The History of the Smooth Vizsla

Or

(Yellow Turkish Hunting Dog as it was originally known).

At lot of the history of the Hungarian Vizsla has been lost during the World Wars but some information is available and more keeps comming  through dedicated Vizsla enthusiasts as time goes on.

After World War II the whole country became a battlefield and the Vizslas almost became extinct.

As far as we can research, the Vizsla's were brought into the Carparthian Basin by the Magyas' from Turkey.    Vizslas then made their homes in Hungary.   Back to the 14^th century paintings' in a monestary show Vizsla's hunting alongside hunters on their horses.  Owned only by the aristocracy in Hungary, they had many tasks, used for guarding St Stephens Crown, hunting ,flushing out retrieving and holding at bay, deer, boar, rabbits as well as birds of ground and flight.  They are the only Gundog known to have been trained to work with horses.  The following information was written in 1966 by a gentleman Mihaly Kende, of Budapest (and translated by Katlin Poor (c)) who was in charge of the Hungarian Vizsla in Hungary after World War II  

After the second world war the landlords and their workers - who made the golden age of the Vizsla with unselfish genrous work, found themselves in the situation where they were forced to try and manage their daily lives and could not even think about hunting with their Vizslas'

Most of the people of the country had had to change their addresses, moved around and with around 80% of the people wandering, most Vizslas' were lost.   Remaining Vizslas were in strange hands and they either  died or were bred to other breeds.

The dog breeding clubs were ceased and some of the historical documentation of the breeding lines were lost.

The Agricultural Ministry once they reconstructed the country's Animal Breeding gave the registration of the purebred dogs to the National Pedigree Committee   As most of the dog breeding clubs pedigrees were still available, registration was still possible.   But the pedigrees of the National Vizsla Club Hungarian (data of around 7000) were taken into the west by the Chief Registrar and in 1950's he was killed in accident . Identification of the old bloodlines were lost   Only on rare occassions did a pedigree become available, and these were copied and made it possible to identify the ancestory of some Vizslas  However todays modern Vizsla still has some of the distinctive characteristics which it had in the early days.

The General Appearance and Characteristic of the Vizsla

A medium size elegant gundog of noble appearance with a short russett gold tight coat.

He is rather light, dry and or lean structure which embodies the harmony of beauty and strength.

The Vizsla is a versatile gundogs which must be able to work in field, forest and rivers, it must have an excellent nose, be firm on the point, excell at retriveing and the determination to remain on the scent, even when in water, which he manifestly enjoys.   He must have an easy going nature and be extremely adaptable to all situations,and because of this he is an excellent companion around the home.

His temperament is important.   He must be lively, friendly, and a willingness to  keep constant contact with his master.   He must be neither aggressive nor shy.  

He will not tolerate rough treatment as he has a soft and loving nature which just demands to please his owner.

He is not a dog to be left out in the yard he is a house dog, if left outside permanently he will not exercise himself, sitting at the door jsu twaiting to be part of the family, he will become, noisey and destructive, bred to be with his owner and master,  he loves nothing more than to be included in the family, he is over tolerant of children and will alert you to people arriving or if there is some problems.

The Vizsla  must be socialised as a puppy and trained, and untrained vizsla is a disaster waiting to happen.

Vizsla's in Hungary are :-

  Family Companions

 Know as the Utility Gundog or Velcro dog he has a passion to be with his owners and will lay down his life for th  family which he adores and protects   He will be ready and willing to go out for exercise when you do or just lay around the home when you do

It is not the amount of yard you have which is important to a Vizsla but the amount of personal time you are willing to spend with him.

Police Dogs

Guide Dog for the Blind

Search and Rescue

Hunting Fur and Feather

Vizsla's during the Russian revolution were used as War Dogs and taken into the trenches with the soldiers and there is an excellent story in  "Dogs at War" giving details of how the Vizsla  saved the Hungarian Army