Being a veteran Dalmatian and Beagle owner, the children were old enough and it was time to get a ‘family dog’. Being Hungarian, my father over the years has always crooned “the Vizsla this, the Vizsla that” – well, what did a Vizsla look like anyway?
So my Internet search began, first it was the German Pointer – no, not quite right with the children. Ah ha a Wiermarana, beautiful, sleek, active dog – no too aloof. Hmmm, what about a standard Poodle? Nope too ‘fluffy’. A labradoodle? Nope with 2 boys already in the house the food bill would be too high. I know, a Great Dane – What??? They don’t like lots of exercise! The search was not going well.
Then the nagging voice started in the back of my head, the Vizsla, the Vizsla, the Vizsla, THE VIZSLA! Ok, let’s have a look at the Vizsla. Hmmmmmm, very aristocratic looking dog, beautiful maple syrup colour, highly intelligent (anything has to be one up on the Dalmatian!), very sociable, active (I think they forgot to put the HIGHLY in front of the word active), close companion dog, affectionate, loyal, sensitive, great with kids and the clincher – Hungarian, so she will be able to learn my hungarian commands easily (laugh).
The search was over; 8 weeks later I was the very proud owner of a beautiful female Vizsla – Sari (pronounced Shari). In the first 6 months of her life, everything she did reconfirmed what I had read, yep I had got it right this time, my research had paid off and we were going to live happily ever after. The day finishing like every other day, we went to bed, Sari on her bed, the family besotted with our new growing family member.
I don’t know what happened during the course of the night, but what awoke the following day (6 months & 1 day) was NOT the dog that had gone to bed! This dog was scatty, nipping the kids back into line, crossing the threshold first, plopping herself up into the couch, jumping up, pushing against us. The walks…what a nightmare – what happened to coming back on the recall? "I've got treats".
Ok, so clearly this couldn't continue, this was my dream dog, we were going to go for runs on the beach together, go swimming, and compete in agility, endurance and obedience. Obedience? – you've got to be kidding me!
The frantic internet search began…again – tips on obedience training. Yeah, yeah had read the basics; sit, stay, come, etc…what about behaviour? How is it that some people have this uncanny relationship with their dog, it ‘knowing’ just what to do, no need for 'obedience school' or shouting. Contemplating this more and more, I knew there had to be a better way. I had heard about 'being the Alpha'- huh; I thought I WAS the alpha?
So after another frustrating day of pulling on the lead I dragged myself into a pet shop in Elwood – perhaps my face said it all as the assistant was very forth coming in suggesting I consult a dog listener. A dog listener? I had heard of the horse whisperer – had she just spelt whisperer wrong? She gave me the contact details of Joanne Meek; a consultant in Melb, Jo was currently working with a couple of nervous rehoused Vizsla's so I was confident she would be familiar with the breed. That night I was on her website and what is the picture on the home page – a beautiful Vizsla – won over instantly! From a link on her website I landed on Jan Fennell’s website - the Dog Listener herself and read about Amichien bonding and the more I read, the more it made sense. I had read about being the Alpha dog before, yet none of the references/books I had read ever went into the detail of how to assert yourself into that position without doing that hideous 'dog roll'.
Jan Fennell has a very humane (I’m sure it was written for Vizsla's) 4 stage easy to implement system that focuses on changing the dynamic and putting the human firmly in the alpha position.
Ok, so I had read the book The Dog Listener, Practical Dog Listener & watched the DVD, it was time to give it a try and wow, the results have been amazing. Suddenly I was talking Sari’s language, she could understand AND she was responding.
The gesture eating was very easy to implement and gave her a bit of a shock initially – "why was this pack member eating my food?"
Next was the reuniting – this I found a little harder initially as I’m always excited to reunite with my dog. However, the longest I ever had to ignore her before she settled was only 5 mins. Vizslas learn VERY quickly and within a week she would settle within a few seconds. This has proven to be a great advantage, coming how with 3 excitable children and bags full of groceries.
She no longer jumped on any family members, but would jump on 'select' strangers – you know how dogs just have a 6 sense for vulnerability.
Next, the Hunt. Hmmmmm- why wasn’t this working? Ok, it was time to call in the professionals. I wanted to make sure what I was doing was correct and what was I missing? A couple of emails later and we were booked in.
The consult lasted 3 hours, with free lifetime follow-up there after if needed. It was very thorough and within half an hour Jo had found the mixed signals I was sending to Sari. These mixed signals meant that Sari was ‘allowing’ me to play Alpha dog most of the time, but when it came time for the walk (hunt), clearly I was incompetent and she would handle this one.
Some of these subtle missed signals included; going over to her to give her a pat instead of calling her to me. If she was lying down, going over to her and ‘bowing down’ to give her a pat. When sitting on the couch, she would come a rest her head on my lap (I thought this was endearing. What was really happening was a subtle way on her behalf to test that she was still the alpha by lounging herself on me when SHE felt like it. So after the many ‘little things’ had been ironed out, we had a plan and it was just a matter or remaining consistent.
I am very humbled to say that now at the age of 9 months (so only 3 short months) she is the most beautifully behaved puppy (definitely compared to the other dogs on the beach) ever. People find it hard to believe she is still a puppy. She has totally relinquished her leadership and as a result is very relaxed, easy going, calm, obedient (without ANY formal training) and a loving happy dog. I have 100% total recall off lead, even when we are at the beach with lots of other dogs around.
There has been NO heavy handedness, nor shouting used to achieve any of these behavioural changes and in fact the more quite I am the more responsive she is. I now hardly even 'talk' to her and rely on my hand signals and body language to communicate the relationship.
The beauty of this method is you and your dog are never too old to implement the stages, it is so non-obtrusive, and your dog may actually breathe a sigh of relief that finally you are speaking its language.
The best thing about this method is that children can also do it & assert themselves in the correct hierarchy within the pack. My 3 children are between 3-7yrs old and they could all understand what they had to do.
I do not work for the dog listener, but I found a method that made sense, was non threatening, easy to implement and helped to create a very loving relationship with our beautiful Vizlsa.
Zsuzsa Kovacs