# Early morning vizsla



## Sav (Dec 26, 2011)

Hello all, I am new to the forum and have to say, am impressed with all the good advice available from a great variety of owners, hopefully you have some good advice for me.

I have just taken charge of a six month old vizsla dog Henry.
He comes from a good line and all in all is a great dog.
His history is something like this.
He left the breeder for his new home with a couple at approx 12 weeks, he was with them for about a month before they returned him to the breeder, there reason was he was too much trouble, barking excessively, they used to allow him to sleep with them in there bed. ( it turns out the marriage was on the rocks and the couple split up, do this may be the real reason for giving up Henry)
The breeder took charge of the dog and kept hold of him for 5 weeks, to iron out any bad habits that he may have picked up.
Of which she informs me there were none which stood out.
I took charge of Henry 2 weeks ago, and love him too bits.
He has been no trouble at all other than.
Constant waking during the night and excessive barking at 4.30 5 o clock in the morning.

He wakes approximately every 1-2 hours and I come down and let him out for toilet, I do not turn on any lights or talk to him and return to bed straight away, he knows this as he hops right back into bed when he comes in. But at about 4.30 he starts to bark, I initially started ignoring this as I did not want him to associate his early barking with getting up on his terms, but he barked and barked for about 1 hour. After about 5 days I contacted the breeder who said I should not ignore barking and I fact the idea was to get up BEFORE the dog bagman to bark so as not to introduce a routine where he barks every morning, the trouble with this is, I find myself getting up at 4.30 every morning after a couple of hours interrupted sleep and it ain't good.
I will not allow Henry up stairs to my room, and the house is too small to house a dog crate, he has loads and loads of exercise every day and is a really good dog other than this issue.
So have any of you guys got some great advice which will allow me to get some sleep and live happily ever after with my viz???


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## tracker (Jun 27, 2011)

Hi Sav,

4 months ago I was in almost the exact same situation as you were, except I picked up Lui when he was 8 months old instead of 6. The previous owners sent him back to the breeder, etc,etc,etc.

I am not an expert, but by reading below it seems that the previous owners of your pup did not know what they were getting into with a V. 

Lui had the exact same problem when we brought him home. For the first couple of weeks he would wake up every hour or so barking, and barking. We also contacted the breeder and they told us to let him bark it out. It is very annoying for the first little bit, but I can tell you first hand, it works. Lui now sleeps through the night usually about 8 hours from when we put him down he will start to whine and cry. So i usually try to set my alarm 7 hours and 45 minutes before he went to bed, or something close to that so I can wke him up, and let him out, etc....

I have heard others on this forum suggesting that you start off with their bed right beside your bed, then once they are used to it there, slowly move it furhter and further away from the bed, out of the room, downstairs, etc...... but in this case if you dont want him upstairs in your rom this may not work. 

Aside from that, sounds like you are on your way to a well adjusted v..... excercise and routine will prove beneficial to getting him adjusted to your lifestyle.


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Riley sleeps much better when we play music or a TV show when we put her in the crate. She is very velcro-y (typical V) so she hates being separated from us. The music/TV seems to trick her into thinking there are still people with her and she falls asleep right away. You DO have to ignore the barking. It's hard, but letting them out just rewards the behavior.


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## polkan (Dec 29, 2011)

Sav:

Personally, I think it would be a good idea to take him to your vet to rule out anything health related and be sure it's a behavioral issue. 

Can you describe the barking? Is is a high pitched, monotonous type of barking? Or is it a series of barks, in a kind of a sequence? Does he whine at all between the barking? Also, if you notice anything different about his water intake, any panting, etc, make sure to tell the vet. 

Inability to settle at night or restlessness or excessive barking could mean so many things, my suggestion would be to rule them out one by one in order to find what's going on. 

Good luck!


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## Sav (Dec 26, 2011)

Thank you all for your replies.
I have had henry assessed by a vet and no issues were found.
I am attempting to address this situation by going down to let him out every time he barks and returning back to bed without acknowledging him.
I get up at 5.30 feed at 6 then walk for an hour or more.
I think this way Henry will eventually realise that his barking is only getting him let out briefly then back to bed.
I considered the avenue of letting him bark it out but this is unfair on our children and neighbours.
Hopefully in a week or so things will be a little better.


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## polkan (Dec 29, 2011)

Hi Sav:

Good news that it's nothing health-related with Henry! I'm concerned that responding to his morning barking, you may be reinforcing a cycle with him (barking = reward). It works even if you don't acknowledge him in the usual way - you still do respond to the barking and reward him with attention by getting down. 

If you have time during the day, I strongly recommend teaching the "alone" time in his usual spot. Every dog I ever dealt with that barked during the night for non-medical reasons, also showed similar behavior patterns during the day that were similar to what would cause nighttime barking (attention, frustration, etc), and of course dealing with it during the day is more practical. 

Also - do you have a routine on meals and water? I couldn't tell from your message, but it could help if you tried to note the last time Henry drinks before going to bed and if this contributes to his waking up every hour. The more you can isolate the cause of restlessness/barking, the easier it will be to solve it.


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