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Drews79 said:
Not sure if this has been brought up yet but I would suggest Crate Training your dog. This will help with house breaking, etc. We crate trained our vizsla pup and she now loves her kennel. Crate Training is awesome if you have to go run errands, will be at work, Sleeping At Night, Have company over, etc.
If our dog see's that we're getting ready to go somewhere, She'll go right to her kennel because she knows she's getting a treat. There are lots of internet tips on crate training.
**Another tip for housebreaking a dog is: However many months old they are is how many hours they can hold it before they have to go outside. A 2 month old dog can only hold it for 2 hours. An 8 month old dog can hold it for 8 hours. --Good Luck!
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That is exactly what we did. I would add though that a dog does not like to potty where they lay, so the key is to get a kennel that is adjustable in size until they are potty trained. The kennel should only be large enough for the dog to lay and get up and turn around. Any larger and they can potty away from where they lay down and that's a problem. Our dog had one accident in the kennel and was totally freaking out because she was unable to get away from it. After that she would bark or whine when it was time for her to go. If your puppy is 2 months, take them out and then let them have run of an area of the house for about 1 1/2 hours and then crate them. It will teach them how to let you know that they have to go out, because they will not go where they have to lay.
 
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dmclone said:
Take this from a non dog owner. When you go to visit in-laws, make sure it's ok that you bring your dog. Family events are not as fun when everyone is worried whether the dog is going to **** on the carpet, knock over wine on the white carpet, bite the kids, constantly bark, etc.
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This is such an important message. I LOVE dogs, but have to remind myself that not everyone else does and it's hard for others to tell you not to bring your dog somewhere. I think if you have a well trained dog, most people don't mind if you bring them to their home, but don't assume, always ask. We have a family member that has a very dominate male small bread dog, that marks and pisses all over the house that they bring it to. They think that just because you have a dog you don't mind, but that is the farthest thing from the truth. My dog does not **** in my house I do not want your dog, that you know will do such things, in mine.
 
When you tell your dog to Sit or Heel, make sure you "release" them. In other words, let them know when it is OK to get up or quit whatever command you are working on. Basically, they need to keep performing a command until you tell them they are done.
 
Another tip, you'll want to use treats early and often to reward good behaviors. The problem is that giving them a ton of treats isn't really healthy, so try to find treats that are soft and easy to break into smaller pieces.

Also, a few things we learned from the class we went to with our dog:

- You should keep rewarding "come" for quite a long time until they get it down. Retrievers are probably pretty good at that one though

- Try your best not to use the kennel as punishment

- Dogs want your attention. If they are exhibiting a behavior you don't want to reward, like jumping, just ignore them completely. Don't give them attention for doing things you don't want them to do, or you're rewarding them.

- "Leave it" is a valuable command for when they come across something harmful that they shouldn't be eating. Not a very difficult one to train as an owner either.

- Try to get them to learn to walk with a loose leash. If you're walking and they're barreling ahead and tugging on the leash, just stop or change directions completely. You may have to do it frequently in short intervals (which can be frustrating and take a long time) until they stop trying to lead and pay attention to you instead.
 
Tip #1 - Don't get a puppy in winter. It makes training more difficult when it's cold outside.
 
Cyclones01 said:
Another tip, you'll want to use treats early and often to reward good behaviors. The problem is that giving them a ton of treats isn't really healthy, so try to find treats that are soft and easy to break into smaller pieces.

Also, a few things we learned from the class we went to with our dog:

- You should keep rewarding "come" for quite a long time until they get it down. Retrievers are probably pretty good at that one though

- Try your best not to use the kennel as punishment

- Dogs want your attention. If they are exhibiting a behavior you don't want to reward, like jumping, just ignore them completely. Don't give them attention for doing things you don't want them to do, or you're rewarding them.

- "Leave it" is a valuable command for when they come across something harmful that they shouldn't be eating. Not a very difficult one to train as an owner either.

- Try to get them to learn to walk with a loose leash. If you're walking and they're barreling ahead and tugging on the leash, just stop or change directions completely. You may have to do it frequently in short intervals (which can be frustrating and take a long time) until they stop trying to lead and pay attention to you instead.
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Agree on all of these especially the kennel. Ours still considers their kennel as their safe place because it wasn't ever a punishment.
 
JBone84 said:
Vizsla owners unite!
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Got mine up your neck of the woods in Coggon. We're thinking about getting another, but I think the guy we got this one from no longer breeds. Really want the same dog. Have to bookmark this for references.

Wonder how far along cloning is at ISU vet med?
 
RubyClone said:
Socialize it well. With other puppies and gradually to older dogs. IMO - almost nothing worse than a dog that can't behave itself well around other dogs.

Also - I'm a big fan of what my old vet called the "potato treatment". (not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean exactly). But have the dog get used to being handled - paws, gently on the ears, come up behind it when it's feeding. Get it used to people being the boss. Particularly if you have or it will be around kids. We had a dog when I was younger that was extremely food protective. Made sure that wasn't the case this time around.

If you have a puppy obedience class over there, I'd recommend looking into that. I did the DMOTC one here in DSM. Well worth it.
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Great advice. Especially, handling their paws and ears. Brace yourself for a tough first two months. Gentle leader is a good idea. The breed you're getting demands attention and affection and will return what is given and more. Do research on the generally personalty of the breed you are getting. They have common traits. I knew someone who bought that type of breed for hunting and kept the dog in a kennel 24/7. It never received the love and attention it graved and would run away at any chance it had. What a shame.
 
RubyClone said:
Got mine up your neck of the woods in Coggon. We're thinking about getting another, but I think the guy we got this one from no longer breeds. Really want the same dog. Have to bookmark this for references.

Wonder how far along cloning is at ISU vet med?
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I got mine from a breeder in Harlan. Would definitely recommend. http://www.iowavizslas.com/
 
RubyClone said:
Got mine up your neck of the woods in Coggon. We're thinking about getting another, but I think the guy we got this one from no longer breeds. Really want the same dog. Have to bookmark this for references.

Wonder how far along cloning is at ISU vet med?
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Mine is from Swisher, although this breeder moved to Clive and no longer breeds. I know a few people in this area that are breeders or potential breeders if you want some options.
 
Don't get a Visla. Very pretentious owners.

Plus, that ugly dog on the Simpson's is a Visla. Who wants that?
 
Some actual tips from me other than VizslaFanatic.com action:
-Consistency is key. Let your pup get away with something one time out of ten and he/she will think its okay for him/her to decide when to obey.
-Commands need to be simple. Use as few syllables as possible.
-Don't go crazy with training for the first year. Keep it low key, short, and mostly just let the dog be a puppy. It's going to behave like a puppy anyway. Come, sit, no, okay, those kind of things. Socialize with lots of people and animals outside your family group.
-Let the crate / kennel be the dog's safe place. Dogs are den animals by nature. Toss a treat in there once in a while, favorite toy, that kind of thing.
-As hard as it is, you can't get upset at the dog if you don't catch it in the act of disobedience. One book I read had something like a 10 second limit on it.
-Take the dog to the same potty spot - it will catch on quickly.
-Definitely make sure it knows that you control the food and let it eat. Great idea as mentioned before to make the dog wait for its food - in other words, pour it into the bowl, then make it wait until you release it. Also, take the bowl once in a while. Just a few times and the dog will know it can't be protective of the food. Then you won't have to worry about your kids petting the dog while its eating and the dog growling or nipping or anything.
-Sweep the leg so it doesn't jump is a great tactic. Will only take a few leg sweeps and the dog will understand.
-When you are upset at the dog, it will know by the tone of your voice and your body language. Screaming and freaking out like a moron really isn't necessary.

I could go on and on, but that's some high points.
 
isuska said:
when potty training, ALWAYS use the same door until they have the hang of it. I tried to cheat and take our golden out our front door in the middle of the night, set us back a good month.
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With our labs and our son's new puppy we used same door and also set up a bell on string hanging where door is. We would help our pups ring bell with nose each time we took it out till it got to ding self, to this day our 9 yr old lab still rings it when she wants to go out, our son's new puppy has been doing it for two weeks on his border collie puppy and it's ringing it now on own. FYI
 
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