Do you have a Hungarian Vizsla?

[MabelBee]

We are still in the research stage, working out which breed will be best suited to our family, but a Hungarian Vizsla is one of the breeds at the top of our list. Obviously, we have read that they need lots of vigorous daily exercise and have separation anxiety, but we are not sure how that looks in practice.

If you have a Vizsla, how often and for how long do you walk your dog? Is that a walk or a run? And for how long can you leave the dog before it starts destroying your house?

We would be able to do two, hour long walks a day, longer at weekends and our dog would need to be able to be left for two or sometimes three hours a day, but would otherwise have constant company.

What has thrown us is that people always recommend we get a Labrador but on Pets4Homes, the Lab and the Vizsla get comparable scores and are both listed as having extremely high exercise needs. Lab owners we’ve spoken to seem to think they don’t need much exercise though! We just don’t know any Vizsla owners to ask.

Oh seen wantimg calmness while my boy needs good walk he is very gentle with my son who has sn and pretty calm in the house as well

Doublechocolatetiffin, thank you for recommending VizzWhizz. I know it looks like I've ignored that suggestion but it's super useful.

hi

we have two vizslas- both girls. my step daughter has aspergers and i can't recommend the breed highly enough. the girls are a little smaller than the boys.

we got our first as a puppy, then 9 months later got a second rescue puppy (look up vizslamentes on facebook- you can get a puppy thats a little older, but that does not have the training/ issues of an older rescue dog). the main reason for getting the second was although we work from home the breed needs lots of love and attention and we could not give her that full on 1-1 i felt she needed all day. they are so affectionate and cuddly; its like having a child. they would suck all of someones affection if you let them, so i caved and got her a friend.

our dogs are both still under 2, were very bouncy and boisterous. however with some regular training we managed very easily to get 90% of their crazy behaviour out by the age of 1, the last 6 months has seen a noticeable difference. They calm down and sleep most of the day as long as they get two good walks a day (or a fair few small ones if you dont have time everyday for an hour a go). my only criticism of the breed (and its more on us than anything) is that as hunting dogs we have to be really careful that they dont run off after squirrels and rabbits- we need to take them to extra training really. the breed is pretty easy to train, mine are affection orientated not food- so its all about praising them.

having never seen little children/ babies before we were very cautious of our puppies around little family members and friends- i was so pleased, they seemed to know that they had to be gentle instantly. there is also something in this breed that senses emotions more than other dogs ive known. they just seem to know when you need a cuddle or to be calm v play time. they are great with my step daughter when she visits- her anxiety seems to lift. they would happily sleep with her if allowed, we give them a basket on the landing so they are close by.

mine respond well to playing, tug and fetch, hide and seek are favourites. we do leave them, not for long, but to go to the supermarket or cinema etc- but ive never left them for more than 4 hours; that would cause chaos. but we have a great dog day care locally, and use dog buddy.com for emergency sitters.

im not sure how old your daughter is, but if there is a way through vizslamentes or one of the hungarian vizsla rescue charities you can get a slightly older dog then i would recommend that, as the initial puppy boisterousness will be over. having said that, with time and puppy training you will get over that.

i would strongly recommend that you find a breeder from show, or 'pet' lines rather than a breeder focused on working dogs. the latter will have a serious hungting instinct (we notice the difference in our two).

hope this helps- but i would have no other breed now, and i have not a single doubt about them around children and especially children with extra needs such as my step daughter. x

They do sound wonderful mother - I've just looked up a rescue myself. must not get another dog

A friend had a vizsla and he ended up going back to the breeder as they just couldn't cope with him. Beautiful dog but utterly neurotic- they were way too inexperienced to cope with him and it became terrifying to go to their house.

He grabbed everything he could, jumped up and barked constantly. Their house was trashed. The whole situation was really upsetting. They tried behavioural therapy, training classes, doggy day care, the lot. The final straw was when even my friend became scared of him and they couldn't take him anywhere like a public park because he was such a strong, uncontrollable dog.

It's put us and them off dogs for a while, but I suspect it was just entirely the wrong breed choice for them in the first place.

Oh Dear lord,
I have a 12 week old vizsla, to say he is trying would be understating it, but having read this thread I feel like chucking myself in the local canal.

My mum has a 2year old viz bitch, and had a dog previously. Yes - they bark a fair bit, though not at nothing, just when there's someone at the door, or maybe someone lingering on the street outside. They do like company, to be very close to their people and long walks, and the current dog has been destructive, but I'm not sure whether she's been any more so than any puppy. She has improved a lot. Some of this might sound negative but they have a delightful nature, and in our experience are easily trained. For me the only downside is that they have tails made of steel cord which whip you when they wag and they lack a beard and fluffy eyebrows (spinone fan here ).