5 Things To know Before Getting a Vizsla
I’ve put together a few things that may help you if you’re thinking of getting a Vizsla puppy.
The Hungarian Vizsla is certainly one of the most underestimated dog breeds for family pets. This article is going to be about my experience as a vizsla owner, so some of this information may not apply to your little furry friend, as all vizslas are different!
15 months ago, we picked up our Vizsla puppy called Indie. She was a tiny, little bag of wrinkles who loved to play and sleep. Vizslas are a very intelligent breed, and can pick up new tricks and habits very quickly, so she mannaged to learn her name within the first few hours. Indie was our first family dog, so we were quite new to all of the training, but with the help of a few books, blogs and videos we got it! If you’re looking for some help with your puppy, a couple of books I’d recommend are Caeser’s Way and How To Raise The Perfect Dog, both by Caeser Millan.
After the first couple of months, we actually decided to start up a YouTube channel all about Indie and her adventures, so if you want to go check that out, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Pi4QFhgsMgpBFQlKotPLg
The physical appearance of a Hungarian Vizsla is very slim and sleek, as they’re pointer dogs, and are used for hunting purposes under some circumstances. They have an impressively soft, autumnal coloured coat, which glows impressively in the sunshine. Vizslas are also classed as a medium sized dog breed; males can reach up to 22–24 inches at the shoulder, and females 21–23 inches at the shoulder.
1. Hungarian Vizslas DO moult!
Despite what many people assume, because vizslas are short haired dogs, they 100% do moult. Our vizsla, Indie, wears a harness on her walks to prevent her from pulling on the lead, and when we take it off of her, there’s mounds of fine vizsla hairs on it. As these hairs are quite wirey, they also have a tendency to get stuck in your feet if you walk around bare footed. However, there’s a fairly simple soloution to this issue, which is to invest in a dog brush. This may seem silly, but it actually picks up all of the moulted hairs on your dog, to stop them from rubbing onto your hands. Here’s a link to a dog brush which you can use while washing your vizsla: https://furmagic.co.uk/product/fur-magic-bath-brush/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-LOEBhDCARIsABrC0TlpzbYahgFRBvezpiYhCKBSt2Fu30pVRtanRIEZt0TApaEX55MpPTIaAmgkEALw_wcB
There is also another soloution to this problem which is these sticky disks which you can place in your washing machine, to pick up hairs off of your clothes. These are a lifesaver, for school uniforms, work uniforms and just generally day-to-day clothing items. Here is a link to them: https://www.higomore.co.uk/products/pet-hair-remover-for-laundry-for-all-pets?variant=158267020&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-LOEBhDCARIsABrC0TkH5NOBnPVyduRWHGDAAcTm1uQrS_WY30pMMaMOkZ1MaDPVsL_GMBEaAoXJEALw_wcB
2. Vizslas do eventually calm down and sleep a lot
This point is actually a positive one, which is the fact that eventually your Vizsla will calm down. It’s known that Vizsla’s are made out to be a non stop, wild, crazy breed, but actually all it takes is a couple of 30–45 minute walks a day, a good old sniff, a run around and a mad 5 minutes. There is a very simple method to work out how long your vizsla needs to be walked for; until your puppy reaches the age 10–12 months exercise should be around 5 minutes per month of age. This is just a general guide, and sometimes we felt that Indie needed a little bit more.
Another way to tire your dog out is a little game we like to call Chicken Sniffs (also works with other dog friendly foods such as Chorizo Sniffs, Sausage Sniffs, Banana Sniffs, you get the idea). This game basically consists of us hiding little bits of chicken (or chimken as Indie calls it) around the house, and then letting Indie run around, nose to the floor sniffing it out. Sniffing tires dogs out, because it requires them to breathe faster, so that they get tired out quicker.
After these activities, it’s most likely that your Vizsla is going to want some chill out time to sleep and re-charge all of that energy again! It’s normal for a Vizsla puppy to want to sleep for long periods throughout the day, as the majority of their growth takes place whilst they are asleep, and as they get older they will still nap, but for not as long. After a walk, Vizsla puppies will most likely want to sleepy for at least an hour.
3. “Velcro Dogs”
Hungarian Vizsla’s are very affectionate, and will sometimes want to be as close as possible to their owners. As cute as it is, sometimes there are jobs around the house that don’t get done by themselves, and of course your little Vizsla is going to want to help. Indie’s favourite job to “help” with is the washing machine. We made the mistake of trying to teach her to put our socks in the washing machine, and now she has a habit of stealing socks around the house and attempting to eat them!
However clingy vizslas are, they are certainly a loyal companion to have around. Hungarian Vizslas developed the name “velcro dogs”, as they were originally bred for falconry and are used to staying by their owner’s side at all times. Because of this, it is possible for Vizslas to have separation anxiety. We managed to dodge this hurdle by crate training Indie, from day one. Of course, at first it wasn’t fun listening to her whining, but building up her alone time in the crate from just 5 minutes to start with and then increasing the time by 5 minutes every few days, eases them in gently and they soon realise it’s their safe little den. As they get older they’ll want to spend more time in it and will actually love being in there. A top tip is to make the crate a great place to be by giving high value treats in there and never using it as a punishment.
4. Food Orientated
From our experience, Indie will do anything for food. She simply can’t resist the delicious smells of meat in particular. In some cases she’s actually stolen food from the table while no ones been watching, the worst being half of a ham and cheese sandwich! You have to be really careful with this as there are a lot of things that will make them sick and could result in an expensive vet bill! Indie quite like eating flowers from the garden when she was really small and she ended up getting really sick. Luckily she learnt quite quickly what was bad to eat and as she grows older, I’m sure she’ll calm down and won’t be as food orientated!
However, this can actually be turned around to be a positive point, because when we train Indie, she’ll do anything for a little piece of chicken. It also comes in handy for recall on walks. High value treats such as chicken or sprats really work well when recall training, after all, it has to be worth their while to come back to!
5. The Teething Stage
All dogs, and babies go through what is known as the teething stage. Some people may mistake it as being vicious, because as a puppy they have fairly sharp teeth, but it’s really just them being playful. Puppies will chew on people, toys, maybe furniture and any other objects they can fit their mouths round. The easiest way to avoid your Vizsla from teething on humans or furniture, is to simply say “no” and instead replace what it’s been chewing with a toy. However, Indie was never really that interested in chewing furniture, so that may be the case for you.
When playing with your Vizsla puppy, don’t let them bite you, even if it’s only gentle, as they’ll learn that it’s ok, and that you’re rewarding it. This teething stage should end at 6 months, when all of your Vizsla’s teeth have fallen out. It’s not unusual if your puppy loses it’s appetite during this period of time, however usually everything will carry on as normal, just a little bit of cheeky nibbling! If your Vizsla continues to chew beyond the teething phase there’s a chance that they are not getting enough physical or mental stimulation and are doing it out of boredom. Maybe look into increasing their walks or maybe even playing hide and seek around the house! Vizslas love to use their noses to hunt you down and are always so happy to find you!!
Thank you for reading this article, and hopefully you can take something away from it and learn something new!
