Advice on vislas please

[cloudywindydays]

We have been thinking about getting a family dog for a few years now.

We have 4dc, the youngest is now 4.5 so it seems like a good time.

I work 2 nights a week so am at home every day for company and walks. I work bank shifts so can choose not to work very much/at all while we have a puppy.

We are looking for a dog that will be gentle with the children and will be a loving family dog. We have looked into border terriers but are a bit worried about the prey drive and problems with recall.

On holiday we met a lovely visla which seemed to tick all our boxes but obviously I know one dog is not representative so would be grateful for any thoughts please.

[cloudywindydays]

Sorry I mean vizsla!!

[PrayingandHoping]

I have gsps and a good friend of mine has a Vizla which I've looked after while she's on holiday

He's more sensitive that my gsps but great with children. Mad a box of frogs, not in a energy way... he's similar to mine in that sense, mad in personality lol

[Cockw0mble]

I've met several, and they fall j to two main categories: nice but dim, and/or mad as a box of frogs. While they are 'nice people' I'd be a bit wary of they with small kids, as when they run at you at 100mph they can easily knock a kid flying.

[cloudywindydays]

Thank you for your replies!

Do you mean mad as in hard to control? Full of energy?

[PrayingandHoping]

No mad in personality. He will still do as I ask etc but at times he's just nutty. Now my gsps can be nut nuts like any dogs, but this dog is something else lol! It's harmless.... but personally I didn't find it endearing. But as much as I like the dog I'm not
Emotionally attached....

[adaline]

I love vizslas but I've never met a calm one under the age of about five!

In my experience they can be fairly aloof with strangers but loyal to their "family". They're generally extremely energetic and need lots of exercise. They're also known to be fairly clingy and needy dogs and they definitely whine a lot!

None of that is necessarily good or bad it just depends on your family set-up and how much time you have to dedicate to a dog day in, day out. Are you willing to get a dog that will need a good two hours walk in the pissing rain and howling wind, for example?

[bollocksthemess]

Mine is 7 months. She’s loving and loveable, extremely clever and trainable, very soft, completely harmless and extremely good looking. However...

I am an experienced dog owner with no kids and an outdoor job that the dogs join in with, and I found the puppy stage unusually hard. They are very bouncy dogs if not trained and trained and trained. And trained.
She has head butted me, scratched my face, and wiped out an 11 year old child while playing with her littermate.

All she wants is to please you and be your friend, but by her nature she’s a bit of an accidental dickhead.

I didn’t really like her at all until she turned 6 months, now she’s starting to be a lovely dog but to start with she was very intense, even though she slept through the night from day one and was house trained in 2 weeks.

She will be a very nice dog, but I’m putting more time than I expected to make it happen. And I think a Vizsla would knock your kids over 😂

[bollocksthemess]

Oh, and mine doesn’t whine!

[PalmPrint]

I had a Vizsla. He was a lovely friendly dog, and very good around children. However, he was clingy, needy and neurotic. He was frightened of weird things (like spoons) and he was very nervy a lot of the time, particularly as he got older. He would also run full speed into things all of the time. He once knocked himself out running into a park bin, and he also would try to knock us off our feet when we took him for walks. He was a lovely fella but I would never get another vizsla after our experience with him. We loved him dearly but he was very frustrating much of the time.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

They're nice dogs, but sensitive souls. Very trainable if you know what you're doing.

You can give them too much exercise: I was at a training session a while ago and heard a bloke who breeds and works them say that he'd once been involved in the training of a young Vizsla who didn't need the 2 hours he was getting, but 20 mins plus brainwork/training.

[Feliciaxxx]

A friend has got one and apparently they're known as 'velcro' dogs as they're so needy! I wouldn't have one. I might get shot down at this but have you looked at Staffies? If you do your research and don't buy one that has been bred for colour (blue), they are lovely, family orientated dogs. At the moment, I have an English Bull Terrier rescue, nightmare with other dogs, a Mastiff pup, lovely but I hadn't realised quite how much drool they can produce and an ancient Rottie. One of the nicest dogs we've had was a Labrador x Golden Retriever. Might be worth looking at. The Guide Dogs used to breed them but I don't know if they still do. Also, a friend had a Flatcoat Retriever x Labrador and he was beautiful and a thoroughly nice chap.

[bollocksthemess]

Just to add, mine doesn’t need loads of exercise, probably 20-25 mins twice a day off lead actual walking, but we train for most of that (recall, stop whistle, down etc) and the rest of the time she hangs around doing whatever I’m doing.

While I wouldn’t say she was especially needy, and she can be left for a few hours totally fine, she does adore me and my partner in a way I’ve never seen in any other dog. We are her favourite things in the whole world.

She’s not at all nervous, but she’s from Hungarian hunting lines on her dad’s side, and American hunting lines on her mum’s, and she’s also been out socialising/in the car every single day since she was 8 weeks old.

The only minor problem I’ve had with her is she hated the car crate. She howled for 2 1/2 hours the first day I put her in it to go to work, but there was literally no alternative but for her to come to work with me, and by day 3 and three to four car trips a day she was fine, and has been ever since.

She fits in with everything we do, we were in Edinburgh on Monday, Southampton on Wednesday, I work in the countryside and my partner works in an office and we both take her to work.

But, like I say, she was intense as a puppy and may well wipe out your your younger kids.

[cloudywindydays]

Thanks so much for all your responses this is really helpful.

Loads for us to think about.

[HeartvsHead]

@cloudywindydays a lot of areas have Viz Whizz groups where people with Vizslas meet up for a walk once a month. A lot are happy for potential owners to go along for the walk and chat about the breed. Is a good way to meet a lot of different Vizslas and really get a feel for the breed. Search them on Facebook but this is my local one as an example:
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=m.facebook.com/groups/448505485235829/%3Fref%3Dgroup_header%26view%3Dgroup&ved=2ahUKEwj2mZHkpuHjAhXWSxUIHT8xACUQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw18nW8BoZajAGc4s8u6UD3s" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=m.facebook.com/groups/448505485235829/%3Fref%3Dgroup_header%26view%3Dgroup&ved=2ahUKEwj2mZHkpuHjAhXWSxUIHT8xACUQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw18nW8BoZajAGc4s8u6UD3s

I would agree with a lot of the above. They are sensitive. Ours is quite nervy about certain things and either on or off (bouncing around like a loon or asleep!).

[onanothertrain]

My sister has a vizsla. In my experience they are energetic, needy and very whiny. A bit wary of strangers as well.