Any Viszla owners here ?

[Monkey boy 1]

Just wondering if any of you fellow Viszla owners can shed any light on if and when they ever calm down.
We have a 1 year old male called Pip, He's been de-nutted, so in theory should be slightly calmer, but he is totally bonkers (typical Viszla). He is certainly a one man dog. My wife finds it very difficult to control him both in the house and out on a walk, but when I am about he is calm. walks to heel with me, but pulls like a steam train when the wife takes him out. If the wife says "I'm going to got and get Daddy" then he stops doing what he is upto straight away.

He is quite a sociable dog, as we also have a greyhound, but when he meets other dogs he is very overpowering in his greeting. Even I have difficulties in getting him to sit without him jumping all over the other dog. I end up having to hold him by his collar so not to rip my arm out of it's socket when holding the lead.

You can take him for a 2 or 3 mile walk and as soon as he gets home he doees a 10 minute "Wall of death" run around the garden. Full throttle and God help anyone who is in his path. Been bowled over by him on numerous occasions, then come the evening he is as calm as anything, curls up and sleeps.

Some annoying habits he has is that he is a serious crotch sniffer. Male or female he's not fussed. A cold wet nose straight into your wedding tackle firt thing in the morning does not make for a happy start to my day. He is also very jealous of any affection towards anyone else. If i give the wife a cuddle he barges his way inbetween us, My lad an his girlfriend have the same issue. Likewise if I make a fuss or our other dog he has to separate us.

He is slowly getting through (Eating)our connifer hedge. Some extra roughage i tyhe diet and that "Pine fresh breath"

To be honest he is a right character, but very rarely see any other Viszla's about, except for his mother and a couple of his siblings.

(I'll add some photo's later)

[Jasandjules]

Well, there will be those who disagree with me but he wants to be as high up in the pack as possible and he sees himself above your wife..... Thus when other dogs get attention from you - pack leader (which re-inforces their position in the pack) he wants to get in the way to stop it and get the attention himself.

As for energy, well, they are pretty high energy dogs... 3-4 miles doesn't sound like much to me but I can appreciate he's a puppy still. What does his breeder say about exercise?

[pikeyboy]

Monkey boy 1 said:

Just wondering if any of you fellow Viszla owners can shed any light on if and when they ever calm down.
We have a 1 year old male called Pip, He's been de-nutted, so in theory should be slightly calmer, but he is totally bonkers (typical Viszla). He is certainly a one man dog. My wife finds it very difficult to control him both in the house and out on a walk, but when I am about he is calm. walks to heel with me, but pulls like a steam train when the wife takes him out. If the wife says "I'm going to got and get Daddy" then he stops doing what he is upto straight away.

He is quite a sociable dog, as we also have a greyhound, but when he meets other dogs he is very overpowering in his greeting. Even I have difficulties in getting him to sit without him jumping all over the other dog. I end up having to hold him by his collar so not to rip my arm out of it's socket when holding the lead.

You can take him for a 2 or 3 mile walk and as soon as he gets home he doees a 10 minute "Wall of death" run around the garden. Full throttle and God help anyone who is in his path. Been bowled over by him on numerous occasions, then come the evening he is as calm as anything, curls up and sleeps.

Some annoying habits he has is that he is a serious crotch sniffer. Male or female he's not fussed. A cold wet nose straight into your wedding tackle firt thing in the morning does not make for a happy start to my day. He is also very jealous of any affection towards anyone else. If i give the wife a cuddle he barges his way inbetween us, My lad an his girlfriend have the same issue. Likewise if I make a fuss or our other dog he has to separate us.

He is slowly getting through (Eating)our connifer hedge. Some extra roughage i tyhe diet and that "Pine fresh breath"

To be honest he is a right character, but very rarely see any other Viszla's about, except for his mother and a couple of his siblings.

(I'll add some photo's later)

Sorry not had time to read your post fully. I have had two german wire haired pointers and currently have two short hairs so know HPR's well.

They need lots of exercise and mental stimulation. Mine get this from training as we work them. They get at least 1hr free running a day rain or shine.

You need to be very strict with them. Ie give single command, give 5 seconds then correct or enforce what you asked don't ask him to do anything you can't correct. Don't be cruel as they don't like harsh treatment but don't be a push over.

Starve him of fuss, give it when you want to praise like mad when he has done as you ask. If he comes to you ignore him ie when you get up in a morning. My two year old GSP is hyper as in you'd think she was on crack cocaine. She knows how far she can go but still keeps pushing to see if things have changed. They are very stubborn, you have to have an iron will and everyone who meets it must be consistent in the commands ignoring it etc.

Yes HPR's will eat and dig up your garden, can't stop them very easilly.

[Monkey boy 1]

He is only getting shorter walks at the moment as he is recovering from a shoulder injury due to Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD). where they had to remove part of his front left shoulder cartliage.
The breeder, (one of my friends) has two and they probably get walked for a couple of miles per day, some days less, others more.
Weekend he can get much longer walks. I know they are high energy dogs and they can sustain 20-25mph runs for a long time, but with his shoulder history we don't want to undo any work that has been neatly done by our vet.

[pikeyboy]

Monkey boy 1 said:

He is only getting shorter walks at the moment as he is recovering from a shoulder injury due to Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD). where they had to remove part of his front left shoulder cartliage.
The breeder, (one of my friends) has two and they probably get walked for a couple of miles per day, some days less, others more.
Weekend he can get much longer walks. I know they are high energy dogs and they can sustain 20-25mph runs for a long time, but with his shoulder history we don't want to undo any work that has been neatly done by our vet.

In terms of exercise the more they get the more they need and or get used to.

Stick with what the vet says can you let him swim?

Brushing up and perfecting basic sit recall etc should keep him occupied without too much exercise.

[ehonda]

Jasandjules said:

Well, there will be those who disagree with me but he wants to be as high up in the pack as possible

Well there's me (and most of the respected dog trainers and academics) for a start.

I'd recommend reading the culture clash by Jean Donaldson. It's (IMO) good as a training book and she covers the issue of dogs not generalising commands across people and situations. In short your boy may have grasped what it means when you tell him to heel, but he won't extend this verbal command to other people and other situations.

[tuffer]

My mates are on their 2nd Viszla, first one was a dream, 2nd one is a bloody nutcase even at 8 years old......good luck.

[Monkey boy 1]

boy said:

Can you let him swim?

Brushing up and perfecting basic sit recall etc should keep him occupied without too much exercise.

Swim ? haha, he has decimated my pond. Before it was "Dog proofed" he regularly used to bing in most of the plants and haul out the pond pumps. Little sod. Not really got too many pLaced locally where he can go swimming safely.

Basic commands like, Sit, stay, wait, down, heel etc he grasped very early on, and will do it with only hand signals when you have a hand full of treats.

Really he is a loveable rogue.

[Mobile Chicane]

My in-laws have a viszla. He's still a nutter at the age of 9.

I think the key is consistency and firmness in training (they aren't particularly) and intellectual stimulation.

Viszlas are intelligent dogs. Kaspar knows the word for 'cheese' (his favourite snack) in 5 languages.

[pikeyboy]

Monkey boy 1 said:

Swim ? haha, he has decimated my pond. Before it was "Dog proofed" he regularly used to bing in most of the plants and haul out the pond pumps. Little sod. Not really got too many pLaced locally where he can go swimming safely.

Basic commands like, Sit, stay, wait, down, heel etc he grasped very early on, and will do it with only hand signals when you have a hand full of treats.

Really he is a loveable rogue.

Sounds adorable!

Does anyone else feed him?

HPR's have a habit of becoming a one man dog. My GSP's are and GWP's were the same. Their whole life revolves around me though, feed them, walk them, wash them with the cold hose etc first person they see every morning and last at night..... Miss has had a hell of a time when I work away for a week . Be strong get the other family memebers involved, they need to let it know that it can't run rings round them and should be as good for them as it is you. To sum up I don't think the other members of your familly are hard or strict enough with it. HPR's are a great breed type very loving and inteligent but mad as abox of frogs.

[bexVN]

Try hydrotherapy for more safe exercise. Keep exercise consistent it's not great for dogs to have small week day walks and then super long walks at the weekend.

Did your wife do any training with him as a pup it sounds more like a lack of respect.

I think your wife needs to start taking full control with everything to do with him. All walks. all training, feeding etc she needs to be the one to take control when he plays up. Purchase a halti, collar and lead is useless in these situations and harmful to his throat long term.

How firm is she with commands. I suspect not authorative enough. Once he starts to listen she can become more relaxed with him.

She should probably enrol on a dog training class with him.

And although she needs to be firm (and that doesn't mean shouting) training should be reward based.

[pikeyboy]

bexVN said:

Try hydrotherapy for more safe exercise. Keep exercise consistent it's not great for dogs to have small week day walks and then super long walks at the weekend.

Did your wife do any training with him as a pup it sounds more like a lack of respect.

I think your wife needs to start taking full control with everything to do with him. All walks. all training, feeding etc she needs to be the one to take control when he plays up. Purchase a halti, collar and lead is useless in these situations and harmful to his throat long term.

How firm is she with commands. I suspect not authorative enough. Once he starts to listen she can become more relaxed with him.

She should probably enrol on a dog training class with him.

And although she needs to be firm (and that doesn't mean shouting) training should be reward based.

What Bex has said except all my dogs are taught to walk using a slip lead. None of them pull, no need to be cruel and choke it. When it starts to pull stop walking an apply light pressure, when it stops resisting start walking again simple and effective. If you are still strugling a willow switch acorss the nose will remind it what it should be doing.

None of my dogs wear collars, scruff of the neck works fine.

Not sure about training classes unless you keep up with the extra training in between sessions, little and often is the key to stopping them getting bored. Might be wise in this case though.

[Granville]

My cousin breeds and shows Vislas and they have 6 at home and all are pretty well behaved.

All of their dogs are walked on slip leads (all six together at a time by one person) all have been trained heel work and all of them are worked and go beating. They may be show dogs but they're also a working breed and get worked.

As for pulling and lack of respect for your partner. My old dog (GSDxDoberman) was exactly the same with my exH, though I had won many obiedience classes with him and could take him anywhere without a lead. It was mainly down to the fact that my OH couldn't and didn't want to be bothered with disapline or training and the dog saw him purely as a play pal.

With pulling on the lead try to distract the dog not just yank it back or let it continue. Get your OH to break the cycle, everytime he starts to pull, get the dog to sit and wait before carrying on or changing direction. She needs to perservere and he'll soon learn that pulling gets him nowhere other than sitting and waiting. She needs to praise when he is sat quietly and paying attention to her, and likewise when he isn't pulling.

Have a look about at vets near you that offer therapy pools for dogs? Swimming will tire him out without putting any strain on the joints and help him build muscle back up.

[Monkey boy 1]

The OH walks and feeds him every day, she also did the puppy training with him and came to the follow on "teenager" training. She is with him longer in the day that I am. I think the problem is that he is a very strong dog and she just can't hold him back when he does pull.
She usually takes both Pip the Viz out with Lou our 5 year old greyhound when she is pushed for time with work, or if she has more time on her hands she will take them out individually.

When walking he does walk better if on a longer lead, but he just isn't consistent.

[pikeyboy]

Monkey boy 1 said:

The OH walks and feeds him every day, she also did the puppy training with him and came to the follow on "teenager" training. She is with him longer in the day that I am. I think the problem is that he is a very strong dog and she just can't hold him back when he does pull.
She usually takes both Pip the Viz out with Lou our 5 year old greyhound when she is pushed for time with work, or if she has more time on her hands she will take them out individually.

When walking he does walk better if on a longer lead, but he just isn't consistent.

That's the point, it's even more important with a strong dog that they don't pull your arm from the socket. He should walk to heel. Use a slip lead as we have suggested and also the instructions given. Walking will be more pleasureable for all involved.