# After puppyhood



## SevLev (Mar 1, 2021)

Hello, 

First time Vizsla owners here. We got our girl just under 8weeks old and she is now 13weeks.
It was bumpy first couple of weeks and I unfortunately did get the puppy blues, despite thinking I was very much ready for the journey.
Every time I had a worry or concern, it was almost like my girl was sensing it and was proving me wrong. 
She got the hang of toilet training in a matter of three weeks, now goes out on her own and comes back in. She’s crate trained, sleeps through the night (although I wake her up for a potty break every 4hr, which is twice a night), she’s started eating very well, she’s getting the hang of what to chew and not, she sitting, leaving, going to bed, going down, staying, hi-fiving and giving paw. All in all, I think it would be very unfair to her if I complained about her, so I won’t. What I do want to know though is what are older Vizsla’s like? I have another dog, cockapoo, who just roams around the house, mellow and for example if I need to work he just lays by my feet or if I need to cook he lays on the sofa watching me or sleeping, even when I shower he’s either downstairs looking out the window or laying in front of the bathroom door. My V girl, sleep mostly throughout the day in her crate but every hour she wakes up, raves/vigorously plays for 40-45mins, poops, drinks etc. and then becomes cranky which is usually her cue to telling me she wants to go back to bed. Sleeps for an hour then it’s the same all over. All I really need to know is that this is just puppyhood and not life with a Vizsla until the end? Am I going to stop having to supervise her all the time, will she just sit/sleep by me so I can join my work meeting freely, will I be able to do things around my house without worrying about keeping an eye on her etc.? 
When she’s ready, she will definitely be getting her 2hrs minimum exercise and off lead run a day, I already do that with my cockapoo anyway. But I just want to understand what is expecting me in the future, when all her needs are met, am I going to get my normal back? 
Any shared experiences and advice I welcome and thank you in advance!


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Hey there! I have a 10 month old girl and I used to joke that my V had 2 settings: sleep or destroy. After 6 months she stopped getting in trouble every moment she was awake. It gets easier by the week. 

At 10 months she is very well behaved, when I make dinner she hangs out or lies down near me ( I need to put a blanket / pillow on the floor for her to lay down anywhere). In the morning until noon she is pretty laid back, sleeps at my feet while I work. She needs to be near me at all times, and waits impatiently by the door or stairs when I go out of the room. 

Around noon she gets at least 1.5h off leash play, run and structured walk. And with that, we can easily have her crated from 1.30/2 P.M. until 4/4.30 P.M. She just sleeps. If I don’t crate her, she can get restless around 3.00 P.M. It depends on my schedule.

From around 4 - 8 P.M. she is restless, pacing around, whining for attention, throwing her toys in my lap. I usually have to do some braingames, training or anythat challenges her mind, but it’s never enough to tire her out and have her settle. It’s those hours I wonder if this is a ‘V’ trait, and if other breeds would just relax more. I still find that she does not just relax around the house. She is very Velcro, she has just learned that I will return from going out of sight within minutes. Today, instead of getting up she stayed in her place when I went out of sight.

Around 8 P.M. she settles and usually cuddles and sleeps near us. She still sleeps in her crate at night, we never let her come upstairs.

So, I think ‘v’ are quite fidgety, restless compared to other dogs. But when happy and well exercised,I find it very easy to deal with.


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## SevLev (Mar 1, 2021)

Thank you for sharing, and yes! I keep saying any given hour between 4-8pm she’s a little menace! You’ve given me hope, doesn’t seem like I’m going to be her constant entertainer for years to come


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

It will get better very soon, you’ll start noticing it around 6 months. However, being very smart and Velcro does require more work / entertaining than your average dog. I have found that 15 minutes of (DIY)brain games (just Google or YouTube dog brain games) can really make a difference.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

SevLev, My 18 week girl was pretty much the same and still is to some degree. She is either wired or sleepy. Just recently she has started to mellow out on her own when we aren't paying attention to her. Like go lay on the couch with a toy instead of roaming around looking for something to get into trouble with. We still have to watch her like a hawk as the troublemaker in her is just simmering below the surface. When she is awake with energy, she always wants something to do. I engage her with some training and game sessions in between outside walks and exercise. When I'm training alone with her, she never wants to end a training session and it feels like she is willing to keep going until all the treats in the universe are exhausted. It is that eagerness to work that makes her great, but also can be conflicting with our lives. When she doesn't have a mission or a job to do and has energy, she makes her own up such as chewing on the stairs, or hunting for area rug tags that must be chewed and removed at all costs!

Thinking games are very helpful to keep them busy. I really like putting her in a down/stay and hiding treats around the house. I have her stay for upwards of a few minutes now and it takes a lot of mental energy for her to do that. Then the treat hunting exercises the nose/brain. This really helps snap her out of that "i'm bored and need a job or i'll destroy stuff" mode. I'm going to try to do this outside soon; however, I have to battle her wanting to eat all the mulch in the yard.


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## SevLev (Mar 1, 2021)

Thanks Dan. This forum is great. It’s been good to see I’m not the only one. It’s encouraging to hear progress and success stories from other fellow V owners. I’ve started to train her on a treat ball now, that rings a bell every so minutes (depending on which of the 4 options you set it to) and she has to roll it around to have the treats dispensed. She’s a fussy eater so treats need to be of very high value but I’ve noticed after 20mins of attending to this ball, she’s knackered. So definitely brain exercises is the way to go with this breed. I’ve got ahead of any destructive chewing by crate training her and watching every inch she takes when she’s out. Hopefully, after COVID lockdowns end and by the time I need to leave her a little longer she’ll be old enough to hold her toilet longer in her crate until the dog walker comes for her and takes her to doggy day care. Otherwise, like you said, you need to be a hawk and I could not trust her to roam around the house freely with nothing to do!


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

SevLev, that ball sounded interesting as we have one that you fill with kibble and the pup rolls it around to get the food out. The electronic timer/ringer ball sounded better as they can't get it out so quickly once they figure it out. I ordered one that sounds like what you have from Amazon. Try mixing high value treats with kibble when training. Start with just a little kibble and work your way up to more kibble than treats. We did that and eventually only add a few high value treats to a bunch of kibble. After awhile our pup doesn't even care and will work hard for plain kibble. Saves a lot of money and also from overdosing on treats!


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## Veronique (Jan 3, 2021)

SevLev said:


> Hello,
> 
> First time Vizsla owners here. We got our girl just under 8weeks old and she is now 13weeks.
> It was bumpy first couple of weeks and I unfortunately did get the puppy blues, despite thinking I was very much ready for the journey.
> ...


Our V puppy is 16 weeks, but pretty much the same - full of energy and then crashes and sleeps - he has only these 2 modes -superactive and sleeping My breeder told me that they settle down by their 2nd birthday.......so long time to get to that point, but hopefully we will be out of the sharky mode soon  Good luck and she is so cute!


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## SevLev (Mar 1, 2021)

Thank you Veronique 😊


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