# General advice needed for my WHV



## smoody004 (Mar 25, 2016)

My family and I are first time WHV owners. Ours is 1.5 years old and full of energy. He usually gets a 4 mile off leash run daily, but I'm worried this isn't enough. He still seems to have a lot of energy throughout the day.

We tried daycare and he go back because they say he plays too rough with the other dogs. I just see it as his excitement getting the best of him.

I feel like I can never take my eyes off him as he is constantly looking for something to chew, be it shoes, toys, or my clothing. I try to keep things put away, but with two children, its a battle.

He also gets on the counters looking for food or things to chew. 

Just looking for advice regarding his exercise and bad manners. I keep hearing he's still a puppy, but is this really just puppy behavior?


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

There are a lot of threads here with a lot of very good advice, you might want to search them out. 

V's need lots of exercise, but they also need (and crave) good training..they are very intelligent and get bored easily. the process of training and then having them be obedient is very reassuring to them b/c it not only gives them something to think about and do (a 'Job'), but also it deepens the connection with them as they understand you more.

Try enrolling in some basic obedience/'Good citizen" classes and maybe some private lessons with a good trainer as well.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Someone else came on here recently and had been told essentially the same thing, that their dog was still too much of a puppy to advance in training. You and your dog are capable of far more than that and I would ignore the advice of anyone telling you he's still a puppy. Waiting it out won't change his behavior. Consistency, patience, and actively training will. 

Two things in addition to off-leash exercise which I've found really help calm them down are a job (like Gingerling said) and attention/cuddle time. It doesn't matter how much exercise I give my dog, if I don't give her the other two components her energy never runs out. Conversely, if we've had a lazy day, like when I'm sick, and she's been by my side all day with just a few quick rounds of fetch, she is remarkably calm. I would say that was true at 1.5 years old as well, but I think she is lower energy than your boy. 

For "jobs" I like to go off of her natural instincts. I have her bring in the paper, carry her food to her bowl, and follow rules for playtime. For fetch, she has to sit in front of me, and release the toy on command. Make it fun and interactive, but think about how you can require more from him. 
Even chewing on a stuffed kong or a bone can help mentally tire them out. Find something he loves to chew on and when you're occupied with something else stick him in his crate with it.


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## smoody004 (Mar 25, 2016)

He has been through puppy training and basic obedience with us. This basic obedience was basically a refresher of his puppy training. I would like to train him at the next level so I would say that is in our near future. When he is at the kennel, he receives refresher training. I should be more consistent with some basic commands around mealtimes and when going outdoors. He is very intelligent, but also a little hard headed. 

We also tried some bird training at 7 months, but that didn't go so well. Part of the reason, I believe, was that the trainer had never worked with a WHV. As most of my understanding goes, WHV are very "soft". I think our guy just shut down. He wasn't very good at pointing or retrieving. Maybe we'll try again this summer. 

any thoughts about how mouthy he is? seems to put anything and everything into his mouth. we have plenty of toys with a lot of variety. he enjoys bully sticks, but i try to limit those to once per day as the kind we buy are $5 each!


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Oh you have a Zoldmali! Very cool!  Is he Rowan and Sonny's brother, by chance? I can't remember their birth date.

Scout is super mouthy--always greets me with a shoe and likes to hold my wrists. I've never discouraged it as she isn't destructive and I also wanted to do some bird training so didn't want to put her off retrieving. Don't get me wrong, I think you can set boundaries there, and if my girl had been a chewer I would have. I'd probably go with a strong "leave it" command and then redirect to something appropriate to chew/hold, followed by lots of praise. You've seen the pics from Zsofi of little 7 week olds carrying pheasants. Mouthiness and the retrieve is bred into them!

Did you end up crate training him? A lot of the other folks I talked to who had imported a Z. to the States gave up on crate training because the screaming and separation anxiety was just so bad. They've also experienced a lot of the more destructive behavior. Scout took much longer to crate train than I'd expected and it did cross my mind that there was some trauma from the flight, but I pressed in and she loves it now. So if you haven't, I'd encourage you to because that will physically keep him from chewing on things he shouldn't, which will break that self-rewarding cycle. And honestly, it will get him out of your hair for a bit, which we all need. 

Nice to meet family on here! 

Oh and if you do want to revisit bird training, look up the site Steady with Style and the book Training with Mo. I didn't follow the methods 100%, but they were a great starting point for me.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

when you say 4 mile off leash, do you mean you walk 4 miles?, if so your boy will be covering a lot more than that if he's anything like my two whv's  Elvis, coming up 15 months still chews things, tv remotes, wife's spectacles, my slippers etc but I keep telling myself "they chew till they're two"...he knows he's done wrong as he'll sulk on the sofa till I give him "come here" command. As for bird training he was thrown in at the deep end haha, shooting season here in UK starts 1st September for partridge so at nearly 8 months old he was out on the birds with me and Ruby and it really steadied him up, he's not up to Ruby's standard of hunt and point yet but his retrieving is top notch. If you get the chance to go along on a shoot I'd jump at it, nothing to lose and everything to gain imo.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScBEI_u3RlA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5W9ZbVvzF4

a couple of vids for you ...for some reason the links roll onto other clips too,,but the ones I intended are the first clip on each link


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## smoody004 (Mar 25, 2016)

Thanks for the info everyone! Yes he is Sonny and Rowan's brother. I've connected with them as well. I just wish I was closer to them to get the boys together!

He is crate trained and does well in it. As you said, he had a hard with the crate in the beginning, but now he's a pro. Goes right in when we leave. 

I do walk and he is off leash so yes I know he covers way more than my four. He loves to chase the birds, deer, and geese that are out there on the golf course. It is really fun to watch him point and then take off for the chase!

I'll check out the videos and book. Thanks!


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## momofboys (Jun 8, 2015)

Something fun that you might try is agility training. I started it with Copper last fall and we have a great time every week. We started simple but are moving up in length and complexity of the courses. When we arrive at class I have a very excited boy as he knows he's going to get to work and run. You can see him on the course working trying to figure out what he needs to do to earn his reward (liver bites) and by the end of the class he tired both physically and mentally. We come home and have a very relaxed and sleepy dog.


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## cuddlebuglove (Apr 27, 2014)

Then he starts his other job as being a velcro dog, ready for snoozing and cuddling ;D


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## Oyster (Mar 7, 2016)

I'll second the idea that training is exhausting! Just the 10 min we do about 3x a day really calms her down when she gets twitchy, which used to be the highest likelihood times for chewing something inappropriate. There were certain times of day (I eventually figured out) that she needed to do some work - I used to give her different things to chew of food puzzle games (which she LOVES) but she'd be bored of basically anything in 5 min (10 min if I were lucky) so I used to just give her something new every 5 min for 1-2 hours until nap time. Drove me a little nuts... Now we train for 10 min and she's good - it's WAY better for my sanity to have one 10 min interrupt vs a dozen 1 min interrupts, and it's good for her so everybody wins. She used to chew on random stuff too, but for a few months I just always kept eyes on her (when she wasn't crated) and gave the big, "uh uh!" when the wrong thing was in her mouth and now so long as I'm nearby, she's good. I still can't leave her alone though - I have (well I HAD) a rocking chair that can attest to that...  

Oh, and bully sticks are awesome but at some point she started tearing through them in 10 minutes (I did find some on amazon that I could buy big packs of that seemed like a good compromise between healthy and less expensive $5 a stick sounds like a lot). I still have them around but for prolonged chewing I got some antlers (also from amazon). They're expensive but they last FOREVER, and most toys I've had for "strong chewers" just get shredded. I make rope toys from old tee shirts, but try to monitor so she doesn't swallow the bits as she shreds them, and the black kongs seem to hold up pretty well and are a nice treat, but are a bit of work to pack and so on and don't last like the antler does.


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