Is a Vizsla right for you?
It's really important that you carefully consider the right breed for you and/or your family when considering adding a four legged friend to your household. Each breed has their own temperament, requirements and suitabilities. Not only does the dog need to be a good fit for you - but you need to be a good fit for the dog!
Training
Hungarian Vizslas are intelligent, sensitive, and high-energy dogs requiring consistent, positive reinforcement training, early socialisation and being taught to use their brain correctly. They thrive on mental stimulation (obedience, agility) and bonding, but can become destructive if bored. They are known to have a high prey drive and so decent training is an absolute must, they love to learn and are a joy to train, it’s just a case of putting in the time.
They are known in the gundog world as an HPR (Hunt, point, retrieve). As this suggests it means they are well suited to every aspect of gundog work. If looking for a Gundog trainer to help you with your dog try to find one who has experience with Vizslas. They are very different to train to a spaniel or a Labrador so finding someone with breed experience is really helpful.
We obviously show our dogs, they also see this as ‘work’ and get very excited when it’s their turn to shine in the show ring. There are specific training classes for show dogs called ringcraft classes which are a brilliant way to help train your dog up (and yourselves).
Another area of training which is very important is pub training… everybody needs a good pub dog - we advise starting with this as soon as you take your puppy home!!
We are always happy to help find trainers or classes in your area and give any advice or support along the way with any aspect of training.
Lifespan
The Hungarian Vizsla has an average lifespan of 12-15 years. One of the main reasons why picking the right puppy for you is so important. All of our dogs are health tested and our breeding lines have been carefully chosen to increase the likelihood of long and healthy lives for our puppies. Breeding to protect and improve the breed is what we’ve always been about from the start.
Activity & Energy
Hungarian Vizslas have always been known for their high energy levels and the need for hours and hours of exercise… this is simply untrue. One of our most important pieces of advice is to not over exercise your Vizsla, especially during the first year. Trying to tire them out with exercise never works, using brain games and training works much better. They will happily walk for hours and hours, however if this is what you do every day then this is what they will expect. The more exercise you give them, the more they want. Our dogs get a daily walk of high quality (off lead with plenty opportunities to run and use their noses) but these walks can vary in lengths. Some days they come out with me on the horses and can cover some decent miles, other days it’s a quick march round a field or two… they are always happy and content because it’s varied. Owning such intelligent dogs actually means that fixed routines can cause issues, when these routines change it can really upset them. By keeping exercise varied and haphazard with timings etc you will actually have a much happier dog.
Size & Feeding
Height: Males stand 57–64 cm (22.5–25 inches), while females are slightly smaller at 53–60 cm (21–23.5 inches).
Average adults weigh between 20 and 30 kg (44–66 lbs).
They are not a breed that does well on low quality food. They need a high protein, high fat diet. A lot of people think Vizslas are meant to be skinny… they are not. They should be fit with glossy coats. A skinny Vizsla is not being fed correctly. They can be picky eaters which is another reason why feeding them top quality food is important. We give a lot of help and advice on this front to help our owners get it right. Puppies are weaned from 3 weeks of age onto quality food to ensure they have the best start in life.
Coat, care & Health
While generally healthy, the breed can be susceptible to hip dysplasia, epilepsy, cancer (including lymphoma), eye issues like glaucoma and VIP - Vizsla Inflammatory Polymyopathy (formerly known as Vizsla Polymyositis), a serious, breed-specific, immune-mediated muscle disease affecting Hungarian Vizslas. These reasons are why it’s so important to do your research and choose a puppy that has come from health tested parents with healthy generations behind them.
A well fed Vizsla will always have a glossy coat however it should naturally be slightly greasy. This is to give them some protection against the elements. Because of this they don’t need to be washed regularly, except of course when they have rolled in something disgusting! Although they are not massive maulters, you will find twice a year it seems exceptionally worse for a short while. During these times a grooming mitt can help massively. A quick daily groom gets the worse of it out.
Nail trimming is an important part of your puppy’s grooming. Keeping the nails short will allow the pressure to be correctly placed on the pastern (ankle) of you puppy as he/she grows. They have had their nails trimmed weekly whilst being with us to help get them used to it. Whilst on a hard floor their nails shouldn’t touch the floor, this is how you know if they are the right length. By keeping up with nail trimming it makes it much less hassle in later life when they are potentially nearly 30kg!
Other considerations
Vizslas thrive in homes with space to move, for this reason we will not agree to our puppies going to live in flats or apartments with no garden.
As they lack an undercoat, they are indoor dogs and do not handle cold weather well. This doesn’t mean they need coats and jumpers on when out for walks - when moving they are fine - but they don’t like sitting in the cold! Again we would not agree to homes where the dogs are kennelled or kept outside for long periods of time.
They are well nicknamed as "Velcro Dogs" - they are deeply affectionate and want to be with their owners at all times, often following them from room to room. They have no idea about personal space and assume every sofa was put there for them to enjoy… this doesn’t mean they cannot be left but leaving them alone needs to be trained like every other aspect of training otherwise they can be known to get separation anxiety. Yet again they are super intelligent dogs and if the training is done correctly then you will have a wonderful dog that is also happy alone. We give lots of help and advice on this to all our owners.