# 9 week old pup



## lisagary (Jun 1, 2012)

We collected our vizsla pup 10 days ago from the breeder, under the impression he was fully weaned and ready to join our family. On the 1st night he fell asleep in his crate, but woke up every hour on the hour. My husband slept on the floor with him, but he still wouldnt settle. Its not just a lonely whine, its a full on bark that can last for up to 4 hours. He gets so worked up that he vomits.We spoke to the vet, and he suggested puppy milk, under the impression he was still feeding off mum at night. Puppy milk did improve his sleeping pattern, but he has now turned vicious. When I say vicious, I dont mean teehing chewing, he generally growls and attacks. Has anyone got any advice on how to kerb this behaviour, we are well aware that vizsla's hate shouting, and this makes him worse.He isnt fully vacinated yet, so we are hoping its boredem, and once he can go out and explore it will die off.Any suggestions welcome, bearing in mind this is our 1st pup.


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## MagicandNucky (May 14, 2012)

Remember your pup is going through quite a bit at this time. He or she just left everything he or she knows in this world just a day ago. Pups often cry, whine bark etc. for a short period of time after going to their new houses. Give your pup time to adjust. In regards to growling, you have a baby on your hands. I highly doubt you have some sort of aggressive killer vizsla. It is probably just playing, if it is growling while eating you might want to watch that as your pup grows to check its aggressiveness with food. Other than that I wouldn't worry, you are probably looking at a few restless nights, but nothing much else.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Hi, lisagary, and welcome! I agree with what MagicandNucky wrote. I could tell that you are first-time puppy owners because what you have described is not at all unusual. Put yourself in the puppy's place. He has just been taken away from everything he ever knew... his mom and brothers and sisters, and brought into a strange, new place by aliens of another species. Dogs are pack animals. He misses his pack and you have not yet become his "new" pack. It will happen, though. 

What you describe as "vicious" behavior is probably the way he played with his littermates. Vizslas are known to have a fairly rough play style. I don't really believe there is such a thing as a vicious nine-week-old puppy. 

In deciding to raise a puppy, you have undertaken a challenge, and it would serve you well to buy a couple of good books on bringing up puppy, and plow through them. There is more to it than I can write in a simple post. Remember, they are actually puppies until the age of two years, Things will calm down way before that, though. Take a deep breathe. It's a big adjustment for you AND for puppy. Good luck and best wishes!!


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## kristen (Oct 18, 2011)

Try adding some sort of heat to the crate. You can get microwaveable pads that you heat up and place in before they go to sleep (it is more similar to sleeping with their siblings). 
Where is the crate located? I found that our little guy didn't like hearing or seeing us (he wouldn't settle down) so we actually put him on the other side of the house. Our guy also liked a blanket covering his crate. A couple nights and he should get accustomed to your routine. Oh and we've all been through it, mine would whine so hard he'd choke, and his screaming was so terrible it sounded like we lit him on fire. It does get better, I promise.


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## OttosMama (Oct 27, 2011)

Lisagary,

I agree with all of the responses you've received thus far. My vizsla is my first dog, and there were times that I too was nervous that we got "the aggressive pup."

I was warned by our breeder that our pup would SCREAM BLOODY MURDER the first few nights. I've never heard anything like it. He had told us to put the crate as far away from our bedroom as possible and ignore him when he cries - take him out for potty breaks during the night but don't pay any attention to him. We ended up sleeping in the room next to him with ear plugs that muffled the noise. 

I would suggest the same as Kristen - purchase the microwaveable pads for your pup for comfort - it will resemble the heat of his litter mates.

As mswhipple and magicandnucky mentioned, it must be a devastating transition - but he will get through it. Scour this forum for advice on puppies and behavior. Search YouTube for training videos - I found "kikopup" to be extremely helpful and thorough. Others here have suggested Ian Dunbar training books and videos.

Mswhipple is right - this is a continuously challenging task - but the rewards are huge and well worth your effort!!!


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## Katja (Mar 9, 2012)

After 2 nights of non-stop barking,we moved puppy's crate into our bedroom. Right next to the bed for a couple of nights, then to the other side of the room. No more barking.


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## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

From the very first night my Vizsla has slept in our bedroom, and we have never had a sleepless night...I learned this from a Weimaraner I had, I kept him in a crate downstairs in the kitchen on a night and I spent the first 3 months asleep with him on the kitchen floor.....I often laugh at that distant memory...


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

I know this is contrary to everyone's advice, but you don't have to let them scream it out to crate train a puppy. In my opinion, this is one of those mindsets (like rolling and pinning a dog on its back) that has just been around forever so no one questions it. We introduced Riley to her crate using positive methods and over a long period of time (several months). She now goes in on her own when she's tired. It just takes patience, some positive reinforcement such as treats or a chew toy, and lots of repetition. Start out with short times in the crate of 5-10 minutes and reward the pup frequently with little bits of treats when they are quiet. You can slowly work up to longer and longer periods of time in the crate until they will relax in there quietly for hours with no fuss. Riley went in her crate about 10 minutes ago and is sleeping in there as I type this reply.


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## VbarK Vizslas (Jan 31, 2012)

I introduced our litter of pups at 4 weeks by them just being in the same room. They could go in and play, sleep whatever. We kept one pup from this litter and he goes in his kennel and was never a problem. He doesn't sleep in it because I am just not up to do that again.He is a screamer. He sleeps in our shower with a gate across the opening-I have a HUGE shower. When he wakes up he shakes the gate. He could jump over but he doesn't he waits for us to let him out. His mother sleeps in hers with a blanket. She is next to our bed and my husband would just tap the top of the kennel not hard and say sshhh when we trained her. She was not a screamer. I think Odin does well in his kennel because of the early 'training' of using it when ever for naps, playing that he finds it a comforting place to be. So maybe you could go back to basics and make it his comfort den so then he will sleep in it. We also have 2 kennels for his mom. Her sleeping kennel and her traveling/safe place to be when we are gone kennel. Two different blankets, two different areas. Good luck.


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

This is a really interesting topic. If you use crate training for potty training you need to introduce it right away, rather than slowly introduce it as you did threefsh. I think that is great though, but we did what worked best for us and that was crate training.

We had Oso in a crate in our bedroom and did have whining. I agree, that just like Cry It Out, it is a training choice. None of my dogs growing up were crate trained. I am a behavior therapist working with kids with Autism, some without strong communicative skills. I was used to waiting for tantrums, head banging, aggressive behavior, etc. to stop before reinforcing a positive behavior, but struggled with the puppy screaming his little lungs out.

We had the breeder start him sleeping alone a few days before we got him, so nights weren't bad, but we followed Dunbar's potty training plan and Oso just hated being in there for even minutes. It was difficult, but within a few days already so much better. We have gone to bed with Oso in our bed and waken up to him in the crate. I'm glad we crate trained, hopefully one day as an adult we'll be able to leave him free in the home, but we aren't there yet.


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## ironman_stittsville (Oct 12, 2011)

kristen said:


> ... Where is the crate located? I found that our little guy didn't like hearing or seeing us (he wouldn't settle down) so we actually put him on the other side of the house. ...


My 2 cents here regarding crate location. I have Phoebe's crate at the foot of our bed. If she can see us she doesn't settle down as well. At the foot of the bed there aren't a lot of visual distractions but she can still smell/hear that we are nearby. This made a big difference for her, helped her to settle down knowing that I was nearby but not in direct line of sight so that she could see if I was awake or looking at her.

This will pass, have faith in what the others have told you on the forum, you won't find better advice on Vizsla behaviour anywhere else,
Rh.


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## ironman_stittsville (Oct 12, 2011)

VbarK said:


> ... He sleeps in our shower with a gate across the opening-I have a HUGE shower...


I _love_ this, hilarious.

He must have a bed or something in there? I've never met a Vizsla who will sleep on a hard surface, they are the biggest hedonists on the planet!

Rh.


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## Murphy (Jun 23, 2012)

Our first night we had 30mins sleep...

It slowly improved from there. First step for us was getting him to like his crate. That meant feeding him and petting him while he was in it. Also keeping the crate gate open and we use a baby pen opened out to give him a little space outside of it, its about 3ft x 3ft.

We were initially getting up (by we, I mean my wife..) at around 2.30am to let him in the garden then he would go back in his crate until around 6am. Then we stopped that and now he sleeps through.

He is tired from around 9pm and lazes with me. He is in his bed from midnight and wakes me up (shouting) around 6am when I let him in the garden,

Hoping that good walks from next week will tire him out as well and give him variation.


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