# I desperately need help with my Vizsla puppy



## tamer (Oct 2, 2017)

Hi All,
thanks for letting me in. My wife and I and 3 of our little kids just brought in an 8 weeks old vizsla puppy (Lucy). we've had her for about 5 days now and so far all I was able to teach her was the location of her food and water. she hates the crate and don't know how to properly train her so that she considers her crate a safe place. we're very loving with her when at home but during work days, my wife and I are away and kids are also away to school. is she gonna finish eating my table legs, and start on the sofa? anything you can help, I would appreciate it.


thanks
Tamer
Lucy's dad


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Hi Tamer,

Crate training will take a lot of time and consistency. It's normal for them to let out blood curdling screams and resist going in there crate. There are lots of threads on the forum about this, so I'd recommend reading through those to get some ideas of how to proceed. 

What her daily routine so far? Is she being left alone at home the entire day? What methods have you tried for general training?


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## trevor1000 (Sep 20, 2013)

The puppy is home alone all day?


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## tamer (Oct 2, 2017)

Thanks guys for the response. what she understands so far is the location of her water and food that is not in the crate. we leave all the bedroom doors and bathroom doors closed and just leave her the hallway and the room where she knows water is located. she stays by herself for about 3.5 hours and when I come home for lunch, I usually find her sitting on a small sofa playing with her toys. I then give her food and take her out to the backyard for about a brief 30 minutes. after another 30 minutes (when its time for me to get back to work), I throw in a treat in her crate (lasts her about an hour), leave the crate open and go to work. then I get back in about 3.5 to 4 hours and I find her on the same sofa playing or sleeping.


One of the major issue I have is she will not stay in her crate at night. So what do I do? all day yesterday, she didn't bother touching the table legs (I can't take a credit for doing anything on this because I have no idea why she stopped). Keeping her in her crate now is the major problem because I can't sleep on the sofa with her for long (wifey is about to kick my ass on this already). 
Thanks again guys.


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## pez999 (Apr 22, 2017)

I can tell you by experience that it was extremely hard leaving our pup alone and coming home to something not being chewed. We had the kitchen as her area for while we were gone, it only had one opening and we put a tall puppy gate. He would chew cabinet doors and scratch some other surfaces as he tried to counter surf or climb anything. Took a long time and now he's able to stay in the living room home alone but I would be terrified to let him be alone that young, he would constantly chew and bite things because of teething or being bored or being left alone. 

I would definitely read about crate training, there are a lot of threads on this forum about it. It goes faster for some dogs and slower for others, they're not all the same. My V cried his first night for so long before actually falling asleep, even though he was in the same room as me. And when I say cry, I mean CRY like he was being murdered in the most painful ways...it's really tough to listen to but you have to let 'em cry it out because as soon as you give in and let them out, they win and will know how to get attention and what they want. Really have to close the crate and let her cry it out over night until one night she'll stop crying. 

Even though Bandi is now able to be home alone (he's almost 8 months) with only access to the living room, he will sometimes get bored of his toys and chew on his blanket or if we accidentally leave something there that we shouldn't...It's a long road but it'll happen. We also have a camera we got from amazon to keep an eye on him during the day to see what he does when he's alone, it might be good to invest in one just to keep an eye on her. It was about $60 and you can talk to them and hear them as well.

Try these threads:
http://www.vizslaforums.com/12-puppies/16073-things-help-crate-training.html

http://www.vizslaforums.com/12-puppies/11701-my-boy-hates-his-crate.html


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## tamer (Oct 2, 2017)

Thanks pez999,


So I went home for lunch today and found Lucy in the same room. a few shoes were all over the place (even some in the living room, but no damage to the shoes). I fed her took her outside, she took a couple of #1s and one #2. we then came back in the house, I threw her a treat in the crate (she grabbed it and immediately ran out). so I put her back in and sat there by the crate (door closed) for a few minutes, and when I walk away, she begins crying like I did something horrible to her. I don't know if I accomplished anything but I left for work the usual way. I know her little but is not gonna visit the crate for one second. 


Part of the problem (on the nightly screaming) is I just don't want the neighbors to keep waking up in the middle of the night and also the kids not being able to get enough sleep on school nights. 


Should I just say the **** with the neighbors and the kids and just let the little screaming monster deal with it?


thanks again.


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## pez999 (Apr 22, 2017)

tamer said:


> Should I just say the **** with the neighbors and the kids and just let the little screaming monster deal with it?


Yes, I think that's what's gotta happen. We live in an apartment so we had similar issues with neighbors and didn't want to be annoying or rude so when we got the puppy, I took some pictures and made a little page with him on it and explained that we have a new puppy and he is going through crate training and learning to be by himself so if they hear any crying, please be understanding etc. I left my phone number and email on it so if there's an issue they can contact me. Put this page on all of our neighbors doors and some that I met later, appreciated the heads up and were really cool. I've read some people even baked some cookies for their neighbors, whatever helps. Most people are understanding and have/had pets.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

I truly feel for your situation! What you have on your hands is a new baby that needs constant care, just like your Human babies when they came home from the hospital.
Your new baby Is a Dog... Truly there is no such thing as just a dog... What you do now, will be the building blocks for your future pet. If it is already distroying
the cabinets and furniture, and you do not take control... it will be in a shelter by the time it is 5 months old. 
Buy a pen... confine the pup to a controllable area... Supply it with an abundance of " APPROPRIATE" things to chew on... kong's ... stuffed kong's... antlers... uncooked meaty bones... etc. If the pup doesn't like it's crate. and you are unable to take the time to acclimate it... no big deal... My dogs have never ever been crated... Crate training is not the norm. Buy a comfy bed, buy a baby blanket... v's love to be covered completely when they sleep. I totally feel for you, working and trying to raise this pup... It will need some serious training... you must have a plan on how you will teach it Recall along with the normal sit,stay, lay behavior. You need to prepare your little children for the Shark attacks... puppy teeth are like razors. Buy baby gates... confine the pup to area's where it is safe and you can control it. Once my pups learned they were to stay in the gated area... All I had to do was set up the barrier, it didn't even need to be secured... They are very smart and very eager to please... YOU just need to let them know what it is that will please you. They are most often love treats, and treats can get you most anything you want them to do. Once your pup has learned what you want it to do, you can let it run free in your home and you won't need to worry about it being destructive. It takes only about 5 months. Yes... they are that smart. 
CONFINE...CONTROL...GIVE APPROPRIATE CHEW OBJECTS CONSTANTLY...TRAIN...LOVE,CUDDLE, PAMPER, PLAY, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Just take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy her being a puppy. 
Limit her access, unless you have eyes on her. When you see a well trained dog, just know it didn't happen overnight. The owners put in countless hours over months/years. That same dog howled during crate training, chewed up anything it could get it's mouth on, and dragged them down the street as a pup.


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## tamer (Oct 2, 2017)

Thanks everyone! 
somewhere in this forum I read someone say to throw my t-shirt in the crate at night (why didn't I think of that? duh!). so I did that last night and it was the most pleasant sleep we all had including my little Lucy. she woke up a couple of times, the first one I think was to do a #1. we made a quick walk in the back yard and immediately she relieved herself. the second time, she cried for a couple of minutes and went right back to sleep. The chewing of table legs has gone for some reason and I still didn't figure out what triggered it in the first place and how she decided to stop (maybe it wasn't what it cracked out to be for her). But thank you again guys. I know I have a lot on my plate and I'm going to keep working at it. The fun part is to see Lucy get all excited every time we I or my wife or the kids come home and she gets to jump and run and play as much as possible. 
But there is one thing I noticed and maybe something I encouraged it myself; and that was, when I give her dry puppy food (nutritionally balanced) she won't touch it. But if I pour milk in it, its gone within 2 minutes, so I kept doing it. Any thoughts on food brands and methods? we don't give her table-food scraps or leftovers (only treats for good behavior). 


thanks again
Tamer


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I'm the last person to answer that type of question. Its like giving a kid, a ice cream Sunday everyday. Then just handing them plain ice cream. They are going to think it's not acceptable. 

Mine get something mixed with their food. I had a very picky one, and she would turn her nose up if she didn't have something added to her food. I just got in the habit of doing it for all the dogs.
And now I have a picky foster dog.
I like to add baked sweet potato, or cottage cheese. Plain yogurt, or If I'm cooking chicken, I boil some for the dogs with no bones. They also like ground cooked beef, or turkey. 

June, who is my piggy girl, gets pure pumpkin, and shredded carrots with her food.


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## Anida (Jun 10, 2016)

tamer said:


> Thanks everyone!
> somewhere in this forum I read someone say to throw my t-shirt in the crate at night (why didn't I think of that? duh!). so I did that last night and it was the most pleasant sleep we all had including my little Lucy. she woke up a couple of times, the first one I think was to do a #1. we made a quick walk in the back yard and immediately she relieved herself. the second time, she cried for a couple of minutes and went right back to sleep. The chewing of table legs has gone for some reason and I still didn't figure out what triggered it in the first place and how she decided to stop (maybe it wasn't what it cracked out to be for her). But thank you again guys. I know I have a lot on my plate and I'm going to keep working at it. The fun part is to see Lucy get all excited every time we I or my wife or the kids come home and she gets to jump and run and play as much as possible.
> But there is one thing I noticed and maybe something I encouraged it myself; and that was, when I give her dry puppy food (nutritionally balanced) she won't touch it. But if I pour milk in it, its gone within 2 minutes, so I kept doing it. Any thoughts on food brands and methods? we don't give her table-food scraps or leftovers (only treats for good behavior).
> 
> ...


This is a little off topic  but you mentioned jumping. If you aren't already, start trying to have her sit when you get home instead of letting her jump all over you. It's really fun and cute when they are little, but when they are 40+ lbs it's not so fun especially for the kids 

Like TR said, she is probably just training you to give her treats.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Anida said:


> This is a little off topic  but you mentioned jumping. If you aren't already, start trying to have her sit when you get home instead of letting her jump all over you. It's really fun and cute when they are little, but when they are 40+ lbs it's not so fun especially for the kids
> 
> Another thing you can do is put a toy in her mouth when she is really excited like that, They love that, and it will discourage mouthing ( which is them putting their teeth on you as a sigh of affection) If they get used to something in their mouth during those affectionate, greetings, they will begin putting something in their mouth themselves. You will find this really helpful especially with kids.
> 
> ...


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