# Young Vizsla and Babies



## Falcon (Aug 24, 2021)

Hey everyone!

I have been doing a lot of research around the above (title) and wanted to check in with all of you experienced owners.
We have just bought our first house (yay!) and are planning on getting a Vizsla puppy (first time V owners, I have xp with Springers my SO would be first time dog owner) sometime before Christmas this year. We are also planning on starting a family - ideally in a year or so.

I know that having a newborn and a puppy is a ridiculous idea however, a 1 year old and a newborn? Would that be more manageable? We have two cats and there will always be someone in the house. I am a firm believer in obedience training and plan to take the dog to agility every week.

tia


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## CaitlinButters (Aug 10, 2021)

Hey! Thats our plans exactly! We have just got our V "Butters", she's 12 weeks old now and we plan to have a baby by the time she is 1 year old or a bit older. I'd be interested to see the responses from this also. 

Currently, I could not think of anything worse than having a baby with this puppy haha. I love her now, but 2 weeks ago I was ready to send her back. She is a handful! I know every puppy is different and ive talked to people who said their V didn't even touch a tissue. Thats not what I got. Mine loves EVERYTHING. Loves to bite me. Is not bothered by a growl or a firm "NO". She is very hard to discipline. The good thing though is that she is toilet trained and sleeps through the night. Thank God for this forum! It has helped me get through the really rough days and let me know my Vizsla is normal, as well as ALOT of YouTube tutorials. We work with her everyday to promote manners so hopefully it pays off.

From what I have heard it can go one way or the other. As in, they are really great with kids or they develop terrible anxiety from it. Only time will tell and It just depends on the individual dog. My advice is to be picky with your breeder and ask all the questions so you can narrow down the type of dogs they breed.


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## tulipspink (Aug 27, 2021)

1 year old would get along in less time with pups. I have a 4-year-old dog who's really attached to me and when I introduced them my 4-year-old seems like he could kill my new pup. Advice: introduce them outside your home, a dog park would be great.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

tulipspink said:


> 1 year old would get along in less time with pups. I have a 4-year-old dog who's really attached to me and when I introduced them my 4-year-old seems like he could kill my new pup. Advice: introduce them outside your home, a dog park would be great.


The OP is asking about human babies, when you have a adolescent Vizsla.


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## Falcon (Aug 24, 2021)

tulipspink said:


> 1 year old would get along in less time with pups. I have a 4-year-old dog who's really attached to me and when I introduced them my 4-year-old seems like he could kill my new pup. Advice: introduce them outside your home, a dog park would be great.


I think there may have been a miscommunication here - I was asking about a 1 year old pup with human newborns


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I was a scaredy-cat, and waited until my kids were in junior high, and high school age before my first vizsla. I had owned other sporting breeds, but waited on this one. As both are very time consuming. 
A lot of people are able to juggle young kids and vizsla puppies, but keep in mind, it is also one of the top reasons Vizslas are rehomed.

Vizsla puppies are soo sweet and cuddly one moment. The next moment, they are little red Tasmanian devils. You work through that, and then the adolescent age hits. They act like you never taught them anything, and test every boundary. I call them the clowns of the bird dog breeds. I love, and laugh at all the antics, but others become frustrated.
Keep in mind, a vizsla can clear a baby gait, without a second thought. Some respect the boundaries, and others look at it as a challenge to get to the other side.

if I were in your shoes. I would choose what I wanted most. Do that first, and then decide if you have the time, patience, and energy for the other.


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Our V Fred is now 14 months old and we’re expecting our first (human) baby in 2 months. Since we knew we wanted to start a family within 1 or 2 years after getting our pup I’ve spent a lot of time socializing her to kids and babies. I’ve noticed her to be very soft and calm when kids are around, but with older kids (starting from 1) you need to keep an eye out because from my experience Fred will tolerate everything but that doesn’t mean she enjoys it all the time. She needs her safe space too.
Anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes in a few months 😊


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Our daughter was 8 when we got Ellie and it was a bit of a nightmare for a few months. My wife and I both agree that our V Ellie was more work than a human baby. She is 10mos now and is a great dog yet still of course requires a lot of attention throughout the day including at least an hour off leash hike. Keep in mind that most of the time with these dogs you can’t just let them out back to run around and self-play. They need to feel like they are working to what they were bred for. I see it as a duly hike, she sees it as a daily hunt e.g. anything is possible with enough determination and of course there are people that can pull off a V pup with a young human, personally I wouldn’t try.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Each situation will be different. Each puppy/dog, and newborn/toddler will be different, but it is being done successfully in thousands and thousands of homes world wide every day with success.
A one year old Vizsla can still be a rambunctious little pain in the butt, but hopefully nothing like they were at 12 weeks old. If it's timed correctly, your Vizsla will be closer to two years old when the child begins to walk. A two year old Vizsla is much different than a one year old.
You'll have to set boundaries and rules and don't believe in any of the myths that dogs have some type of instinctive quieting, protective, behaviors when it comes to newborns. An infant crawling around on the floor is going to very interesting to a young Vizlsa. 
Pick your breeder and puppy carefully if at all possible. Be very honest about your lifestyle and what it is you desire the puppy to grow into. I think too often people pick "the best puppy" from "the best breeder", with "the best lines", but may not understand exactly what the breeder is breeding for. The "best puppy", may not be the the best puppy for them. 
Expect puppies from proven, high powered, field and gun dogs lines, to be a handful as puppies. That relentless, forward, driven, behavior is very much desired in a gun dog, or field trial dog.
If your lifestyle is a "quieter" lifestyle, maybe pick the puppy that the breeder has noticed is more quiet and reserved than it's siblings in a litter.
A well bred Vizsla is a high powered dog. The term "velcro" is relative.


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

For me personally it was a thought through decision. Since the baby hasn’t arrived yet, I cannot give you my experience but only offer you my thoughts on why we decided on a puppy first, and a baby preferably 1,5 - 2 years after.

Having a puppy first, gave us all the time in the world to spend on her training and now Fred will be exactly 1,5 when the baby arrives. In 1,5 years time I’ve taken as many training / courses as I could (puppy- and basic obedience, hunting and tracking). I have a well behaved gentle and well socialized V who is now starting to calm down / behave like an adult (somewhat). In this time Fred and I have bonded really strong. I’ve never experienced such a bond with a dog before.

We feel that we are now ready to welcome a baby into our family. Plus, we’ve already learned a bit of parenting ;-)

I’ve met other pregnant women who had a really young puppy (10 weeks old) with a baby coming in 2 months. I feel that that would be not ideal as you won’t be able to spend al those training hours in the first year of your pup. They say training hours count twice before the first year. Having a toddler and then a puppy for me just didn’t sound ideal either. I wanted a V for so long and I really wanted to spend time on bonding and training first.

I think the nicest part about having a puppy first is that the two of them can grow up together. When Fred is 5 y/o our child wil be 3,5 y/o. Both Fred and our kid will have to learn strict boundaries with eachother. But I’ve really found Fred (and I believe V’s in general) remarkably soft with little kids. At dog parks Fred prefers playing with kids over other dogs.

I am reading a lot on introducing dogs to a baby, especially with a young dog that is very attached to me, I think this should be done very carefully.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Reading @Frida010 and @gunnr 's posts reminded me of a few things with our current V and our past GSD.

a) The importance of the type of breeder and heredity of the pups. As Gunnr mentioned what a hunting V expert thinks is a superlative V may not be the best family V. Super high drive and energy may not be all that someone is looking for in a family pet. Our GSD came from a breeder focusing on IPO. She was a very high drive dog with an insatiable appetite to work. I had to run her through IPO style training sessions daily or else she wouldn't know what to do with herself. With Ellie our V, comes from a rich line of field dogs and I need to get her out in the woods/fields daily in order for her to be happy. She had a few sessions of hunt training and will be starting back up in the fall when our breeder/trainer resumes them.

b) I have to say that puppy before baby as Frida010 mentioned is what we did with our first dog. We waited until the puppy was almost 2 before having our first human baby. This was ideal for us as we got to focus on the initial training and upbringing of the puppy and to be honest really prepared us for our first human child! It is amazing how many dog training behavioral concepts also work on us human animals as well! If I had to do it again, I wouldn't change a thing. We were in a similar situation. Married for a year, bought our first house, got our GSD puppy, then waited a year and started working on a baby. Fast forward now our daughter is 8 when we got Ellie our V, it was a difficult first few months but well worth it!


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## John N (Sep 11, 2020)

texasred said:


> I was a scaredy-cat, and waited until my kids were in junior high, and high school age before my first vizsla. I had owned other sporting breeds, but waited on this one. As both are very time consuming.
> A lot of people are able to juggle young kids and vizsla puppies, but keep in mind, it is also one of the top reasons Vizslas are rehomed.
> 
> Vizsla puppies are soo sweet and cuddly one moment. The next moment, they are little red Tasmanian devils. You work through that, and then the adolescent age hits. They act like you never taught them anything, and test every boundary. I call them the clowns of the bird dog breeds. I love, and laugh at all the antics, but others become frustrated.
> ...



Please Note:

Other Breeds of Devils are available on Request!


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Dan_A said:


> Reading @Frida010 and @gunnr 's posts reminded me of a few things with our current V and our past GSD.
> 
> a) The importance of the type of breeder and heredity of the pups. As Gunnr mentioned what a hunting V expert thinks is a superlative V may not be the best family V. Super high drive and energy may not be all that someone is looking for in a family pet. Our GSD came from a breeder focusing on IPO. She was a very high drive dog with an insatiable appetite to work. I had to run her through IPO style training sessions daily or else she wouldn't know what to do with herself. With Ellie our V, comes from a rich line of field dogs and I need to get her out in the woods/fields daily in order for her to be happy. She had a few sessions of hunt training and will be starting back up in the fall when our breeder/trainer resumes them.
> 
> b) I have to say that puppy before baby as Frida010 mentioned is what we did with our first dog. We waited until the puppy was almost 2 before having our first human baby. This was ideal for us as we got to focus on the initial training and upbringing of the puppy and to be honest really prepared us for our first human child! It is amazing how many dog training behavioral concepts also work on us human animals as well! If I had to do it again, I wouldn't change a thing. We were in a similar situation. Married for a year, bought our first house, got our GSD puppy, then waited a year and started working on a baby. Fast forward now our daughter is 8 when we got Ellie our V, it was a difficult first few months but well worth it!


Good point on the breeder information. Our V comes from a breeder that does not breed for fieldwork or shows, but openly admits to breed for a family dog (selecting on temperament and health rather than drive or appearance). Fred’s mom and dad are very easy-going and super soft, which translates into a very mellow nest. Compared to other dogs, Fred is still a Vizsla. But compared to other V’s she really is very easy-going.


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