Collecting our Vizsla puppy tomorrow...

[tim0409]

Hi,

After around two years of contemplation we chose a Vizsla puppy last month and pick him up tomorrow. My wife has spent a fortune this week on various dog related items (crate/bed/toys/bowls/food/treats etc etc) so we are well prepared but I'm mildly apprehensive about the next few weeks....any hints and tips gratefully received! We live around two hours from the breeder; initially I was going to take our Suzuki Jimny but it's a bit of a shaky ride so might take our old Micra auto, which is surprisingly smooth (and I'm less worried about "accidents")

Here he is...

[weeboot]

As an ex new Viz dad, be strong! Your beautiful pup will wrap you around their tail!
Honestly, the viz is the only thing I miss about that relationship! They’re beautiful, characterful, loving hounds.

[Jamie VTS]

Bloody enjoy it! Take loads of photos.

Obligatory photo of when we collected our boy...

[Gandahar]

Your first dog is like your first child, you treat it so well, Micra or Jimny? When you have your 4th kid, "hey, will those hand me down clothes fit?" Well he is a boy and they were all girls ... so I guess so"

First rule of dog club.

HE'S JUST A DOG.

Which is all he/she needs to be.

Training wise dogs are developed over centuries for

Stimulus
Response

and you use this to train using repetition to lead to being rote.

Having a puppy you get to apply from the start which is a plus. A plus you will not appreciate as he completely ignores you and bounds off to meet new doggy friends. But he is learning, and so are you ..... even if it does not appear so....

Enjoy !

PS Even if you walk him yourself everyday I recommend you pay for a dog walker who has a big pack to walk him at least once a week, when older, to get the little fellow up to speed on relaxing with dogs of all ages on walks. This is more important i feel than puppy classes.

He will learn to muck in.

Edited by Gandahar on Saturday 30th November 03:11

[tim0409]

Thanks for the replies! We picked him up today and it was fine although the drive from Glasgow to East Lothian wasn't without incident...he vomited 30 mins in but thankfully most of it landed in the centre console and down my wife's arm (tomorrow's job is to remove the console and clean underneath...). He settled after that, but we ended up in heavy traffic on the Edinburgh City Bypass where he was sick again although we were better prepared this time. A car in the next lane wound the windows down to speak to us after their kids spotted Freddie (they later posted on a Facebook group, which my wife is a member of). He has had a good look around the house and garden, went to the toilet outside and is now currently sleeping next to me in his bed; all good so far!

[juice]

All V pups are adorably cute.....

You will never laugh so much going forward, they have character in spades - especially the 'talking' (or when you go anywhere - like for a shower and come back downstairs and the bum wag starts...)

We've got 2 WHVs and they are brilliant family pets.

[Jasandjules]

Looks cute. Enjoy.


And raw feed

[Mikebentley]

Our “Bear” is 6 now. Here she is with Claude (Bulldog)and Matilda (Bengal) by the fire last Christmas. She is the calm, good natured and the most trainable dog we have ever owned.

She knows her boundaries and what is acceptable or not in spite of my wife and children’s attempts to convince her otherwise.

She is fab.

[moorx]

What a beautiful pup

Enjoy! And keep the updates coming.

[Trophy Husband]

tim0409 said:

Thanks for the replies! We picked him up today and it was fine although the drive from Glasgow to East Lothian wasn't without incident...he vomited 30 mins in but thankfully most of it landed in the centre console and down my wife's arm (tomorrow's job is to remove the console and clean underneath...). He settled after that, but we ended up in heavy traffic on the Edinburgh City Bypass where he was sick again although we were better prepared this time. A car in the next lane wound the windows down to speak to us after their kids spotted Freddie (they later posted on a Facebook group, which my wife is a member of). He has had a good look around the house and garden, went to the toilet outside and is now currently sleeping next to me in his bed; all good so far!

Gorgeous. The puppy is beautiful too!
Any dog needs grounding and the first 2 months make or break in my opinion having had many of differing breeds. Dogs love rules because they just want you to love them. They hate letting you down.
If you don't give them rules you let them down but they feel it is their fault if they break rules if that makes sense?
A few months nailing it makes for a great relationship both ways.
One thing I was taught by my shepherd pal who I got my sadly now passed collie was that you should never let a dog through a door before you. I never forgot that and he was bang on.
Enjoy your pal for life (his life).
Great breed.

[Challo]

Trophy Husband said:

tim0409 said:

Thanks for the replies! We picked him up today and it was fine although the drive from Glasgow to East Lothian wasn't without incident...he vomited 30 mins in but thankfully most of it landed in the centre console and down my wife's arm (tomorrow's job is to remove the console and clean underneath...). He settled after that, but we ended up in heavy traffic on the Edinburgh City Bypass where he was sick again although we were better prepared this time. A car in the next lane wound the windows down to speak to us after their kids spotted Freddie (they later posted on a Facebook group, which my wife is a member of). He has had a good look around the house and garden, went to the toilet outside and is now currently sleeping next to me in his bed; all good so far!

Gorgeous. The puppy is beautiful too!
Any dog needs grounding and the first 2 months make or break in my opinion having had many of differing breeds. Dogs love rules because they just want you to love them. They hate letting you down.
If you don't give them rules you let them down but they feel it is their fault if they break rules if that makes sense?
A few months nailing it makes for a great relationship both ways.
One thing I was taught by my shepherd pal who I got my sadly now passed collie was that you should never let a dog through a door before you. I never forgot that and he was bang on.
Enjoy your pal for life (his life).
Great breed.

Congratulations on the new pup. Make sure you have a travel crate or secure way to transport the dog moving forward. We collected our new springer cross and put him in the boot in a travel crate and was fine.

[tim0409]

Mikebentley said:

Our “Bear” is 6 now. Here she is with Claude (Bulldog)and Matilda (Bengal) by the fire last Christmas. She is the calm, good natured and the most trainable dog we have ever owned.

She knows her boundaries and what is acceptable or not in spite of my wife and children’s attempts to convince her otherwise.

She is fab.

Great pic! We have wood burner, which we use every night but I didn't get around to buying a guard for it but I think Freddie will love it!

In terms of the car, we decided to go with the Micra yesterday and the breeder recommended we take him on our lap for the journey although we did take a crate with us in just in case. We were lucky to get one of the new Suzuki Jimny so we kitted out the back for him (boot tray with storage compartment and a crate. From now on we will transport him in it (only for short trips at the moment).

Last night he was very cautious as you would expect although I did manage to get him to go to the toilet outside. My wife slept on the couch with him in his basket and he got on okay; he is like a different dog this morning, lots of exploration, playing and sleeping. We were worried that he didn't want to drink since he got home so my wife put some water with his food and he lapped it up. My wife and I couldn't have children so it feels weird having something that is completely dependant on you!!!
Here he is exploring the garden.

[Lazermilk]

What a cute little pup! Enjoy!

[Piha]

Tim0409, your pup looks far too cute!

Good friends of mine got their Viz about 24 months ago, it's still bonkers and drove them to the edge of sanity when it was a pup.

Good luck, you're gonna need it......

[tim0409]

Thanks for all the replies. The last few days have been great, but also “challenging”.... He is a real bundle of energy and appears to be settling in well. We have taken him out a few times in a papoose including to a local dog friendly cafe and he was really well behaved. The toilet training also seems to be going to plan and he’s also learned to “sit” (just!). The problem we have is at night; my wife has been sleeping downstairs on the couch close to his cage and takes him out to the toilet but he continues to cry for attention/play every two hours. Last night I built up a bed in a spare room/office for my wife or me to sleep in and moved his crate in there with the plan of moving it further away each night (following advice from her puppy book) although opinion on this is divided. Any advice would be gratefully received! We also looking at getting a play pen; any thoughts?

Edited by tim0409 on Wednesday 4th December 13:19

[stevesingo]

Crate training is a good way to ease separation anxiety. Make the crate the dogs safe space by playing fun games. In the crate, click and treat. Place toys/treats in the crate to encourage play in the crate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W058M4Qdyc

Once the crate becomes home for the pup they will want to go in it by choice. Our pup goes in the crate when the vacuum cleaner comes out and when the family starts putting shoes and coats on in the morning for the school run. They are smart.

[Mothersruin]

Lovely

As said at the top - it's a dog, treat it like a dog and it will be very happy.

That's it really.

[Turn7]

Lovely looking Puppy, enjoy this time as it really doesnt last long enough.

[tim0409]

I thought I would update the thread with some recent pictures. He is doing really well and growing so fast! We weighed him yesterday and he is 13.6kg. As soon as he had his injections we started walking him which really helped with his energy levels; we are lucky to live next to a great beach so he really enjoys his (short) walks. His training is coming along well, and he was housetrained within the first week which was a relief. He goes absolutely mental in the evenings for around an hour when he is tired (I think this is called the "zoomies"), but he has been getting better in the last week; he requires a lot of attention but I so glad we finally took the plunge - I've struggled with depression in the past and I can testify that owning a dog is a very good antidepressant!

[juice]

Good boy, claimed the sofa already !

I love zoomies, it's like the end of the firework show all energy until the point they fizzle out. Has he got to shark phase yet ?

Our 2 say hi