New Vizsla Pup-Questions/Advice

[Waterfowler21]

Hello Everyone,
Meet Piper our new Vizsla. This is my first dog I have owned so it has been an exciting few days. She is about 6 1/2 weeks old and we have had her for two days. (Yes I know she is young but the breeder has people pick them up at 7 weeks.) The first day went great, she slept the whole way home. She explored her new home and played with her toys. And she went to bed like an angel, never whined once! We took her out of her crate every 1 1/12-2 hours to go potty and she fell right back to sleep after. She definitely tricked us because yesterday she was on a tear all night. She was not very sleepy during the night and we had to play with her for a bit before she went back to sleep. She also started whining and barking when she was in the crate.

I have a couple of questions for you all since this site has been very helpful since joining. I know a lot of these questions have been asked but since she is a bit younger than most say is the "correct" time to pick up a puppy, I want to know if there is any different opinions concerning common problems.

1. She is very mouthy when she gets excited. We have mostly been pushing her head away or pinning her to the floor and saying NO sternly when she nips at toes and ears. Any other methods that I should consider or is this probably the best at her age?

2. Crate Training. Is it ok to let her fall asleep on the couch/bed with us then move her to the crate? Or sleep next to the crate so she isn't as anxious when she wakes up? Or is the consensus to keep her in the crate and be a hard "bleep" throughout the night only letting her out to potty?

3. We have been socializing her with people right away and letting them hold her. She has been good for the most part but tends to shake a bit when strangers are holding her.

4. Any other advice/thoughts on ways to help her adapt more quickly since she is so young?

Thank you for all of your thoughts it is greatly appreciated and I am very happy I found this site. It is a good community.

[Spy Car]

6 1/2 weeks is too young. Your "breeder" deserves rebuke.

Moving along.

Vs are very mouthy as puppies. To be expected.

DO NOT push the puppy away or pin it to the ground. These are bad moves.

What you need to teach at this age is developing a soft mouth (aka "bite inhibition"). Unfortunately "puppy play" in the early weeks is important in bite inhibition (something that will be lacking due to the early separation from litter-mates) so your work is going to be doubled or tripled.

What you want to do is to get your hand into the puppy's mouth. Often. If the pup bites down you can gently fold the pup's lips into its mouth so it is bites down it is on the inside of its own cheeks. There should be no pressure from you, nor any attempt to pull away. If anything the hands should go deeper if the pup gets "bitey."

This will be a "process." It should be a process. Over time the V will develop a soft mouth.

Some will advise (no doubt) to stop the behavior with harsh corrections. That is not the way to go, as it does not develop a soft mouth or train bite inhibition. Do not shortcut this step. It is vitally important and woth the time and effort. Stopping the behavior by harsh correction leave ne with an untrained dog that migh snap one day, because it has not been actively trained in bite inhibition.

Expect many "shark attacks" with the V. They will come. You can do some re-directing to toys, but do follow the advice above and get your hands into the puppy's mouth. This works for all dogs, but Vs are a special case in this regard.

Use this developmental stage to you advantage. Expect a few torn items and hand scratches. Be patient. Be kind. Vs are very (very) sensitive dogs. Do not slam the dog to the ground or grabi it by the neck scruff, or any other such thing.

Do get your hand in the Vs mouth. This was it really learns and the trust will be mutual and deserved.

Bill

[Waterfowler21]

Yes I was afraid of 6-7 weeks being too early. Could this cause harm to her overall health? Or just make training harder?

[Spy Car]

Yes I was afraid of 6-7 weeks being too early. Could this cause harm to her overall health? Or just make training harder?

The issues will mostly be socialization. They have made your job both more difficult and more critical.

Expect your puppy is going to want to play with you, as it would with other puppies. You need to gently guide the transition of what's appropriate, while still acting a "play-sunstitute" during this time. That is a balancing act, but err on th side of play (especially with a V.). They will bond to you in a huge way if you combine kindness and consistency.

Expect the "snark attacks." You might wonder if you got a "crazy dog," or if the early sepration is too blame, but is is very typical Vizsla behavior. Predictable, and normal. The early adoption will likely give you an extra burden, but won't be the cause of the behavior. It will all settle down (to normal high-energy, high-training need, high emotional need) behavior.

The shark attacks will cease in time no matter what you do. You CAN stop them with big corrections, but that is not what you ought to do. Trust me on this one. Training for a soft-mouth (bite inhibition) brings life-long advantages.

Bill

[Spy Car]

Also, if you have known "safe" dogs (vaccinated, playful, and puppy friendly) that are known to you and you can have play opportunities in places that are not public (to mimimize disease risks until the shots are complete) it would be a very good thing to do as often as possible.

Bill

[Waterfowler21]

Yes actually she has multiple puppy friends already because our social circle owns a 8 week old V, 7 week old Beagle, 1 yr old V, and 6 month old English Setter. She will have plenty of puppy friends to interact with!

[shags]

Your crate training question - we have always allowed our puppies to sleep with us. It's better than no one sleeping because of the pup's whining, crying, and carrying on. We did the crate training during the day. The end result for every dog was that they were all crate trained eventually. And none resisted using their own pads or beds later either

Your socialization question - I'm careful about who handles my baby pups. Some people are clueless and overstimulate or overwhelm puppies. Doesn't the pup's shaking tell you something? Give her some time to adjust to visitors and an escape route if she needs one. Another point is that dogs shouldn't come to expect attention from every person they ever encounter, either; bad stuff can come from it later on - shyness on one end of the spectrum, or pushiness on the other.

Adapting more quickly - don't rush the process. It takes as long as it takes.

Good luck with your pup.

[deseeker]

Good lookin' pup

[Spy Car]

Yes actually she has multiple puppy friends already because our social circle owns a 8 week old V, 7 week old Beagle, 1 yr old V, and 6 month old English Setter. She will have plenty of puppy friends to interact with!

Great news. This will help a lot.

Bill

[Trekmoor]

I wouldn't worry too much about the pup's age only being 6 weeks when you got her. The best GSP I ever owned was 5 weeks old when I had to take her. The best lab I ever owned was 6 weeks old when I got her. I had no problems with socialisation at all and both bitches were very easy to train and they both won field trials. I agree that 8 weeks is probably better but earlier need not be disastrous.

Don't give a pup that age much of a correction if it play bites you. At that age you are taking the place of it's litter mates and maybe it's dam too. I don't "pin" puppies but a pups dam certainly would , I don't trust myself enough to behave as I think the dam might behave though. I usually just hold the pup until it calms down and then release it. Only with an older pup would I consider pinning it for a few seconds.

When I have a puppy I often have needle teeth marks on my hands but I expect that to happen.

Bill T.

[Spy Car]

The thing about "biting" strangers is that at this early age the V will "bite" everyone. Because that is what very young puppies do. An inexperienced person will feel under attack and react inappropriately, either pulling away or getting aggressive with the pup. Pulling a hand away (and/or screaming and running away) will likely be misinterpreted by the puppy as play cues. Striking the puppy would be confusing and detrimental to the puppy (and especially a V).

Otherwise a puppy getting socialized with people is a good thing.

Bill

[RaiderZach]

My V is almost 5 months now and finally getting better about mouthyness. We yelped when he would bit down on our hands and gave him plenty of opportunity to do so, just like explained above. Yelling at him or losing control accomplishes nothing, letting him know it hurts when he bites down helped a lot. The other thing that helped is when he started getting quality time with other dogs like him. He's got a few GSP pals that put him in his place once or twice... that straightened him up quick!

It's still a different dog than I have ever been around though. Right now I am trying to figure out how to keep him from peeing on himself when people reach down to pet him on walks on occasion. (strangely enough this happens only with women, maybe he sees what marriage has done to me already and is trying to ward them off? )

Overall though, best darn dog I have ever had... and one heck of a hunter already!

Congrats on your Red Dog!

[Sharon]

What a sweetheart!

1. She is very mouthy when she gets excited. We have mostly been pushing her head away or pinning her to the floor and saying NO sternly when she nips at toes and ears. Any other methods that I should consider or is this probably the best at her age?

This works fine.

2. Crate Training. Is it ok to let her fall asleep on the couch/bed with us then move her to the crate?

Yes. ??


Or sleep next to the crate so she isn't as anxious when she wakes up? Defeats the plan I think.

Or is the consensus to keep her in the crate and be a hard "bleep" throughout the night only letting her out to potty? My method, but I've never had a dog that young.



3. We have been socializing her with people right away and letting them hold her. She has been good for the most part but tends to shake a bit when strangers are holding her.

Normal. Make SOCIALIZATION your priority for the next couple months.

and enjoy!!

http://wonder-puppy.com/puppy-development-stages/

[Waterfowler21]

Thank you all for the responses! She has continued to be very good about sleeping in her crate. Not much whining and she slept yesterday from 10:30 PM to 3 AM. She did her business and then went right back to sleep until 5! She's been a lot of work but so worth it

[Waterfowler21]

Also I have been stuffing her Kong Chew toy with freeze dried liver. Anyone else done this? My fiance picked up a beef tendon for her teething too however, I am hesitant to use it..is my concern warranted?

[Spy Car]

Also I have been stuffing her Kong Chew toy with freeze dried liver. Anyone else done this? My fiance picked up a beef tendon for her teething too however, I am hesitant to use it..is my concern warranted?

Liver is an outstanding source of vitamins. Great for dogs. Just be aware that too much liver, especially for a puppy (and one not used to it) can cause loose stools (or worse). Organs (and especially liver) are things that raw-feeders (like myself) work our dogs up to. It is a great food to feed, but go easy on the amount.

Beef tendon is a great chew. Mine gets raw tendon regularly. It is firm enough to provide a good teething workout, but isn't the danger to teeth that that high-risk hard bones (like marrow bones) or antlers are.

Bill