Hungarian Vizsla support thread

[Indaba]

I LOVE our new puppy. He is fab. Feisty and so affectionate. He is the best. I wouldn't swop him for the world.

Just got home from puppy training. Trainer is really really great but so pi**ed with other owners saying what a vocal dog, how physical he is and he is "hyper".

I am so glad I chose a Vizsla, I got very bored with all the well trained Spaniels etc who raise right paw on demand.

Hold my hand and tell me I am right for choosing a eager Vizsla puppy.

How funny, my mum has just got a Vizsla puppy, she is also very vocal!! She is great though and going to be a fantastic dog! Such a character. If you've got the time to do lots of really fun training/work with him then you are definitley right, they are quick, clever and fun (plus they are totally gorgeous!) Don't listen to other people, you know why you chose him!!

Oh dear! My Vizsla is six now, and much, much calmer and better behaved than he used to be, but he is still a neurotic, hyperactive, barky over-excitable twit. I gave up going to puppy classes, it was just beyond stressful, for all the reasons you say. He just wouldn't stand still, wouldn't concentrate (too busy yanking me across the room to say hello to every other dog in the place) and I came about with red raw hands and wrists from gripping the lead so tightly, and my nerves were frazzled and shot to pieces. I used to get to the car and want to cry. I felt like the mother of the Naughty Kid in the playground. He still can't even walk on the lead properly without getting all twisted round my legs, beacuse he's too nosey and easily distracted by every little thing. Flipping loon.

Having said all that, he is basically a very sweet, gentle boy who is biddable and obedient with excellent recall. But too much stimulation for him was and still is a nightmare. Equally, too much boredom and inactivity is a very bad thing as well. Gently gently does it where HVs are concerned I think, and you have to get the balance just right. Looking back,I definitely think I made him worse by my own feelings of stress and panic. He picked up on it terribly. If you stay calm and quiet, and try not to TALK TOO MUCH (we all do it, and it's pointless and counter-productive) to your dog, he will hopefully feel calm if you seem calm. (Easier said than done, I know.)

We ended up getting anti-bark collars for our dogs - they emit a spray of compressed air with citronella scent if the dogs bark. It doesn't hurt them, and it doesn't stop them barking if there is a genuine reason for them to need/want to bark, but it has stopped the incessant barking that my HV did just for the pleasure of the sound of his own voice. But it was a last resort for us - I would be reluctant to use it on a puppy until I had exhausted other avenues. My HV took a good 2 and half years to stop behaving like a puppy.

thanks.

I know I got him cos I wanted a personality.

Just got f**ked off with all owners of lap dogs.

We will win!

and Fellatio...know exactly what you mean...I feel like I have the naughty kid too...

.killer last week was woman who told me she had done SO much research on the internet after last week cos she saw how naughty my dog was....I just wanted to scream GET A LIFE AND NOSE OUT OF MINE!

nothing wrong with owning a lap dog!
I don't own one by the way but I don't see anything wrong with those that do if thats the dog they want.

I do own a 'well trained spaniel' as you described them, but I wouldn't say he was well trained

Stick with it, we had 2 Vizslas until earlier this year, sadly now just 1 but they are such loving and rewarding dogs but also quite bonkers. Our 8 year old is fairly chilled most of the time (crashed out in front of the woodburner right now and would get in it if he could) as long as he gets his walks and his quote of rabbits and squirrels to chase he's happy.
Mine have always thrived on routine and a decent diet to minimise the crazy moments, good luck!

Indaba he sounds like great fun :) but I must complain about the lack of photos though!

thanks for all the support...just need my hand holding

and will try and sort a photo soon.....when I can get him to stand still

and kid

you are right re lap dogs...i really didn't mean to be rude....we were so close to getting a king charles spaniel 6 months ago then decided we needed something we could walk more

its just like when I am picking kids up my kids from school....everyone elses kids seem so well turned out and my kids emerge from school looking like they have just (barely) survived Hurrican Susan.

My kids go to school looking like that
My spaniel is like a model though, totally gorgeous and well groomed (well he looks it but isn't really!)

i have a lap dog.

sadly he isnt actually the size of a real lap dog but the size of a labrador.

glad its not just me

i grew up with a vizsla, he was just the best dog apart from he could escape from the garden no matter what we did. sadly he has long gone now but did live to 15years, he was an rspca rescue dog as a puppy because his retired previous owners couldnt cope with him but he settled in well with us and i have fond memories of our long walks along the beach twice a day, he did need good walks and that was my job but i loved it. anyway i do now have a rehomed cockerpoo(ish) wantabee lap dog but i have four very young children and sadly a vizsla wouldnt suit us now but had the children been older one would have been perfect

We have a wirehaired vizsla. He is now nearly 7 and people still think he is a puppy! The temperament is slightly different from a smooth Vizsla I think as the heritage is crossed with a german wirehaired pointer but mostly the same.

Our dog Bos is the BEST dog in the world. Absolutely wonderful with our children ; 3DD's all under 6 years old. He is so chilled out at home - happy to plonk himself down anywhere that we are.

Vizslas can be neurotic though so handle with love and tenderness - they hate it if you shout at them. Our's doesn't mind being left alone - he just sleeps.

He is a loon when we're out though - so friendly he wants to see every person and every dog that goes past! And he does bark at people at the door.

He "sings" with my children - lovely soft howling when they are playing a mouth organ or something!