# Advice needed -baby and vizsla



## Phatyuk (Apr 3, 2013)

Help...my wife and I are currently trying for a baby. At the same time we are desperate to give a home to a V male puppy. We lead very active life's and can easily give the V all the exercise and just as importantly...all the love and attention it will need. Our only concern is having a puppy with a baby. I have to stress my wife is not pregnant yet. We have chance of a puppy from a good breeder (we have already seen mum and dad) in 6 weeks time. Our dilema is whether the timing is right or whether we should wait for a few years. I guess the V (if wifey fails pregnant soon) will be 12 months when we have the newborn. We would really appreciate any advice from V owners who may have had similar experiences. Many thanks  :


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I waited until my kids were in high school and I was retired to get mine. Vizslas seem to take almost the same amount of time to raise as kids do. If I had tried to do it earlier, I feel someone would have been shorted.
If I didn't want to wait I would have rescued an older Vizsla. One that had slowed with age and just needed a loving family.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

I would like to add... TexasRed has a lot of experience with high energy hunting dogs like the Vizsla.


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

I would wait. A lot of my friends are having babies right now and their dogs have been sitting in the house for months. I don't even want to know what Miles would be like even with one day without exercise, let alone months!!! Vizslas are puppies until about age 3. 

The only way I would get one is if you are wiling to hire a dog walker or do a dog care care to exercise the dog while you are busy with the new baby so the dog won't develop poor habits in the house and get into trouble. But one could also make the argument if you are sending the dog away every day why have one?


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## Phoebejane (May 10, 2012)

Hello phatyuk welcome to the forum  

I am a mother of two and have a one year old vizsla.

If I was you I would try and meet up with some young vizslas still in training and spend the day with them and talk with their owners. 
You haven't mentioned If you work or not? Just say your wife does fall pregnant I would consider once your baby was born it can take up to 6 weeks to recover from giving birth. Could your wife once your back at work manage to walk the dog? Or handle a bouncy dog jumping up at her?


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## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

I have an 11 month old mellow (for a v) female vizsla , and I couldn't imagine being pregnant and then having a newborn while trying to raise a Vizsla. Yes, mine is easier now than she was a few months ago and she will continue to get easier with age. I plan on waiting till she's at least 2 before my husband and I start trying to have children. 

There's a great thread on here that discusses this topic at length.... I am posting from my phone, otherwise I would link it. I'm sure someone will post it soon.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2009/09/vizslas-personality-helps-in-hard-times.html

I would wait. You can always use OPPs. Join a local group of pointer people and tell them you'd love to dog sit or walk with them. People love to share.

But if you are planning a baby, do that first. You'll have plenty of time for a high energy hunting dog in your life. Until then use Other people's pets. :

RBD


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

RBD 
A very well written article.
I can relate to Vizslas helping after the loss of loved ones. I lost my dad two days before I was to pick up June from the breeder, I asked him if he could hold her till the next week for me. He said he would take care of her for as long as I needed him to. I picked her up the very next weekend. I needed her to ease my pain.


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## maplevizsla (Oct 26, 2012)

I would wait. My daughter was nearly 2yrs old before we added Titan, our 8 month old male Vizsla ( also have a 9yr old female Vizsla) to the family and it was the perfect age. Our daughter still gets irritated when Titan steals her toys and he has so much wild puppy exerburance he often knocks Raina over. But, they are best buddies and love eachother. I am the primary care taker for the dogs, so I do all the walking, feeding, training and hubby will pitch in with watching Raina, thankfully she is independent now!

A newborn and new puppy? Insanity. Puppy always loses out :'(


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## mlwindc (Feb 8, 2013)

I have a four year old and six month old vizsla. Honestly, both the child and the vizsla are a lot more work than you expect. If I was pregnant or had a newborn the V and I would mt have gotten along. It's tough with the 4 year old, but at least he's more independent and can wait for his needs. Also helps that he is more mobile and sleeping through the night - couldn't imagine all the exercising a v if I wasn't getting sleep


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## VictoriaW (Mar 16, 2011)

Sooooo...plenty of good advice here. I'll just add that pregnancy isn't this 9-month buffer zone where you'll be able to devote all of your time and energy to raising a pup. It's WORK. "Wifey" might be so tired that she cannot scrape herself off the floor, or so nauseous that you are making repeated trips to the ER for fluids. She may have frequent doctor appointments or be caught up reading "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" instead of "Before and After You Get Your Puppy". She may wind up on bed rest for the last ten weeks. Carrying a baby to term is not a cakewalk!

And that is before the baby is born. I have heard people say that puppies are as exhausting as babies, and honestly I think those people either are not parents or they have blocked it all out. You can put a puppy in a crate and go out for an hour or two...


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## Phatyuk (Apr 3, 2013)

Wow...thank you all so much for your kind replies.

This is just the advice I was looking for from first hand experiences of raising V puppies and babies! If I'm honest I think we always knew it would be best to wait until baby is about 2.

We have been trying to convince ourselves by looking on the positive / optimistic side too much. From all your replies it would seem the reality is we would find it very difficult to manage both and the V would loose out.

To answer phoebe mane - yes I do work but I am lucky to be my own boss working from home in a "posh" she'd at the end of our garden. So I guess I would be on hand to help with baby and puppy more than most could. But is this enough? Judging by other posts I doubt it.

I love the sound of RBD's idea of looking for a local pointer group ( although I'm not too sure if these exist in uk ) and walking other owners V's until we are ready.

Once again - many thanks for all the posts. It's quite reassuring knowing there's a great 'bunch' of friendly folk willing to help out there.


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## Phatyuk (Apr 3, 2013)

Apologies for the typo Phoebejane


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## Vida (Dec 26, 2011)

Just to add-
If you're any where near me (somerset, Uk) you are welcome to borrow a vizsla and/ or/child any time! 
This will give you a true feeling of how demanding they are! (both child and dog).
A weekend with them would be an eye opener ;D
I've offered prospective vizsla owners a 'test drive' before but still no takers,can't understand why  LOL!


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

Welcome to the forum Phatyuk 

Get on Facebook and see if there is a local Vizsla group in your area - most areas seem to have one. Once joined, you will find that a lot of people would be happy for you to join them for a walk. Even more fun is a Viz Wizz which are pre-arrranged walks where lots of V owners meet up for a 2-3 hour walk. Don't know what a typical number is but we probably had about 15 at our last one. End of April we are going to one in Scotland that is an annual event that attracts over 100 - quite a sight! If you tell us whereabouts in the UK you are we might be able to point you in the right direction.

Having had three kids (only one still at home), I have to agree with the advice you have already received. Really not good timing. 

I work from home. My wife was on holiday for the first 10 days we had Lyra. Once she went back to work I found the next few weeks awful. Lyra was pretty easy by V standards but she required pretty constant attention and it was impossible to get any work done during the day. Fortunately I work for myself and a lot of my work could be done in the evening but if I had been busy it would have been a disaster. I would concentrate on the baby part of your life for now, I assume this is your first so you have no idea how this is going to affect your life - and one thing is certain, it won't be how you expect it to be. 

Babies/children are great, so are Vizslas (if they are right for you) but getting both at the same time is just greedy ;D


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## Phatyuk (Apr 3, 2013)

Good morning Vida / Lyra

I'm actually in Manchester area so Somerset is unfortunately out, otherwise i would defintely take Vida up on the 'kind' offer. Friends of ours have recently moved down to Devon (South Molton) so maybe the next time we visit (sometime this summer) I will take you up on the offer - to take a 'test drive' and get a reality check :-[ 

Lyra if you know of any local vizsla groups in my area, I would appreciate it if you could pint me in there direction. Funny enough we will be in Scotland (Loch Torrdidon in the west highlands) on 19/20 & 21st April celebrating our 1st anniversary. 

My wife and I are very active, walking and ountain biking at the weekends but you are right this will be our first child and we still have our blinkers on 8). Doh!!

Many thanks.


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

North West Viz Wizz is the Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/northwestvizwizz/?ref=ts&fref=ts


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