# wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy



## pixiexyz (Jan 29, 2017)

*wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Hello  First of all I'd like to say - what a fantastic forum this is! Full of very helpful advice and just fun to read. 
I am a new user, just registered. I am a 'mummy' of a 19months old amazing and fabulous (!) wirehair vizsla called Brian. He is the sweetest thing I could ever be brave enough to dream about. We and...frankly...everyone around us love him to bits  How can you not???! Now, I am writing to ask for opinion of you all, who maybe had the same idea... We would love to get a new puppy, a male wirehair vizsla as a 'little brother', a companion and a play mate for our Brian. We are hoping that they would play together, and that it would be simply an act of love to bring home another vizsla (obviously), so Brian has a doggy best friend. May I ask you for your experience, please? Do you think it is a good idea? Of course I'd love to have yet another vizsla, but this idea is triggered purely by my thoughts of making my very happy dog even happier!
I'd be very interested to hear your voice...

Many thanks


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

If you have the time, money, and Brian loves puppies. I'd say go for it. 
Welcome to the forum, and we would love to see pictures of your wirehair.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

I was in the same boat, wondering how my wirehaired bitch Ruby would adapt to a new puppy in the house but took the plunge, I needn't have worried, nearly 2 years ago now we got Elvis (wirehaired too) and they got on together better than I could've dared to hope, Ruby was absolutely brilliant with him and they're just the best of pals. Not sure how two same sex pups would get on together though.


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## lord brush (Oct 22, 2015)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Similarly, I'm curious as to how our 20 month old male HWV would get along with the introduction of another pup. Is it advisable to get opposite sex then? Riley still has his bits, so as soon as a bitch pup became mature enough.....he'd probably try it on? Solutions would be to a) spay female pup asap, b) neuter Riley beforehand c) let them get on with it! Or....another boy? Competition/ aggression?


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## vdogdad (Apr 15, 2013)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Not too long ago we were in the same situation...our male V Roscoe was about 2 1/2 years old and we wanted to add another V to our family...with the hopes to breed the two V's in the future. Myrtle was welcomed by Roscoe with very little problem. She is now about 1 1/2 years old, a very active girl, much more of a hunter/chaser than Roscoe. As is normal, there will be occasions of little "dust ups" between the two, but mostly when the hyperactive Myrt accidentally steps on Roscoe's "privates". They are terrific playmates and have daily wrestling matches and tug of wars. Myrt adores Roscoe and will "kiss" him and snuggle with him...sometimes more than he wants, which yields a warning growl from him, she is submissive to him and they have never had an actual fight. 
Myrtle has now had two heats, the first when she was about a year old, we did not want her bred at such an early age, so we spent an agonizing 3 weeks keeping a very lusty Roscoe from doing "his thing"! For Myrt's second heat we let "nature take it's course" and a very amorous Roscoe gave her almost non-stop "attention"...however, since Myrt is about 2 inches taller than Roscoe, my boy could not complete his mission. At first it was comical to watch, then we started to feel pretty bad for him...to the point we tried to "assist" by leading them to spots on our farm where he could gain the extra height needed to get the job done...she would patiently stand for him, while he would invariably "re-position" her where the height issue would then be about 4 inches...Roscoe does not lack for enthusiasm, but he's a little light in the brain department!!
So, as we had planned to have only one litter of pups, we had Roscoe neutered. We are big believers that dogs should not be spayed or neutered until they have fully matured...which for us is defined as being at least 3 years old. Myrtle will have a "date" with another V when her next heat arrives.
We think having two V's is absolutely awesome, of course, my wife wants at least three (planning to keep one of the pup's from Myrt's future litter), so you should understand you are reading the posting of a family suffering from an incurable "red fever"! Best of luck with your decision!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

I had a male, and two females (all intact) living in the house for over 2 years. I would just keep them separated during during the breeding part of the heat cycle. 
I had my male neutered at a little over 3 years old. I was never going to breed him due to temperament, and I had let him mature into a dog. It sure cuts down on the whining, but they still get frisky, and have to be watched. 
No chance of puppies, but you could have a injury if you don't keep them from tying.


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## pixiexyz (Jan 29, 2017)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Hello 

I guess what I'm trying to find out, asking particularly those of you who had a similar experience are two things:

1. Are the two V likely to play together, aside of attention they receive from humans? Do they entertain each other independently from humans? 
Sorry for a silly question. It is not really that silly. You see - I'm considering 2nd dog purely to keep them both happy, not 'because I think it's cool to have two dogs'. 

2. Two V boys living in harmony. Without scary fights and aggression, competition etc.

***It's important to clarify - Brian (our 19month old male) is intact, and we would like the new puppy to stay intact too. 
We really really do NOT want to neuter our boy (-s). 
This is the reason why we thought we'd get a boy. If we had a girl- we'd have to spay her, to avoid 'accidents' , and we do not want to do that.

Anyone here with a word of wisdom please?


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln5jH_P8l3Q

they certainly play together, but as I've said, one's a boy and one's a girl. I'm sure there must be plenty of people here with same sex V's that could answer you better.


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## Rbka (Apr 21, 2014)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Hi pixiexyz - welcome to the forum!
We only got our 2nd V boy last week and the BIGGEST motivation was to have a companion for Nico. He is just so so so social! My husband takes him to work 1 or 2 times/week where he gets to play with my hubby's boss' golden retriever and it just seemed so organic - they play, snooze, play, go sniff different things, play, snooze... He always comes back content and tired. So we wanted him to get that every day! So far so good - they both like human intervention (like for us to throw the toy or to act like a play structure) - and obviously at this point we supervise them closely so nobody accidentally gets hurt. They have been exhausting themselves so hard - they are sleeping much more now than they were a few days ago when Sam first got home. It makes our lives raising this pup so much easier!! They have been napping for 2 hours now without a peep 
On a similar note - we have friends who have a V that Nico loves and when we spend the weekend with them Nico is kind of feverish with excitement - he can't stop playing! Even at 3 years old, he fights sleep in order to try to keep playing... We were hoping to squash that intense "can't-stop-playing" behaviour by giving him more access to play!

Nico is intact and he is not dominant EXCEPT when being repeatedly mounted by another dog. Mostly he butt-smacks them repeatedly and then if they really don't get it he will tell them what's what. He does not hump or demonstrate ANY dominant behaviours. We are hoping to not have to neuter too and if Sam is as good as Nico we don't foresee any problems... but I can't give you an answer for sure. We discussed with our breeder and she thinks with the dogs' temperaments they will probably be okay intact - so we're hoping!

One of the issues I had was "how will I love a 2nd V as much as I love Nico?!" hahaha but that all melted away with the sweet puppy smell and cuteness and wonderfulness of these dogs :


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

I would make a couple of points - dogs are individuals but they are also pack animals.

Replies here will give you a rough idea of what to expect but ultimately how YOUR two dogs get on may be different. That said, as pack animals, if most dogs didn't learn to get on when living together it wouldn't be much of a pack! I can't remember any posts here from owners saying there dogs couldn't get on. While doing a quick internet search I have seen posts about terriers having to be rehomed because a stable relationship had broken down and the dogs were frequently fighting (real fighting, not just getting a bit antsy with each other). That's a very different breed though and it is not unknown for some terriers to be very 'assertive' (I'm trying to be diplomatic! )

We got our second V because we wanted company for our first, Lyra, and also because Lyra was becoming quite sedentary when out on walks, she stopped roaming freely and looking for birds and rabbits like she used to. She was about two and a half at the time. She is not a typical V, she is quite a nervous dog and had become quite 'reactive'. She wasn't openly aggressive but she wouldn't tolerate other dogs that came up to her unless it was one of the few Vs that she knows well.

Because of this we obviously had some concerns bringing a new dog into her life. We decided we wanted a rescue - we wanted to give a new home to an unwanted dog and I couldn't cope with the demands of a puppy. I work from home and I would have to be the primary carer and it just wouldn't be practical from past experience (when my work load was much lower).

It was suggested that we went for a male. There seems to be no proper research on this yet but it is suggested than in a pack that the bitches dominate and having two bitches can be more of problem than a dog in a bitch. Because of the nature of Lyra I was expecting some initial problems but believed that once they got to know each other they should get on well.

In the end we got another bitch, Ruta. I was quite nervous when we went to meet her that there would be some terrible incident. We met her with one of the rescue organisers and her three other Vs. Lyra mostly ignored them all while the rest of them rushed around playing with each other. Ruta and Lyra are chalk and cheese. Ruta is extremely outgoing and boisterous (even by V standards). Most amazing though, when we got them home there were no problems at all. We had one incident after about six weeks. Ruta was pestering and pestering Lyra to engage in play and being very physical with her (Ruta is also a lot bigger than Lyra) and she wouldn't take no for an answer until Lyra bit her on the muzzle hard enough to leave a canine puncture wound. That has been the only time that Lyra has ever shown Ruta any aggression (we've had the two of them for 2.5 years now) and was probably deserved in the circumstances. Funnily enough, Ruta still behaves much the same with Lyra but if Lyra doesn't want to engage she just ignores Ruta until she stops.

Despite their wildly different temperaments they get on really well. Getting Ruta achieved our objective of getting Lyra 'out of herself' and the pair of them now spend walks roaming the countryside playing and 'hunting' together. In the house they play a little but generally speaking they just slob around which isn't uncommon for adult Vs that get enough excercise/stimulation. They still want a bit of attention from me from time to time. It is difficult to judge how much they get out of each other's company in the home. There are no obvious signs but then again what would you look for? As a human (pretty close anyway ) I can enjoy having somebody else in the house. Even if they aren't in the same room it can be nice just knowing they are there but that is something that is in my head, not something you can see. I believe it is the same for my dogs.

For us, getting a second V has been a great success and at least double the pleasure!


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

I *may*be in a position to add to this thread some more in the quite near future  for now all I'll say is that a 4 month old boy has come up for rehoming


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## pixiexyz (Jan 29, 2017)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Hello again

Thank you all for your posts. Of course I am not expecting ready prescription for success and guarantees of behaviour. 
I do appreciate sharing your stories, experiences with me and others.

Harrigab- that’s fabulous, I hope that all will work very well for you and your beautiful doggies.
Rbka- thanks a lot. I cannot tell you how many times I have looked at the photos of your amazing Nico and a new puppy  They are truly adorable, I get emotional each time I look at them! I hope we will get as lucky too 
Lyra- thank you so much for your response. It is so helpful and interesting to read about your experience. 

My Brian is a softie, very well behaved, though very willful, extremely smart, funny, gentle and very social, and easy going. 
Do you think he can get jealous of a little puppy?I don't want him to feel that he is now less important to me...! I love him so much, and will do everything so he feels as special to us as he is now. He gets lots and lots of love and attention 


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Although Fergy and Max do not live in the same household, They play nearly every day, and have spent many weeks together when we dog sit Max.
They are not siblings, Max is about 4 mo. younger then Fergy. They never fight, or get rough with each other. They always play and invent their own games. Whether they find a stick, a plastic food container, pine cone, paper cup, bone, ball, etc. in this case, Fergy found a pair of small kids soccer
cleats, on the park bench...


https://youtu.be/EU7suf2P27Y


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*

Obviously I haven't had the same experience as you will but I've seen a few posts here regarding new puppies with an existing dog. I haven't seen jealousy as a problem but pups always require a lot of time and attention at first, as I'm sure you have experienced. They can also be quite wearing, not only to humans, but also adult dogs. Make sure Brian gets some space when he needs it. Some dogs will tell pups when they have had enough, some won't so you may have to intervene if the pup is getting to be too much.

I presume you have thought about how you are going to satisfy the exercise requirements of two very different needs. This would be a good opportunity to maintain some individual attention for Brian while everybody makes the transition to a two dog family.

You are clearly aware of the need to make sure Brian gets enough attention so I doubt you will have an issue.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

*Re: wirehaired vizsla puppy as a play mate/companion for our 19mths old vizsla boy*



harrigab said:


> I *may*be in a position to add to this thread some more in the quite near future  for now all I'll say is that a 4 month old boy has come up for rehoming


well I missed out on this pup, but he has gone to a great and deserving home


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