# Do I have a broken Vizsla?



## solefald (May 16, 2013)

So everybody knows how crazy Vizslas are, right?

Dre is 5 1/2 month old now and everyone is telling me how calm and well-behaved he is to the point where some people ask "Are you sure that there is nothing wrong with his health? He seems pretty low energy", so I am starting to wonder if the breeder did a great job picking a calm well-mannered pup for us as first time Vizsla owners or if I am doing something wrong... or if there is something is really wrong. 

He displays very little amount of velcro behavior. His favorite place to sleep is on our bed, on top of my girlfriend's pillows. I've been working from home lately and spend all my time with him. I am the only person who takes care of him, feeds him, takes him places, etc. Sometimes he would chill on his bed in my office while I work, but most of the time he would just go in the bedroom, jump on the bed and sleep on the pillows. Same thing happens when we watch TV in the evening. On rare occasion he would jump on the chair or the opposite side of the couch and sleep there, but most of the time he would be by himself in the bedroom, sleeping on the pillows. He only cuddles with us when we are in bed. He does try to cuddle with everyone who comes over and sits down on the couch or the chair. 

He is extremely well-behaved and listens to commands very well. He has never chewed on any furniture, socks, shoes, wires etc. He only plays with is toys and his toys only. He never had any crazy shark attacks. Crate has never been an issue either and right now, at 5 1/2 months, there is not a doubt in my mind that if I leave him at home by himself, out of the crate, he would just climb on the bed and go to sleep. When I make his food, he would just come into the kitchen, lay down and wait until the food is ready. When we are eating at a restaurant, he lays down next to the table and quietly drools while we eat. He would try to play with the cat once in a while, but a single "leave it" and he goes off to do something else. We have never used any harsh training methods with him and it has been 100% positive reinforcement. 

Yesterday, in his first 2nd level obedience class we worked on "stay with distractions". People and dogs walking by, people come up and talk to me, people would run in front of him and drop treats, run around him in circles, scream and wave arms in the air, bounce a ball right in front of his face, play with a squeaky and throw it to me and i would throw it back.... He was stone cold through all of that. And i mean stone cold. Did not even blink. He just sat or laid there. Even the trainer commented that she is having trouble challenging him.

In the car he just lays down and goes to sleep. No wondering around, no looking out of the window... Back seat, front seat, back of the car... does not matter. Even if another dog is in the car with us. 

It was time to trim his nails the other day, and after he was traumatized by a Dremel at the vets office at 8 weeks, I've been using nail clippers. This time i pulled out a Dremel and he did not even blink while i was filing his nails and i did not even have any treats! Vacuum cleaner? He loves that thing! He follows it around the house and tries to play with it. Loud noises do not scare him at all and he loves the garbage truck!

Now, he loooooves playing with other dogs and gets around 2 off-leash hours at the dog beach on daily basis. Once we are at the beach, its game on. He runs around, plays with other dogs (large fuzzy ones are his favorite), barks and growls from excitement, hops like a goat, fetches toys, chases birds, plays in the surf, etc. But the moment we get back to the car, he is back to mellow. When we get home he goes straight to the shower to wash off the sand and after the shower straight to the bed and his favorite pillows. 

He is on a 1/2 raw (Stella&Chewy's) and 1/2 Orijen Puppy kibble and he has been on this for over a month now, but I have not noticed any energy level changes since switching to this diet. I am tempted to try either all kibble or all raw for a few days and see if anything changes. I was told that he may need to lose 1-2lbs, because he has a "show dog complexion" and not a "field dog skin and bones complexion".

He is definitely not like the majority of Vizsla's we come across. People are telling me that they want their dog to hang out with Dre more to pickup some good manners.... Good manners from a 5 1/2 months old puppy??? So, I am naturally starting to wonder: Did we prepare for the worst, but got very lucky with this guy? Am I over-exercising him? Do 2 hours at the dog beach on daily basis wear him out to the point where all he wants to do at home is sleep and be left alone? Does his diet make him low energy? What is going on??


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

> Do 2 hours at the dog beach on daily basis wear him out to the point where all he wants to do at home is sleep and be left alone?


That is a big part of it. At 5 1/2 months old he hasn't hit his "teen years" yet. 

Like people, each Hungarian Pointer is different. Sounds like your boy completely trusts you and your bond is very strong. You might want to make sure everyone can tell him what to do with the same results as he gets older.

If you want more energy, introduce birds or squirrels with a high powered Vizsla. 

Have fun is the main thing. Your dog is who he is. 

Great book that I really enjoyed was "A Dog's Purpose." Check it out.

RBD


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## Rudy (Oct 12, 2012)

Sounds Great to me 

What about the Valium drip? ;D ;D lol



Let him have some (liquid Sublingual B 12 3,000 mcg) and (raw Royal jelly) with His great foods in the Mixer in the Morning 

He will become a tad more Froggy  8)

trust me

and He maybe then sleeping on Your Head ;D

I would seek wild salmon Kings and Coho in his diet as well

better then Great energy Boosters and the great Omega 3 in bunches 

slow whole cooked real core foods are great in the mixed with top end kibble and supplements 

my son :


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Chase is similar (now, he was a maniac the first week!). He is up for a big hike or workout, but doesn't NEED it like Miles does. He's content to chew his toys or sit with us in the house. Yesterday I left him home for our morning workout because I was running with Miles, and Chase didn't get a big outing until 3:30 and he was an angel all day. He's much more mellow. We never took him to puppy school. He's well behaved. Just need to get on his E collar training. No crate issues, no separation anxiety. He does love to play with Miles, but can turn it off when needed. I can leave him out of the crate already for short periods of time, no problem. 

He does like to cuddle though. He "army crawls" up me to get his head right under my chin. Then Miles gets jealous and I have almost 100lb of dog on me. ;D

Sounds like your breeder just did a good job! We attribute Chase's personality to that he is more confident than our more shy, anxious Miles.


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## solefald (May 16, 2013)

Thanks everyone! I was starting to worry. 

@RBD, thanks for the book suggestion. Just ordered one. And we do Junior hunter training with super prey-driven dog, so that should help. 

@organic: Have no idea about the blood lines. I can't even figure out all the dog names on his pedigree paperwork  But he is definitely prim and proper. And yes, he is super socialized. We have people over all the time, plus went *everywhere* with me since the day we got him and met all kinds of people. We even took him on a Susan G Kolmen's Cancer Walk thing a few weeks ago with thousands of people and hundreds of dogs. He was an absolute angel. 

I do know that raw and kibble together is not the best thing, but I need to do some re-organizing in my garage and buy a freezer. I plan on doing it this weekend. My fridge freezer is way to small to keep any amount of real meat, so we started with Stella&Chewy's. I buy 2 large bags, 12 patties each (thats all i could fit in the freezer). However, their portion sizing is rather crazy. They recommend 4 large patties per day for a dog of Dre's size and age. The problem is that their large bag is $35 and would only last 3 days! So we kinda got stuck half way, 2 patties and a cup of kibble a day while switching him to raw. Plus I would hate for the rest of this Orijen bag to to to waste there is probably 2-3 weeks worth of food left in there. His stool is nice and solid and he had no digestive issues of any kind since, so i figured he would be OK on this type of diet until I get the freezer and meat situation figured out. I actually enlisted help of my spanish speaking friend to go to a meat market with me this Saturday to establish connections. I also need to buy a nice powerful meat grinder that can crash bones. Dre swallows everything without chewing and sometimes throws up a piece of a bone the next morning. We stopped giving him turkey necks for this very reason.


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