrestling sessions were a lot shorter when Nelly was younger because of the over excitement. 

I learned to spot when she is going to peak and become too rough, Nelly eventually learned that we are boss and too rough is game over. 

Hope your hand heals quickly! 

Chloe


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## MCD

Dharma would have been about 12-13 weeks old at that time. We had just finished playing with the kick it chuck it ball. I got it away from her- I guess she jumped and caught my hand. I don't really even know how it happened but she does get aggressive and overwound from playing that way. She is quite aggressive with her own toys though too. I think I'm starting to learn from experience with her when we need to stop.


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## Nelly

That is the only way MCD. Of course good advice along the way has been invaluable to me but the bottom line is getting to know your dog individually and one day you will just realise you know them like the back of your hand. 

Does she guard toys and resources? Have you had a look at the book 'Mine' ?


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## MCD

No she lets me take things away from her. She lets me put my hands in her food dish. I can hand feed her treats etc. She is quite gentle with my hand in her mouth as I let her chew on my fingers sometimes and I chronically have to pull out bad things that she should not be putting in her mouth in the first place. It is just finding that on/off switch and getting to know her better. We have also started seeing a realty good trainer who seems to be making a difference in her focus too.


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## Nelly

That all sounds great and the learning is fun for everyone. 

I found that teaching Nelly to look at me is like a focus switch where there are distractions.


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