Is a Vizsla the Right Dog Breed for You?
The Vizsla is an ancient Hungarian dog breed
with some researchers believing they were around in the 8th and 9th centuries! The name Vizsla is Hungarian word that means “pointer”.
The Vizsla was once used to hunt
with falcons. Hunters would use the Vizsla to point and flush out the prey and the falcon would dive and bring it to the ground.
A Purebred Vizsla comes only in shades of
“golden rust”. According to AKC breed standard “solid dark mahogany and pale yellow are faulty”. Their color is the result of a single recessive gene and when when crossed with another breed, the offspring will usually lose their rust color.
They come in four coat varieties
shorthaired smooth, wirehaired, longhaired wirehair and longhaired non-wired, however, out of these 4 varieties only two distinct breeds are recognized, the wirehaired Vizsla and the smoothhaired Vizsla.
Although Vizsla’s have webbed feed
and are generally excellent swimmers, their lack of an insulating undercoat (like Labs and Golden Retrievers) can make swimming in cold water uncomfortable.
Vizsla’s have an Average Lifespan
of 12-15 years, but the longest recorded lifespan for a Vizsla was 21 years!
They can weigh up to 70 pounds but usually weigh a bit less. Vizsla puppies are born with bright blue eyes that gradually change to a warm amber color within the first few months. Despite their short hair, Vizsla’s are above-average shedders.
Watch this Vizsla Puppy Growing Up
Get a Free Video of Your Dog Here!
According to research on Canine intelligence
published in the renowned book, “The Intelligence of Dogs” by Stanley Coren, the Vizsla ranks 25th out of 130 dog breeds in canine intellect. Essentially, this means a Vizsla will learn new commands after 5-15 repetitions. This is considered excellent working/obedience intelligence. In contrast, the brightest breeds will learn and follow new commands in 5 repetitions or less-while the least intelligent dogs will require 80-100 repetitions to learn the same command.
In timed 100 yard dog race trials
conducted by the AKC called the FastCat, the average running speed of a Vizsla was 25 mph. The fastest Vizsla, named Basalt Bluffs Charlotte DCAT CGC, was timed at 31.65 mph!
While it is published in many articles that Vizsla’s can run over 40 mph, we have yet to see any documented proof of this claim.
In a massive, ongoing study of dog
breed temperament, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, called the C-BARQ, the Vizsla ranks 14th out of 124 dog breeds in attention seeking/attachment behavior. This breed loves attention from their owners and are prone to jealousy when attention is given to another dog or person. Ranking very high in this area further enhances the “velcro dog” tag for Vizsla’s!
In this same research
Vizsla’s rank VERY high (12 out of 124 breeds) in excitability. This generally hyper breed may go nuts when you grab the leash, the doorbell rings, when you go for a car ride etc. They also rank VERY high for their energy level – 27th out of 124 breeds.
It is said that the Vizsla was used
in the creation of both the Weimaraner and German Shorthaired Pointer. According to a landmark Genomic Analyses of dog breed development, the Vizsla shares the most DNA with a common ancestor of the following dog breeds:
German Wirehaired Pointer
German Shorthaired Pointer
Gordon Setter
While the Vizsla is generally a very robust
and healthy dog breed, there are some health conditions that affect this breed. Vizsla Inflammatory Polymyopathy is one such condition. You can read more about other potential health issues below.
Vizsla Humor!
Take a Fun Vizsla Quiz!
Vizsla Dog Breed Infographic
