# 7-Month Old V won't relax



## skodish

Hi there,

I am new to this forum and I’m looking for some advice.

My husband and I got the sweetest little Vizsla pup in January – his name is Cooper and he is almost 7 Months old now. He is absolutely beautiful, sweet, affectionate, playful, smart and perfect in (obviously almost!) every way.

Whenever we teach him a new command, he learns it incredibly fast – he is just such a smart guy (and absolutely food motivated). By now he knows sit, down, stay, come (90%+ recall rate), shake, high-five, roll-over, gives hugs and kisses on command, plays dead and is generally a very polite pup. He is great on a leash (except when he wants to say hi to other dogs or sometimes people), waits for his food until we release him etc. He is also fully crate trained and is very relaxed in his crate when we put him in. He also sleeps in there and takes naps in there, when we are too exhausted to “deal with his antics” outside of the crate.

As to his antics, this is our biggest problem: 

When we take him to the dog park (or anywhere else outside), everyone always comments on how mellow he is for a V. However, our sweet little guy usually doesn’t have any chill INSIDE the house. When we just come back from exercising a lot, he will be calm outside for his crate for about an hour or two, but then he wants to go right back to playing/running etc.

We have worked on this for a while now and make him stay in a down by our feet for several minutes or on his bed (we started at a few seconds and are right around 10 Min without him breaking the down as of now for the most part). But as soon as we release him, he will start pacing, whining and getting into trouble, when we don’t pay him attention. I obviously know that V’s want to be close to you at all times and it sure doesn’t help that we don’t allow him on furniture to cuddle with us (leather couches). So when we do cuddle with him, it is on his dog bed. But most of the day he just wants to be outside. As soon as we do let him out though, he settles down and chews on a stick or something. When we do give him a stuffed kong in the house, he happily settles down with that too.

Can anyone related to this and has some suggestions as to how to handle the situation and help him relax inside, even when we are not paying him attention (after we “ignore” him for about 30 Min – which is incredibly hard – he usually settles down also, but it’s not a fight easily won, as he is getting into all kinds of trouble before that).

We try our best do give him enough exercise. He usually gets 1-1.5 hours of walking with some (very slow, since he is so young) running throughout the day, as well as 2+ hours of play time (both with us incl. fetch as well as with other doggies in the park).

Is the non-settling part in the house normal for a V pup? Does it improve over time? 

Thank you SO much,
Selina

PS (the picture shows our little guy about a month ago)


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## gingerling

Hi Selina,

A couple of things come to mind: First, a 7 month old can tolerate "Vigorous" exercise, which is off lead time in relatively wide open spaces. A well exercised Vizsla is a happy Vizsla. Lead time doesn't count, regardless of how much time or distance, they really need to run hard.

Second, opinions vary, but the "Down stay" at your feet for a dog that is energized is about as self defeating as you can get. He's not doing this on purpose, he's just very energetic. So, i'd ditch the "Down stay". If you exercise him and he's still a lunatic, I'd work in some crate time and a new piece of rawhide so he can grab hold of himself. 

Many (most?) of us start out with the Vizsla on the floor, but quickly give in and put a blanket on the couch so they can join us. V's need three things to be happy: 1) Exercise, 2) Intellectual stimulation, and 3) Love, lots of attention. They really don't like being on the floor when all the good stuff is on the sofa. 

Start with more off lead time, and use the crate in lieu of the down stay and see if that doesn't help.


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## dextersmom

skodish said:


> Is the non-settling part in the house normal for a V pup? Does it improve over time?


Some have more trouble with this than others, but yes - it can get better. In my experience though, it takes training for some V's.



Gingerling said:


> Second, opinions vary, but the "Down stay" at your feet for a dog that is energized is about as self defeating as you can get. He's not doing this on purpose, he's just very energetic. So, i'd ditch the "Down stay".


I'm in the opposite camp as Gingerling here. We used a trainer to help get our V to settle in the house and we used long down stays to accomplish that. It's great mental work for a dog that doesn't settle naturally. Although of course make sure he's been adequately exercised (leash walks are fine as long as they are alternated with off leash runs/play). It's one thing if he won't settle in the house after he's been cooped up all day and another if he's run his heart out for 2 hours and just can't relax long enough to realize he's exhausted (which was the case with our V when he was younger). We do the down stays with a light leash and sit by his side, correcting him if he goes to get up. This way he's not alone and now the leash is his cue for "chill out." I think it also helps if you do the down stay in a certain area every time. Now our guy sees us pick up that particular leash and will go settle in his down stay spot by himself. Really, we don't even get out the leash much these days - he just takes himself to that spot when he needs a nap. I think a crate would probably work just as well - we just chose the down stay because our V had some crate anxiety as a pup and there's not always one available. He's still very needy in the house (wants attention, wants toys, etc.) but has finally learned how to settle himself when he's been exercised and is ready to wind down.

As they get older, they are still needy - but get into less trouble


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## Rbka

How about chewing? Raw meaty bones, stuffed kongs, raw-hide (debatable), nyla-bones?
When I was teaching Nico to settle I used to do what I called "assisted chewing" where I held him and his toy so he could chew on my lap then I would transfer him to his bed and he would either keep chewing or snooze.
Good luck!


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## Patrick123

Rbka said:


> How about chewing? Raw meaty bones, stuffed kongs, raw-hide (debatable), nyla-bones?


Hi Skodish,
I agree with Rbka.
Give Cooper a bone from the butcher - that might help. Or, what you might want to do: take a kong, put something very tasty in there and leave it in the freezer for a while. Cooper will be busy chewing for the next couple of hours and this might exhaust him too. Keep in mind: A bored dog will start to chew everything to get rid of the excessive energy. Use that to your advantage. 

My V becomes very energetic when she is hungry, therefore, I try to exhaust her mentally and physically by giving her some food "she has to work for". For example, I am using a ball with a whole to put treats in it. The more she plays, the more treats fall out of the ball, the happier she is. Or, I might use the kong I just mentioned above. 

Hope this helps 
Patrick


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## Ksana

My V boy is VERY energetic. He was known as an exuberant puppy. However, it helped a lot once he learned how to settle down. Reward him for staying calm, first for being calm for a few seconds and then extend the time. It takes a lot of patience, but it works. My boy now offers his best behavior especially when he wants something - to play or go to the park or go hunting. He now lies down, puts his head on his front paws, relaxes and patiently waits for me to finish my business (e.g., combing my hair, putting make-up on, cooking, working on my computer, eating, etc.).


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## Spy Car

Never feed a dog rawhide, way too risky.

A bone with some meat, like a rib bone (or several) and neck bone are good, and safe for teeth, but watch for the hard fumur bones that are generally sold as "dog bones," as they are so hard they can crack teeth. I feed raw, so feed a daily ration of bone, but softer-edible bone that won't fracture teeth.

Bill


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## Oyster

My pup is 13 months and is sounds like you're well ahead of my in the settling territory! I was sure I'd win the battle of sleeping in my bed but after a month of waking up every 90 min to a whining pup and taking her outside, I let her in the bed and had my first uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep in 4 weeks... She won. I was sleep deprived. 

I did go through a thing in the house though where she was just super needy certain times of day, seemingly regardless of exercise. I needed to constantly keep an eye out for trouble and give her a new toy or something to do about every 5-10 minutes or something ugly would happen. An hour of that every day when you're trying to work is pretty maddening, but I figured out eventually she only did that when I was at my desk working. Reality was she just needs a nap around 11am every day and in the mornings she's a bit more needy with being 'with' me. Now I can put her on the couch for 5 min cuddle time and then sneak away or just suggest some crate time, which settles her right down too. It was hard to learn, but eventually I figured out the restlessness was always something - empty water bowl, needing to potty, exercise, and the last thing I added to the list was being overtired. 

I put a blanket on my leather couch (just on the seat) thinking it wouldn't make it, but actually it's been fine, fwiw...


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## nymeria

Oyster said:


> It was hard to learn, but eventually I figured out the restlessness was always something - empty water bowl, needing to potty, exercise, and the last thing I added to the list was being overtired.


This is absolutely the case with my 8 month old girl. When she's overtired, she gets restless and wild and nippy, even. She tends to get this way in the early evening. She's pottied, fed, watered, and exercised, yet it still happens. She gets a lot of training and mental stimulation, yet it still happens. Now I know it happens because she is tired and needs some down-time, but sometimes she doesn't have the self-control to settle herself when she could be checking out what we're doing. So I crate her for a bit to enforce a nap and she does well.


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