# How to teach gentle?



## TrumpetBlast (Jun 27, 2020)

Shofe is a dream at eight months. All of our training seems like it just finally 'clicked' and she brings us so much joy. 💗 The only thing I'm having trouble teaching her is how to be more gentle when she's playing. She doesn't bite and isn't aggressive, but if you're on the couch and she brings you a toy she jumps right on you or slams you with her body. No concept of where your face is. When you're sleeping, she sometimes jumps in the bed and lands right on your head. I'd really appreciate any pointers, as she has (unintentionally) hurt both of us, even giving my husband a black eye. 😲 I don't want to necessarily discipline her because she isn't meaning to cause us harm, she's just a rough puppy!


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Ellie just turned 8mos and we are in a similar situation, mostly with greetings. The bed is not an issue with us as she is crated for bedtime and is not allowed on our beds. Being on the couch can be a challenge when she jumps up and uses various sensitive body parts as a step. She is getting better a bit, but I do sit defensively when she's in a playful mood but have been working on preventing that with progress being made. The greetings are the worst, she relapses back into shark mode jumping and mouthing on your body and clothes. We have been teaching "get a toy" where she grabs a toy as part of the greeting process. It keeps the mouth busy so it doesn't go on parts of us. This has been working great, we use our "no" sound which is a loud "Ehe!", with "Get a toy!" before we engage in a happy greeting process. She knows that the happy greeting only happens with a toy in her mouth and it has been really helping us a ton. We still get a few jump ups, but at least the teeth aren't involved. Pertaining to the bed, if you do allow her on it, maybe a similar process will help. Anytime the initiation is rough or unwanted, provide negative feedback, not necessarily scolding, like expressing displeasure and communicating to her that it is not acceptable. Then ask her to fullfill a trained response, like get a toy, sit, etc or else you will not provide any positive reinforcement such as playing back , etc.


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## [email protected] (Feb 24, 2020)

Hi there! 

First of all, please know that you are not alone in this struggle. 

I am no expert, by any means, however, I presume making a Vizsla gentle may only have limited success. I've had a swollen lip intermittently for several months when Oscar was a pup, until I learned to anticipate and avoid 😂. I've had a black eye twice, so you are not alone. I am not sure he realizes he's hurt me, even if I cry (oh, yes, we've had some nasty accidents). 

I've had limited success with teaching "easy". Starting with grabbing food from my hand easy and moving towards jumping easily on the furniture (he jumps easily next to people now, but the wall behind his armchair has a hole, because he literally throws himself in the armchair, he does not sit nicely). We always used calming tactics along with "easy" - if he was going crazy, I would ignore for a bit, then make him sit, then slowly rub his chest and repeated "easy" (I don't think this is a training tactic, but it worked for us). 

I could not change his buldozer-like manners, but I limited the chances for accidents. He is not allowed to play on the couch (no toys on the couch, ever) and is not allowed to jump. Couch is for resting and jumping is not allowed ever in the house, or next to people (with respect to going nuts around other people, this is only possible if other people also cooperate and don't make him too excited). Also, no standing on the couch - if he wants to stay on the couch, he has to lay down, or sit nicely (this is a rule because he has a full tail and that was the cause for one black eye) . We taught him to lay on the couch by instructing him to lay down every time he came on the couch. Eventually, because he was not allowed with toys on the couch and was always instructed to lay down when coming next to us, he got the point: this is not a place where we play. All jumping, or standing gets him banned to his spot. We do not interact with him in any way if he attempts play on the couch and he gets sent right to his spot. He got the point eventually - he knows that unless he is calm, he will be sent to his spot. (I don't see sending him to his spot as punishment. It is just his spot, that we taught him to retreat to and mind his own business).

Even so, he comes on the couch, sits nicely next to me, and then throws himself on me. I always tense all my muscles when he is about to lay down, you never know where he's gonna land and my stomach cannot take 30 falling kilos😂. 

They are very fast, super energetic and sometimes like a dynamite that is about to blow up. This is why, the only way we figured was to instill a calm behavior around the house. We rarely play with the ball indoors and rarely have activities inside that may over-excite him. We keep all these for the outdoors, and inside he chews bones, have a lick-mat, or try to solve a puzzle. Being so fast and energetic, I feel that, at least Oscar, cannot be contained once he builds up too much excitement, so I let him blow up outside (run full speed, chase, go wild) and restrict indoors all activities that build up excitement. We put a lot of effort into burning out all his energy outside, so he is looking forward to chilling on the couch.

Also, I've seen a lot of improvement in the past 6 months regarding his nutty behavior. He is a lot calmer now indoors and seems that, somehow, all that we tried to teach him as a pup started to finally click after the one year mark (Oscar is 20 months now). So, set your boundaries and be patient, she will learn calm just like she learned all other things.


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## rubicon (Dec 9, 2019)

In my experience, my vizsla will be gentle around little dogs and kids because he can see from our face how much we don’t want him to hurt them. But honestly, he does everything with such exuberance we’ve never gotten him to be especially gentle with us, especially as sometimes we like to roughhouse with him (yes, even at home)

but I do think the best method might be to become a bit unresponsive when the dog is rough. My mom loves him but she’s not the roughhousing sort at all and he knows if he wants her attention he better be a calm and gentle boy. If he’s rough, she kind of acts scared and shuts down. It’s all sincere on her part but it taught him something too. He adjusts his behavior to suit people. He will definitely test you first hoping you’ll have loose boundaries, but in the end he wants to meet you where you are. Above all he wants everyone to love him!




TrumpetBlast said:


> When you're sleeping, she sometimes jumps in the bed and lands right on your head


Hm. Maybe institute a closed bedroom door policy? With my husband and I, we close our bedroom doors at night. He’s either in or he’s out. If he’s in he’s on the bed with us already. Might shift positions in the middle of the night but no jumping necessary. And if he’s out he’s out for the night.


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