# 8 month old Vizsla - change in behavior normal?



## Kona

Hi everyone! Just found this forum, wish I had found it sooner! I have an 8 month old V (Kona) we've had him since he was 10 weeks old. He was neutered at 6 months. He has always been a very submissive puppy, but very recently, he's had a change in behavior that i'm having a hard time understanding. For the last week or so, Kona has points in the day where he gets VERY hyper and starts mouthing my hands, pant legs, toes, etc. Kona was never a mouthy puppy, and if he ever got mouthy we'd "yelp" and that seemed to take care of it. Now that he's gotten his adult teeth in and is 52 pounds, when he mouths it really hurts! And "yelping" or saying NO or turning our backs to him doesnt seem to help, he just seems to think we're still playing with him and he comes back at us again. He usually starts barking too, which he normally never does (to us at least).

Is this the "teenage years" i've heard so much about? Or can he be trying to assert dominance? He was always such a calm dog, now it feels like even 1.5 hours of exercise (on a weekday, weekends are usually more) isnt enough for him... is this a permanent change or can I expect him to go back to the way he was (a nice calm submissive dog). Does he need more exercise now that he's getting older? 

Looking forward to any input you might have!! So glad I found this forum!!


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## Fox_Trot

Our older V who is now 2.5 years went through many stages including that one. Just endless energy resulted in the Vizsla hyper bark while they are running. I love when they do it because they are REALLY happy and full of energy but our V used to do sprints, almost like suicide runs i did in basketball when i was young. Only thing i found that works is just more exercise. Foxie our dog would do it the same time of day too. At 8 months like Kona she would do it at 5pm EVERY single day. Just a maniac, out of control. What do you do for 1.5 hours with him? Is it just walks or is he off leash? 1.5 hours of walking on a leash can be the same as 10 minutes off leash. If your not off leash with him, try it. Hope it helps, your not alone.


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## Cavedog

Dax turned 9 months old today and I have noticed a change in his behavior recently. Surprisingly, my experience was just the opposite of yours.

I had a high energy, borderline hyper, mouthy puppy, that about a month ago began to noticeably calm down. Go figure.


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## vizslarunner

tucker is 5.5 months, and he has been starting to wonder why he is starting to question my authority. I'll call him and he'll look at me like why should I come? and then go off and do his thing. It's on and off some days he'll be great and just like normal and others he decides he doesn't wanna listen to me at all. very annoying! We have just been working on reinforcing his training and the disobedience periods are getting shorter and less frequent.


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## Kona

thanks for the advice, and I did feel alone before but I dont anymore!! I totally admit, it is hard to get Kona offleash exercise during the weekdays. My exercise used to be a couple of miles around the neighborhood on leash. In the past week, i've made it a priority to get him offleash exercise. It has definitely helped, and it's actually amazing to see how much more hyper he is offleash than he used to be. He has a lot of pent up energy!! Since we increased the ratio of offleash to on-leash exercise, we havent had one of his "mouthy, barking" sessions in a while, and even if he starts up, a quick correction and he calms down. 

Foxtrot, he definitely is not responsive to all my commands anymore, I tell him to sit and unless I have a treat in my hand, he looks at me like "ehhhh no" and tries to walk off. I guess this is the teenage years I've heard so much about! My friends have non vizsla dogs, and they can say "down" and their dogs do it no questions asked. With Kona, he looks at me like "down? I have no idea what you're talking about"... so frustrating!!! I feel like we worked so hard from when he was 10 weeks old, and now he's just reverting back. I will try and maintain patience and keep working him through the most basic of commands. thanks for everyone's advice


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## scooby

vizslarunner said:


> tucker is 5.5 months, and he has been starting to wonder why he is starting to question my authority. I'll call him and he'll look at me like why should I come? and then go off and do his thing. It's on and off some days he'll be great and just like normal and others he decides he doesn't wanna listen to me at all. very annoying! We have just been working on reinforcing his training and the disobedience periods are getting shorter and less frequent.


I Soooo remember this age, this post is like a carbon copy of mine when scooby was 6 months, and then at about 9 months everything seemed to fall into place so hang on in there


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## Mischa

Mischa does this every now and then as well. Our trainer taught us never to let the dog win. When we tell Mischa a command and she doesn't do it, we were told not to repeat ourselves and just make her do it. For example, if she does not sit, we'd push her bum down. If she doesn't come, we walk over to her and and walk her to where we told her to come by her collar. 

We aren't 100% consistent with not repeating ourselves but we definitely dony back down.


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## Reggie

Holly is now 13 months old and obedience training has progressed really well. About 1 month ago she changed personality (again) and at the moment its like she's drinking rocket fuel! Everything is done at hyper speed. Looking forward to this phase ending soon hopefully


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