# cold feet



## Maybebella (Jun 21, 2012)

Hi

We decided a few months ago to get a puppy. We are an active couple with a five yr old son. We spend a lot of our weekends going for family bike rides, walking friends dog, camping etc. My friend has a lab, who is great, love her temperament and how she is with my son. She has had problems with her leg since she was young and i think will suffer problems later in life.

We decided to get our own dog but the problems with the lab it put us off that breed a bit. Fell in love with the viszla, temperament, looks and liked the idea that it will love doing outdoor activities with us and am not at all put off about the exercise it needs.

Have just paid a deposit on a puppy just been born and i am starting to get nervous. My husband says that i read to much about things, and despite reading about and meeting the breed before we decided to get one and loving it, having read posts on here and peoples blogs and i wondering whether this is the right breed for us. My husband and i separated for a year and have recently got back together. We are loving each others company again and our family time and thought that a dog would just enhance this as we all want one. I am just scared after reading a blog about the first three years of a particular viszlas life that this may put a real strain on us instead. It seemed really really full on, constantly!

Your thoughts/experiences would be appreciated? 

Thanks


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

For what it's worth, I think if you're having cold feet it's probably not a good idea to go ahead with it.
The worst thing you could do for the vizsla is to take them home to join your family and them give them up because it's not what you bargained for. That would be heartbreaking and unfair to the dog.


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## Maybebella (Jun 21, 2012)

Thanks for your reply and good advice, i would never put a dog in that position rest assured. I have grown up with jack russells and my husband had a golden retreiver. I am just looking for advice on the first few years, the dogs i met were 6 and 2 and incredibly calm and well behaved. Is that mainly the norm, is it down to the owner and training?

Just would like to hear peoples experiences on the breed. Of course i expect the 1st year to be hard work as with any puppy, but is it "normal" to expect full on puppy behaviour long after that?


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

A Vizsla puppy is like having another child... they are a ton of work! I agree that if you don't feel right about getting a puppy you should listen to your gut instinct. Why not wait another few years before you get a pup? 

Yes, Vizslas retain that "puppy" energy well into old age!


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## Orosz (Jan 1, 2012)

Hello Maybella,

Welcome to the forum. We are just over two weeks in with our first Vizsla and while I don't have the wealth of knowledge others have, I thought you might appreciate some insight from someone who is going through it now.

Koda is great. He sleeps in his crate at night since day one and potty training is going better and better. Crate time during the day really helps with expanding their bladder. Otherwise he's just going out every half hour or so and he's not learning to hold it.

Koda can be an absolute handful if he can't get his morning exercise. I work from home and it's a struggle sometimes to get out with him if I'm up against a deadline. He will get into everything and totally disobey all commands. The days where I take him to the park, hike, or even a simple walk on the leash he is a completely different dog. Super well behaved and trains really well. A tired V is a happy V.

I am slowly but surely getting the hang of his needs and patterns and so will you. I'm finding the more consistent I am with training and getting him out for unrestricted romping around, the happier he is and the happier we are.

BTW I also have a five year old. The biggest problem i have is not with Koda there, but with my daughter. She doesn't yet fully understand that Koda is not the cute cuddly cat we currently have. Koda will mouth her and get hyper and bite at her skirts constantly. We try to teach her to be firm and show dominance over him but she's just too young. It's definitely been harder to train my daughter that it's been to train the dog.

I think any new V owner who doesn't have a touch of doubt is not fully understanding the breed they're getting involved with. I will leave all the advise to the much , much more experienced here. I will just say that so far, for us, we are doing just fine and so is Koda 

One tip I'd like to pass along for great leash walking is to give the pup a gentle side swipe with your left leg the moment he pulls ahead of you. Not a kick, but more of a shove (not sure who posted this tip, so sorry for not giving credit). Koda learned to walk on my left and just behind in the first week. He is a real treat to take out. ;D 8)

Good Luck!


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## Aimless1 (Sep 25, 2011)

I'm a firm believer in trusting your instincts....

Each dog is different. Temperament can vary and no doubt that is part of what you checked out before putting down a deposit. If you have any specific concerns I would encourage you to contact the breeder and tell him/her what you read. See what they have to say. I asked all kinds of silly questions before picking up our pup. A good breeder will take the time to honestly answer you.

I currently have three grand children ages 7, 4 and 2. Nitro spent the first two months of his life with my daughter and the grand children during the day. He was great with them and with their dog and cat as well. 

ALL puppies require a great deal of attention. Although you and your husband may become closer as you work with the pup, the potential to cause a further rift is there too. Like children, they demand time. My bride of 36 years and I play with pup together and both enjoy having him around.

After you call the breeder if you still have doubts, then back out. If not, you made the right decision. Don't let buyers remorse or over thinking rule the day.


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## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

I think it is acceptable to have cold feet. This breed is a lot of work and sometimes reading posts on this forum can scare people a bit. We seem to be having a lot of new people to the forum asking these questions.

From my perspective, I never had a dog in my life until Ruby. My husband had a Vizsla growing up as a family pet but never had a dog in his adult life. I ready up a ton on the breed and read pretty much every post on this forum before we got Ruby. I thought I was pretty well prepared and still was surprised how much work these dogs are as puppies.

It is very much like bringing a child home. They are very needy and can cause some stress. We can't have children so we dedicate all of our free time to Ruby and that still doesn't seem like it is enough. My husband and I have gotten into our fights of who was going to run with Ruby or wear her out -it's your turn, no it's your turn...lol. If we have a night out or something to go to we have to decide what we will do with Ruby that day. 

These dogs are very slow to mature. Ruby is 18 months now and we still have not let her be alone out of her crate for more than an hour. She has calmed down a little but that is nothing compared to other breeds. For example, it rained all day yesterday and I had Ruby home with me - she is in doggie daycare a few days a week. I work from home and was on the phone all day so we couldn't do much. We did some fetch in the house and ran around a bit. Luckily the rain stop for a few minutes and she ran around the yard like a nut for 10 minutes. My husband came home and did some fetch with her for another hour and she still wanted more. She is back in day care today since it is raining again.

As for her temperament, she is the most loving, sweet and cuddly dog ever and she is great with our nieces and nephews that are all under the age of 4. I couldn't imagine my life without her but I will not lie - there have been stressful times in the beginning -first 6-7 months. Now, she listens and is so smart. The biggest help for me was taking her to doggie daycare a few days a week to wear her out but we didn't start that until she was 5 months old.

Good luck and you have a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum but is good to hear from newbies like me to get the perspective.


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## Maybebella (Jun 21, 2012)

Thank you all, your feedback and comments are really appreciated.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Maybella

It really just depends on the individaul dog.
Many, many Vizslas quietly adapt to a family life without much fuss outside of normal puppy hijinks. But,,,, This is a working dog breed, with the aerobic system of a race horse. they can be lazy little couch opotatoes, but at the drop of a hat can be ready to go 100mph.
I've had 5 Vizslas, and only one of them would I classify as a nutbag when I got her,Gunnr, and today she is just a nice well adjusted quiet, polite, family oriented dog. Like I said though, she know that when the collar is freed in the woods, it's time to rock.
With my other Vizsla, Tika, It just about takes a cattle prod to get her moving from her favorite sleeping pillow. She will literally lay by your side all day long and only politely ask to go out once in a awhile.
They can be a handful as puppies because a lot of folks don't have experience yet of owning a hunting dog, and sometimes don't understand, or recognize an inherent, instinctive behavior that the puppy is exhibiting. Most "dog clincis", or obedience clincis, are not run by people that are familiar with either the breed, pointers, or hunting dogs, and therefore misdiagnose a behavior as a probelm, when in fact it can be an instinctive behavior necessary for the dog to perform it's intended function.
On this forum there are more than a few folks that are experienced with these dogs as hunting dogs. There are also many memebers that are now learning right along with their dogs how to train them to hunt. 1st time for both dog and owner. It's a great thing.
If I had any advice to give you, it would be to train these dogs as if you intend to hunt them from the 1st day they come into your life, even if you never actually hunt your self. Give them a job. Give them a purpose, and they will blossom right before your eyes. A well trained hunting dog will do everything a person would reasonably expect of a dog, and do it 50 yards away without a leash on.
They were born to hunt, and take naturally to that training program.


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