Vizsla Vie

House Training

Jenson will need to be taken out to the garden for toiletting whenever any of these situations arise or occurances take place:

• After food or drink

• Before coming in the house

• Before going to bed (in his crate)

• When coming out from his bed (crate)

• When he has woken up

• When he leaves a toy or playing session

• When he sniffs or circles the floor

• When he looks at or wanders to the door

• When he looks disctracted or confused

• When he has been playing hard and hasn't been

• When he squats

• When he hasn't been for a while

 

​When Jenson does "toilet" in the garden, lavish him with praise. When he accidently goes in the house, stay calm and relaxed and clean up the mess instantly with cleaner (without ammonia). If you tell off your dog for messing in the house he will think you don't like to SEE him going to the toilet and find somewhere to hide when he next goes to the toilet...then you will have to find the mess!!! 

 

If Jenson looks like he is squatting, tap a table or the floor to disctract him and then rush him straight outside.

 

Crate Training

To make Jenson's life with us easier for him we are crate training him. This means he will have a crate to call his own and this will be his bed and "safe place". It must never be used for punishment and when sent to "bed" it must be come in a calm and happy tone. The crate will then help Jenson when we travel and visit friends and family, giving him a safe place to travel and sleep which he is similar with. It also provides him with a safe place to stay when we are not in the house (no more than 4 hours per day) so he can't chew things he shouldn't nor get into any trouble in our absence.

 

• Use the crate in play and throw treats into it, let Jenson explore inside & come out

• Then do the same but this time closing the door for a second and opening it again

• Play in this way increasing the time you shut the door ensuring Jenson is happy at each stage before progressing

• Finally, place a Kong toy in the crate full of tasty treats and leave Jenson in the crate for required amount of time

 

If he cries, wait till be stops. Only let him out when planned or if he looks like he needs the toilet. Never let him out when he is crying or he will think that is how get let out. When is is quite and calm, let him out.

 

Socialising

It is important to socilaise Jenson from an early age but not with any dog until he has had all his immunisation. Having said this, he will need to socialise with some dogs that are known to us, who are healthy and vaccinated so that he can get used to other dogs before 14 week, as this is the critical stage.

 

Jenson will need to socialise with adults, older people, children, babies, horses, cats, cows and as many other animals as we can. He also needs to get used to walking sticks and aids, glasses, hats, skate boards, cars, bikes, shot guns and as many other situations we feel are important. We will be popping baloons around him from an early age as well as getting him used to fireworks.



Play

We will be playing with Jenson as much as possible ensuring that we use his mind and nose as well as his energy by varying the games. We will hide food around the room so that he has to find it (thanks Faye for that), playing fetch, take it, drop it etc and documenting this on here via YouTube.

Positive Reinforcement

It is really important that we give verbal and physical praise as well as treats so that Jenson grows to understand all the different ways we are saying "well done". It's critical that we praise Jenson as soon as the desired behaviour occurs. We will be using stokes, tummy rubs, "good boy", love, affection and happiness intermixed throughout the day.



Negative Reinforcement

It is important that Jenson understands when he is not doing something in the correct way therefore we will need to ignore him when he does things wrong and make a noise to represent this if applicable. When he bites us, we need to yelp (and then give him a chew toy while he is distracted), if he jumps up we must stay till and ignore him till he calms down etc. Basically, we must stay calm and confident until he is calm and then continue to build good behaviour by praising him as soon as this happens.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gundog Training

We want our Vizsla to be happy and as hunt, point, retrieve is in his blood, we will be taking Jenson to Gundog training classes. We don't want him to work as a Gundog, as his main role is as to be part of our family, but we do want him to enjoy life to the full.

 

We will be filming this as well as all the other training and play we will be doing to help Jenson develop and this will be avaliable to view via YouTube at the bottom right of each page.