# The American, Canadian and Hungarian Standards



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

A friend of mine sent this to me. There are differences in the standards. Why?? 



http://toldin.com/VizslaStandards.html

_Check out the Vizsla standards for the US, Canada, and Europe (FCI) t

Martha Lacko gives permission to download the page and the PDF file and use them.

Kay_


RBD


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## Melda (Feb 22, 2012)

As the saying goes, a 'a good dog is never a bad colour'

And as you pointed out earlier RBD, this is a Hungarian dog, and the original Hungarian standards should apply whenever, wherever. I guess each country wants to their their say, and possibly adding new genes , which could be good in the long run.

Incidentally I recently met a Hungarian lady who came running towards the dogs, she was nearly in tears, hugging and kissing them (to their utter delight I may add) as she calmed down she told me that she grew up on a working farm in Hungry and had about 10 Vs of different sizes and even colour, throughout the working life of her family's farm, she said they had the big V, the medium V and the small V, and also they had them in varying shades from light gold to dark brown, they even had a rare spotted V! told her I'd love to see pics if she had any. She lives in a small flat now and couldn't have a V so she has a tan sausage dog instead. And other people's Vs in the park to cuddle ;D


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

They are all pretty. I Like the outline feature. Do they use those outlines to judge the dogs?

GSP is a little heavy boned like a tank, the Weimer and Vizsla look more frail (not to mention the GSP has the biggest leg in between the legs) ;D


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## ironman_stittsville (Oct 12, 2011)

Melda said:


> ...
> Incidentally I recently met a Hungarian lady who came running towards the dogs, she was nearly in tears, hugging and kissing them (to their utter delight I may add) as she calmed down she told me that she grew up on a working farm in Hungry
> ...


+1

I entered the nearby dog park (Bruce Pit) here in Ottawa, Ontario and was approached by a thick-accented gypsy woman (I kid, I kid) who could not get enough of my Phoebe. She is Hungarian and has fond memories of her time back in the olde country roaming the hills and forests with her active V companions in her youth. I could swear that Phoebe could sense her roots in this not-so-young lady...

Vizslas usually draw attention... sometimes for mischief...

Rh.


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## polkan (Dec 29, 2011)

> There are differences in the standards. Why??


My guess would be the reasons are both historical and cultural. 

The first Hungarian standard, of 1928, was written to basically re-create the breed. I'm not 100% sure, but from what I read it may have formed the basis of the 1935 standard when FCI accepted the Vizsla.

From Diana Bogg's archives, I understood that the early imports of Vizsla into the US in the 1950s had a lot of variation (some were imported from Czechoslovakia, others from Austria, yet others from Hungary). Could that be the reason the US standard allows for slightly more variation in height than the Canadian standard? There were also problems with translating the national standards (the one example being dewclaws). 

The Hungarians changed their own standard again after the war and their revision was again accepted by the FCI in the mid-1960s - a few years after the Vizsla was officially recognized by the AKC in the US, based on the first US standard. The US standard was revised only once, in the 1970s.

Because the standards are written by the breeders themselves, I wonder if it's practically and realistically possible to have the world simply switch over to the Hungarian standard. The majority, if not all, dog breeds have standards with some differences from country to country. US and UK Goldens are perhaps a real extreme.

And on a human level, it would probably be hard for many of the US (or Canadian or other) breeders, who have given 10, 15 or 25 years of their lives to the breed, to change, especially if they feel there are significant and important differences that disqualify their past achievements. 

But to change the standard, the breeders would have to adopt the FCI version at the board meeting of the Vizsla Club of America. They could probably vote for some kind of gradual adoption.


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

Very interesting topic! A while ago I came accross this older description of Vizsla and found it very interesting:
http://www.vizsladogs.com/Pdfs/TheBookoftheDog.pdf 
Tail docked at 6 inches, about 25 inches tall and 72 pounds!


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## hobbsy1010 (Jun 4, 2011)

Got this picture my wife bought me for Christmas, sort of post card size. Really liked it so I framed it and love it, makes me smile! 
But to the point, I would say it sort of dates to the turn of the century, of European origins but check out the size of the Vizsla's in the photo, tiny IMO comparison to today's 'V'!




Hobbsy


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## polkan (Dec 29, 2011)

> A while ago I came accross this older description of Vizsla and found it very interesting


Wow, great find, Suliko. This was written in 1948, I guess in the UK, after the first FCI/Hungarian standard but before the first US standard. Some interesting differences:

V-F: "the eyes are medium and _round_, dark in color"
FCI/Hungarian: "_Slightly oval_, of medium size"

V-F: "The ears are_ low set_, wide at the base and carried pendant"
FCI/Hungarian: "Set on at_ medium height_, a little backwards"


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

*hobbsy1010*, what a picture! The Vs in it do look rather small ???

*polkan*, I was trying to imagine my Sophie who weighs 40.2lbs in a 72lbs body and just... couldn't... However, looking at *hobbsy1010* picture, they do look shorter and a little heavier.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

A Hungarian gentlemen that lives in the next city from me came to the US in the 60s. He has pictures of him and his dogs when they first arrived in New York. The dogs that have past are in urns on a large shelf. His dogs have a good 20 - 30 pounds on mine. Long hound dog ears and slightly thicker bone structure. The ones he owns today look just like the ones pictured with him 50 years ago. I just need to break down and purchase one from him before he passes away. And yes that would be 4 vizslas in the house.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

*It is strongly emphasized that field conditioned coats, as well as brawny or sinewy muscular condition and honorable scars indicating a working and hunting dog are never to be penalized in this dog. * 

This is the part of the AKC standard that I like. Not sure if in real shows this is taken into account.

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2012/03/brawny-or-sinewy-muscular-condition.html

RBD


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

RBD - THE RED BADGE of COURAGE ! ALWAYS WORKS FOR ME! GO BEFORE SHOW!


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

Novel by Stephen Crane


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

I have read the Australian standards, but without actually digging them up again, couldn't determine the differences if any to the American, Canadian or Hungarian standards. However, I would think ours would most likely be based on the English standard knowing the history of our clubs and institutions. I might dig it up and have a little comparison at some point.

But, to be honest, I have a large male V and I have a small male V. I also have a very small GSP and I think dogs just like humans can come in a variety of sizes without degradation of the breed. Here in Oz, we have a big variance in size of V's even from the one breeder. 

Astro and Ozkar share grandparents. They come from a breeder who's known for breeding a larger V. But, I have seen loads of her dogs that are tiny in comparison to even my little Ozkar. So, I know without referring to the standard, that size tolerances are fairly liberal here. 

I'm more interested in health, temperament and what is in between the ears than any conformity to a written standard. I think if I ever did breed a V, I would be looking for a combination of what I have in my three dogs. The prey drive of Zsa Zsa, the body strength, muscle definition and medium to smaller size of Ozkar, but with the calm demeanour of Astro.  I think that would make a brilliant hunting companion


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Suliko, the Vizsla that is described in "The Book of the Dog" sure sounds a lot like my Willie Boy! Very interesting...


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