# 10.5 month old male vizsla crying/howling in crate every morning



## goleafsgo22

Hi guys! I hope that someone can help me out as we're on our "last straw" with our dog and unsure of what our next step is going to be regarding our whiny/cry baby vizsla. We have been thinking of re-homing our Vizsla due to the fact that our family's lives have been put on hold due to having this dog in the house. Our dog has even created fights/stress between members of the family and a feeling of unease. 

He's a 10.5 month old, male vizsla. Other than his jumping/counter surfing (we have tried several trainers) we have had a HUGE problem with him being in his crate. Even though we are able to leave him in the crate for up to 6 or so hours at a time, he continuously cries every morning prior to anyone in the household waking up (we work afternoon shifts and cannot get any sleep). He doesn't pee or poo in the crate at all either. 

*A typical day for me for an example is:*
- I wake up (due to dog crying) and eat then feed the pup, go to work, then come back around 7pm
- I take our dog out for a walk and then feed him as soon as I'm back
- The dog will sleep from around 9 to 1am or so am on his bed in our living room then we place him into the crate when we go to bed
- He will continuously wake up at 8am EVERY single morning and this is the root problem for us.. His other behaviors are manageable but as you all know, no sleep = cranky people which causes an abundance of stress 

*What we've tried:*
- Ignoring him in the morning for a month straight and he continues to cry, if we take him out for a bathroom break he will be fine for 30 mins then start crying his heart out again
- Exercising him much more before bed (no luck)

*What we want to try soon:*
- A bark collar to prevent his crying/whining in the AM and have him wakeup ONLY when we wakeup as a dog should never run the household

_*Any tips/comments/suggestions are welcome! Please help us! We don't have to want to get rid of the dog but as of right now it's looking like the only option! We'd like to have him wake up when we want to wake up! Obviously he is part of our family but my wife and kids should come first before he does! *_


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## organicthoughts

What does your dog do during the day?

From your description it does not sound like he is stimulated enough.

If you sleep from 1 am - 8 ish? Can you not get up and spend time with your dog before you go to work for your afternoon shift?

Any dog being left alone in a crate all day and night would be pretty upset!


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## riley455

I'm sorry that you're in this situation. Your v is still a puppy and has needs. My two male Vs (1.5 and 7 months get up early and play while my 3.5 year old female V will only get up when I get up).

If no one can meet his needs then perhaps seek out a vizsla rescue if there is one in your area and rehome him. Maybe this is not the right time to have a vizsla?


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## dextersmom

Our V also woke up at 6:00 every morning (oh, how I long to sleep until 8!!) until he was about a year old. He would just quietly cry in his crate until we got up. You're right - waiting him out had no effect. I think it was just his way of telling us he was awake and ready to get out and about. I think sometimes they just don't want to miss anything. 



organicthoughts said:


> What does your dog do during the day?
> 
> From your description it does not sound like he is stimulated enough.


I would agree it sounds like he is not getting enough exercise or stimulation during the day (before AND after work) although it's hard to tell from the limited information in the post. Does he get to RUN?

V's are notoriously needy and high energy. I think you have to adjust your expectations accordingly. While you don't have to let them run things, your household and schedule are going to have to adapt to some degree. I used to wake up at 4:30 in the morning when Dexter was a pup because that's when he was "up" for the day. Before getting a V, 8:30 was an early morning for me, and 10 was preferable. I just had to give up being a night owl and start going to bed a LOT earlier.

I will say now that he's two, he finally sleeps in until about 7:00. But I think that's really because he has a weimy sister that starts barking for her breakfast at about 6:15 and he trusts she will act as the wake up call  I've also heard if you let them sleep in bed with you, they'll often snooze all morning long


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## Canadian Expy

For the first year and a half of our pups life, he would be up at the crack of dawn, and I would be up between 5-5:30 am so that I could play/train/tire him out before I went to work at 8 am. I am also fortunate that I am able to come how at lunch for a walk and some play.

On weekends, the schedule didn't change - I would still be up at around 5:30 playing and training, eat breakfast, and maybe get a nap in if I was lucky. At 2.5 years old he will now sleep until 7:30 am on weekends, but in all honesty, in the morning he is ready to run and play and take on the day. If I try to sleep in from 6 am to 7:30 am I wake up many times to a red nose inches from my face staring, waiting for any sign of life from me. I have now adapted to be an early riser too 

It sounds like your pup is also an early riser, and is craving some mental and physical stimulation (and just attention in general), which is not falling into your desired schedule. Perhaps you could work out a dog walker, or daycare a few days a week to help your boy exhaust some energy? You haven't got into the amount of exercise he gets, but I find that with our boy, the more consistent exercise and training he gets, the more willing he is to relax when we want him to (ie. in the morning and at night). If you are already doing that, I'm not sure what else you could try. :-\


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## goleafsgo22

EDITED


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## sfapsey

Hi,

We have a now 7 month old Vizsla and as others have mentioned Vizslas needs exercise. We take her out in the morning for off lease running/walking. In the afternoon she will either go to the bog beach off leash or another run/walk. We will then go on a walk about in the evening before dinner. Weekends we go on 4-6 mile hikes. If she does not get both sessions she starts causing trouble in the house. The exercise requirement if fine for us as his was one of the main reasons for getting the breed. I wanted a something to force me to exercise consistently. My wife is home all day so it works for us.

From what I have experienced I don't think 1 hour in the dog park is enough exercise. They really need a job and a purpose and stimulation. Most people who meet her comment on how calm she is. They don't realize what goes into keeping her that way. If she does not get the exercise she will have parkour sessions around the house! These dogs are a real commitment.

If he is creating that much havoc in your family and lifestyle it might be best to re-home him. There are recourses to make sure he goes to someone who can deal with him. You are correct, your wife and kids should be your priority.

Stephen


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## goleafsgo22

Sfapsey said:


> Hi,
> 
> We have a now 7 month old Vizsla and as others have mentioned Vizslas needs exercise. We take her out in the morning for off lease running/walking. In the afternoon she will either go to the bog beach off leash or another run/walk. We will then go on a walk about in the evening before dinner. Weekends we go on 4-6 mile hikes. If she does not get both sessions she starts causing trouble in the house. The exercise requirement if fine for us as his was one of the main reasons for getting the breed. I wanted a something to force me to exercise consistently. My wife is home all day so it works for us.
> 
> From what I have experienced I don't think 1 hour in the dog park is enough exercise. They really need a job and a purpose and stimulation. Most people who meet her comment on how calm she is. They don't realize what goes into keeping her that way. If she does not get the exercise she will have parkour sessions around the house! These dogs are a real commitment.
> 
> If he is creating that much havoc in your family and lifestyle it might be best to re-home him. There are recourses to make sure he goes to someone who can deal with him. You are correct, your wife and kids should be your priority.
> 
> Stephen


Stephen, I appreciate your lengthy reply and your comment regarding my wife and kids being my top priority! 

I am going to give my V a chance and see how he is around the 12 month mark before I make any key decisions!

If anyone else has any other info regarding this matter, I would greatly appreciate it! 

He is pretty calm during the day for only getting an hour or so of exercise per day!


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## Watson

Mental stimulation & training... Fastest way to tire these dogs out. Today I did 20min of training at the park with my 3yo and he spent the rest of the day passed out! He gets exercise too, but even after an hour off leash, he'll come home and sleep for an hour or two then be ready to go again.


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## Rbka

We always make sure Nico is tired on Monday morning - take advantage of the weekend to enjoy time with him off leash in the bush and tucker him right out!

If I know Nico has not gotten enough exercise during the day (which happens on occassion) then I do some fun training in the evening like turning plastic bowls upside-down and hiding beef liver under a couple of them to make him sniff it out & try to flip them (i.e. 6 bowls but treats under only 3) or we will play hide and seek with different items (he can differentiate items now like ball, toy, bone, kong so it makes him think a lot about what item he is trying to find). Training is fun, easy to do for a short period in your own home and may help.

Just a thought if you want to try mental stimulation in the evenings to tucker him out. easy to do and gets their brain tired too. For the simplest brain teaser you can do tennis balls in a muffin pan with treats hidden under them.

Also -- keep in mind from what you said your dog goes to sleep at 9pm, he does not have the same bedtime as you. If you want to do something questionable (which we've done, haha) try keeping him awake later to see if he'll sleep later -- give him something exciting to chew on his bed while you hang out in the living room like a bully stick and see if you can keep him awake later maybe.


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## texasred

Vizslas are medium to high-maintenance dogs, and they require a lot of attention, exercise, and mental stimulation. Your young dog is basically begging you in the morning, for the attention that this breed needs to be a well adjusted dog.


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## dextersmom

Rbka said:


> Also -- keep in mind from what you said your dog goes to sleep at 9pm, he does not have the same bedtime as you.


That is such a good point. Even now I forget this sometimes - I will stay up super late for some special cuddle time with the pups and then be annoyed when they are awake at their usual time. But really, they were asleep during our cuddle time and I was the only one who really stayed up late.

As we've adjusted to life with a V, we've definitely changed our bedtime (to be more in line with Dex's) instead of trying to change Dexter's wake up time.


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## MCD

Our girl was horrible in her crate and had digestive upset and anxiety issues with us being gone and 2 cats. My husband let her sleep in our bed one night and now we can't have any alone time. Stick the crate thing out. These dogs are very needy and very Velcro. Can you tag team the dog's needs to fit your schedule? They do settle down as they get older. You also just need to be very consistent and religious about training and exercise. It all worked out for us when I thought what have we done.....
When we first got Dharma, my husband and I were in a car accident and had no sleep, jobs to do, a house to run and a wild child puppy on top of physiotherapy several days a week. Yes family is very important. If worse comes to worse our breeder will rehome her dogs if we can't keep her. Also there are agencies that deal with vizsla surrenders. I hope all works out for you in the end.


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## chilithevizsla

Watson said:


> Mental stimulation & training... Fastest way to tire these dogs out. Today I did 20min of training at the park with my 3yo and he spent the rest of the day passed out! He gets exercise too, but even after an hour off leash, he'll come home and sleep for an hour or two then be ready to go again.


Agree with this! Switch your exercising to training sessions and you'll have a V that is a lot happier and willing to settle and listen to you. These dog should be limited on exercise anyway because they're a slow growing breed and prone to problems when over exercised.

When I say limit exercise and switch to training I don't mean don't get out and out or don't go to the dog park. What I mean is while at the dog park don't necessarily always let him free run and play with dogs. Spend time sitting in the grass or bench and get him watching dogs/people/things pass him without reactions, let him sniff around, throw treats for him to sniff out. Get creative with your outings and get him focusing on you and then maybe let him have a quick burst of running with dogs.

Another thing to try is having a crate cover or cave bed. My dog sleeps under my duvet (personal preference) but he doesn't wake up early because it's dark under there. Maybe he's waking early because of the light? I know a few friends had problem with this but then switched to having dark crates and their dogs starting waking later


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## R E McCraith

V's are a lifestyle not a pet - try changing the 10.5 mo schedule - get up at 6 - take the pup 4 a run - they will go back 2 bed - vary this every few days - put them on your schedule which is at random - they soon learn - the sun goes down - they do - sun comes up - both of you are - BARK collar ? get 1 for you !!!!!!! stop whining !! get to work - the V did not pick YOU !!!!!!


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## gingerling

I agree with most of what's been said here, but the one thing that you haven't tried that you might consider is having him sleep in the bed with you. Vizslas are very intuitive and pick up the routine of the house fairly quickly, I don't think the problem here is exercise and stimulation, at 11 mos. he should have gotten the bedtime routine. Some dog's simply have issues with the crate, or separation at certain times, and you have to be able to acknowledge this and find alternatives.


Since you're seriously overwhelmed and thinking of re homing him, you should try having him sleep in the bed with you, there's no risk, it's not a bad thing, and it might solve the problem.


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