This post is part of our series on raising our Vizsla puppy, Zooka.  You can use our posts as a guide to help raise your own puppy, regardless of breed. Keep in mind that different breeds might develop at different rates, so while you can do these things with any breed, your breed might need certain things at slightly different stages or ages.  Click here to see our list of all updates.

Now that we're into Zooka's 8th month of life, we are going to shift away from weekly updates and give something more like monthly updates and some individual posts about certain things.

Zooka turned 7 months on December 1st, 2019, during week 31. So between his 7th and 8th month we examine his eighth month of life. As those of you with pups know, winter weather can make it harder to get outings in regularly. Not only do you have to deal with potential snow and ice, but you also have shorter daylight hours. So those evenings in the summer when you could get out to the local park or dog-friendly store, gets more challenging now. And if it's after a snow, many sidewalks outside stores are now covered in snow melt products that can be a problem for dogs walking on them.

But, we still have to do our best to get out and about in the real world, albeit somewhat more limited! We had an outing at the Aspen Grove Shopping Center (dog friendly, as dogs are allowed in many of the stores) one Friday around lunchtime. More people than usual during the week since it was between Thanksgiving and Christmas – so lots of holiday shoppers.

Zooka had not been there in a while, it was more crowded, and there were lots of holiday decorations including things like Christmas trees, wreaths, etc. and other things that look like they would normally be outside. . . So, between trees and other plant-like objects indoors, it can get a bit confusing for those who normally use those items as their “restrooms” if you get my meaning. . .

Add to that the fact that around 7 months is when many dogs hit sexual maturity. Which means, this is typically when dogs will start marking things. . .  I am sure by now you have figured out where this is going.

We were in Pier One and walking past the display of wreaths that were displayed in a vertical fashion, and Zooka decided he should lift his leg and pee on them. Ugh! Fortunately, I was watching him pretty closely and saw it about to happen. I pulled him just enough that he peed a bit on the floor but not on the wreaths.

Then I went straight to the check out counter to ask for clean up materials so I could go back and clean up after my naughty boy. (Though I do understand the temptation to walk away and hope no one saw your naughty dog, the right thing to do is fess up and make sure it gets cleaned up!)

Aside from his misguided attempt to mark the wreath display, Zooka actually did an amazing job in the stores and sat/waited at each door, heeled at my side down the crowded aisles, did not try to eat anything, and I did not have to purchase anything that I had not intended to purchase! Zooka actually did an amazing job (minus about 10 seconds of naughty behavior). When I was checking out at a store, he actually put himself in a Down and waited patiently while I took care of my business.

During this period, we also have transitioned Zooka from three meals per day down to two meal per day. You can make this switch any time after six months. We chose to do it at seven months.

While some dogs do fine with an abrupt transition, some do better by gradually reducing that mid-day meal until you fade it out. They should still be eating the same amount but now it's spread over two meals instead of three. Zooka seems to have adjusted just fine to that, but we also get treats off and on all day while we work on other things so he never really goes from breakfast to dinner without anything else to eat.

During this month, we started doing some off leash work with Zooka. Up until now, most of his walks (on the trails on our property, mainly) have been on a long line (around 20 feet).

We started out with some walk partially on leash and partially off leash. We have also started to do some walks entirely off leash. For the off leash portion at this stage, we stick to our lower property that has a four foot fence all the way around (and gates at our driveways).

We still have him on leash when we head uphill as there is only barbed wire fencing there and dogs can easily get through that. He has been doing a great job off leash. He does lots of checking in and sticks close to us.

On one of our off leash walks we had our first off leash encounters with bunnies. This was a big test to see how he handled this and will inform us as to how quickly we might be able to start working him off leash up the hill.

The first bunny that he flushed (accidentally) out of the scrub oak took off across the field and he pursued. Once it disappeared in the larger scrub oak, Zooka ended his pursuit and immediately ran right back to me. GREAT JOB, Zooka!

We had a second encounter that same walk with the same result. He definitely is interested in the bunnies, but at least so far, he does not stay fixated on pursuit. Which is great for me.

On another walk, we had our first encounter with GOATS! The neighboring ranch sometimes brings in a herd of 1500 goats to mow down the grass/weeds. They happened to be right at the top of our hill one day when Zooka and I headed up the hill. I was curious to see how he would react. Wish I had the GoPro with me on that walk!

He alerted and stopped. Vizslas are pointers, after all. And he put his pointer skills on full display. He went into his point and stayed very very still for quite a while. The only thing you could see move was the twitching of his nose as he tried to get the best info he on what those things were.

Then he eventually started stalking very very slowly so as not to spook the goats. Some of the goats were oblivious, but there were several who were on alert to see what we would do. I am pretty sure if he'd been off leash, he probably would have tried to chase at some point. But he was on leash and eventually he walked a wide arc around with me.

When we walked back through on our way back, he was not nearly as interested and walked by nicely. Good job, buddy!

We also had some more play dates during this time. Some scheduled play dates. Some play with boarding dogs. He's learning how to just hang out with another dog without having to play ALL the time. A valuable lesson to learn if you do not have a big brother or sister to teach you that early on.

We continue with our training, our nail trims, our group classes. These things are all critically important to keep up throughout adolescence so we have lots of training left to do. But he's doing very well for his age and I am happy with his progress to date.

This can be the age when many people are being driven a little bit crazy by their wild adolescent dogs. (That is why I wrote my book Juvenile Delinquent Dogs, after all!) But if we are giving him what he needs in regard to physical, mental and social activity, he is really pretty pleasant to live with.

I think he's a keeper. 😉