# Crazy Puppy



## davidc1986 (May 8, 2014)

Hi,

Firstly I understand that puppies in general are hyper, nippy and mischievous and that Vizslas are even more so. However our 10 week old is absolutely looney. 

She is literally never calm apart from 10 mins when she wakes up in the morning. When she is in the house she is constantly nipping, chewing, jumping up on things, there's rarely a moment when she will sit or lie still for more than 30 seconds. Even when playing with her toys she's trying to tear them apart, including her cuddly toys. She's not as bad outside as she spends most of her time sniffing around and chasing things. 

When she grabs hold of ours or our children's clothes she will not let go and pulls with all her might. Shouting no, argh, clapping, yapping has little effect, I literally have to prize her jaws off. I know they are sensitive but I'm finding I need to shout quite abruptly to get a response and as I said, I often have to physically correct her as she ignores the verbal correction. 

We have her out as much as possible and she gets a lot of time in the garden, she's never left for long periods alone. 

Will it get better when we can take her out for walks? She's starting puppy classes soon so I'm hoping that will help. Any advice? It's really quite upsetting as I'm worried I'm damaging her.

I have done tons of research and read several books, however nothing seems to be as simple as they make out.

Thanks
David


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

davidc1986 said:


> ... books, however nothing seems to be as simple as they make out.


I've noticed that.


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## organicthoughts (Oct 9, 2012)

Keep reinforcing and time will take care of this. You have a high drive pup. In my eyes, that's a good thing. Hope you like hunting.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Your puppy sounds really normal to me! Maybe that's why my last two dogs have been adopted from the dog pound as young adults. I didn't mind skipping the puppy stage at all. (Been there, done that.) Still, there's nothing quite as adorable as a Vizsla puppy! I get my puppy fix by enjoying all of the puppy photos posted here on the forums. You will survive this, and in time you'll have a wonderful adult dog. Hang in there! ;D

_p.s. You did ask for advice... My advice is this: Be patient, consistent, and loving. Emphasis on the patience. _


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

> When she grabs hold of ours or our children's clothes she will not let go and pulls with all her might. *Shouting* no, argh, clapping, yapping has little effect, I literally have to prize her jaws off. I know they are sensitive but I'm finding I need to shout quite abruptly to get a response and as I said, I often have to *physically correct her *as she ignores the verbal correction.


I was told two things by a trainer, before I got my first vizsla puppy.
First was never raise a hand to one of theses puppies.
Second was don't yell at them, or you will have to be yelling for the rest of their life. Meaning the pup will learn it doesn't have to listen, until it hears you yell.
At the time I thought why would anyone be yelling, or raising a hand to one of the sweet little pups.
It doesn't take a but a day or two for them to settle into their new home.
Then they try and treat you like a littermate, nipping , play growling, ripping clothes. Pretty much shredding anything they can get in their mouth.
The good news is it will pass. Your just going to have to stay calm, and consistent.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

TexasRed said:


> ...
> At the time I thought why would anyone be yelling, or raising a hand to one of the sweet little pups.
> ...


LOL!


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## mlwindc (Feb 8, 2013)

TexasRed said:


> > When she grabs hold of ours or our children's clothes she will not let go and pulls with all her might. *Shouting* no, argh, clapping, yapping has little effect, I literally have to prize her jaws off. I know they are sensitive but I'm finding I need to shout quite abruptly to get a response and as I said, I often have to *physically correct her *as she ignores the verbal correction.
> 
> 
> I was told two things by a trainer, before I got my first vizsla puppy.
> ...


LOL, they are nuts... Aren't they? My husband grew up with labs and I just remember him saying "it worked with the labs, I don't understand." Fwiw, Wilson calmed down for my husband by three-four months, by six months for me. He's now a cuddle buddy and those days are but a distant memory. Patience and perseverance.


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Shouting and clapping made Savannah worse. You may have one of 'those' kinds of dogs. 

Instead of adding energy to a situation that already has you on your very last nerve, you may need to give _yourself_ a timeout. BEFORE you are ready to raise your voice and BEFORE you think she needs a correction, tell her in a happy voice 'Crate', throw a super-yummy-awesome-crate-and-nothing-else treat into the crate, close the door, and (you) leave the room. Take a deep breath. Calm down. Then let her out and go for the next round.

Beyond that, for the next couple of weeks, wear old clothes - she will rip what she grabs as she gets stonger/heavier. Remind your kids that toys are for play and hands are for love - hands as toys hurt - and the puppy needs everyone to teach her to play with toys. Get leather gloves if any of the kids have really sensitive skin. 

Lastly - as a preview of things to come - after Savannah learned not to chew on hands and eventually not to chew on clothes, she moved on to untying my shoes. :

Good luck!


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## Rbka (Apr 21, 2014)

We had to be very careful about Nico getting over-tired! Yes, he needed lots of playing (we used a toy on a string/wand so he had to chase it a lot) but he would keep going beyond fatigue and then his destructive behaviour would come out. I read "never close an excited dog in a crate" but on multiple occasions I closed his crate door when he ran in with his toy during playtime and he would fall asleep within a minute! Puppies apparently need up to 20 hours of sleep per day but Nico wouldn't just go sleep when he needed it unless we facilitated it.

Definitely be calm and assertive and maybe try using a treat in front of her nose to teach the command "drop it". If she ignores the treat then you need to try a different type of treat. The treat must be good enough for her to drop whatever it is she's picked up!!

Good luck, it got way easier with Nico when we were able to take him to the dog park (after his 2nd vaccinations). Nobody can tire a puppy out like another puppy can!


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## MsRosie (Apr 4, 2014)

My little guy is also 10 weeks so I feel you! He is pretty crazy sometimes too - definitely the most high drive puppy I have met.

I totally agree with rbka - Róka gets extremely sharky and crazy when he needs to sleep, just like a toddler throwing tantrums when they need a nap. When I realize he gets to this point I put him in his crate and he is out almost instantly. 

Another thing I'll add that helps is when he is in a particularly crazy mood I like to redirect his attention by doing a 5 min training session - it is great because his high drive mood makes him excited to "work" and it also distracts him from biting/jumping craziness in a positive way


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## sillybluecreature (Oct 6, 2013)

My little girl is 11.5 weeks old but it doesn't seem as bad (maybe I've just had more time to brainwash myself). 

I find she really feeds off my energy. I try to use a quiet calm voice and she'll listen over my boyfriend's frustrated raised voice. She'll also bark back if you raise the energy level too much. When she's going to get too excited (before it happens) I get 3 chew toys of different textures and rotate between them, holding them for her and she'll sometimes put her energy into chewing. Bullysticks have been our savior though they're not supposed to be good for puppies I hear (I get the super large ones so she can't get through as much as the small ones). We have at least 10 chew and retrieve toys floating in our house so we can easily grab one when she does her crazies. Training also tires her out.

If she's already in her crazy mood I'll play fetch in the house but each time she needs to sit/liedown/sit before she gets the ball. I rotate between what I throw so we don't need to play tug of war for the toy. High value treats will get her attention when she's most insane (cheese, cooked chicken, deli). Don't pull away from her (it makes you look like you're playing and she'll lunge again), give her another option (sit for food, chew on this, retrieve that ball). I also use time outs if she doesn't listen to anything but only for about 30 seconds or until she sits for 10 seconds by herself. 

Also I find a long walk first thing out of the crate in the morning will avoid the worst problems (we ignored vet advice and took her on walks when we got her). I might be over-walking her (3 hours a day, over 4 walks) but most of the time I have a puppy that will listen to me or is asleep.


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## 4kidsandaV (Jul 10, 2014)

Our trainer has suggested a "time-out" spot to help with nipping and biting of clothes... it has really helped us! You do NOT want to use the crate for this because you do not want negative associations with the crate. Instead use a short lead and connect it somewhere that has nothing for your V to do other than sit and watch you. When they nip say "OOOUCH" and then immediately place them on the time out lead. Turn your back to them and give them absolutely NO ATTENTION. They do not like this at all. They may cry and whine but do react to it. You really only need a very short time out. We have done as little as 45-60 seconds. Then take them off (when they are quiet and not complaining) and act as if nothing has happened. Do not further talk about the biting, instead go on with play. Continue to do this every time... and you have to be consistent (and this takes a ton of patience) or it won't work. Sometimes it will drive you crazy because you will be putting them there A LOT! It will eventually pay off and they will learn that when they do that behavior they put me in a place that is not fun!

Good luck!


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## nigelpen (Apr 27, 2014)

Just to reiterate the above, my boy is 14 weeks old now and we have pretty much eradicated the biting by using two techniques.

1. Yelping in a high pitched voice. This means like a girls, yes!  The pitch is exactly like the feedback they get from their litter mates. I was amazed at the difference the pitch actually made. My normal deep voice made no diff and a high pitched, exaggerated yelp made him stop and lick me to try and make amends.

2. If its a bad one then a quick short clasp around the muzzle for 1 second and then lots and lots of praise IMMEDIATELY afterwards also worked.

That's as physical as you need to get in my (short) experience. Yelling doesn't work (like it does for my kids - haha). ;D


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## davidc1986 (May 8, 2014)

Thanks for the replies and tips. It's good to know her behaviour is normal.


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