# how did you first get interested in the breed?



## frankiethevizsla (Jun 5, 2013)

as the title says, how did you come to know about this breed and want to raise one? 

for me, i only learned about Vs quite recently while searching dog videos on youtube. i came across a dogs 101 about them and was instantly hooked! i started researching the breed intensively and stumbled upon this forum - thank god i did because its full of so much information!

so anyways i was just wondering how you became introduced to this brand because i thought it would make for some interesting stories!
_
(ps i dont own a vizsla currently because of school and am hoping this website will still be running when i finally do get a redhaired furball of my own  )_


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Can't even remember when I saw my first Vizsla, but the impression never left! My hubby grew up a hunter in Minnesota with dogs, and he owned at least 2 Wiemaraners before Greta( 10 yrs old when we got our V Foxy at 8wks). He was just used to the Hunting breed of dog... They are just special. As Greta aged and we knew we must have another dog, it was I who pushed for the V, I wanted a match...but different. I wanted the personality I had read about. She had to be her own dog, but fill the shoes of her mentor. Greta was (did you ever see"Best in breed"? the movie) O was she typical...fixated on her frisby-ring...if you were trying to read the paper it would be hanging on your foot, your knee, in your lap, now on top of the paper...Frisby,swimming, eating in that order ( and she could eat herself sick) but she was aloof...Greta Garbo.
The Vizsla is the Perfect dog! All of the assets of the hunting breed (beauty, grace, speed, energy, etc,etc. But gentle natured, loving, soft & silky to touch & hold & cuddle etc,etc,etc. 
Greta was not happy about the pup, but mellowed and became the perfect mentor...Foxy adored Greta and followed her everywhere...I believe Foxy added time and happiness to Greta's life too. 
However having owned One... I am a firm believer that Two would be better...etc. etc.
I found my girl online from a not to distant family owned breeder with lots of photos, and stories. We met the sire & dam and fell in love, both were amazing dogs. We got the choice of the last two females, and took the smallest.
Our Precarious baby.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

I grew up in a family of hunters, and so I've always gravitated toward the hunting breeds. The dog I had just prior to Willie was adopted out of the dog pound, because I like pulling them off of death row. I got her home and kept thinking to myself, "I know I've seen this kind of dog before!" I started doing some online research. Then I realized I had seen this kind of dog on TV, during the Westminster Kennel Club dog show... a Vizsla!! 

She was a mixed breed dog, but predominantly V. She looked just like Willie, but a little smaller. Her nose was a little darker brown, sort of a cocoa color. She was a great dog!! Some years later I found Willie at the dog pound, sitting on death row... and he is clearly a purebred Vizsla. Well, I'm hooked now. ;D ;D ;D

_p.s. frankiethevizsla, welcome to the forums!!_


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## frankiethevizsla (Jun 5, 2013)

both your stories are wonderful and i can't wait to find a vizsla to call my own! 

i'd really like a boy named frankie (hence the name frankiethevizsla) but i would welcome any vizsla with open arms ;D

*mswhipple*, kudos to you for rescuing your willie! i've been thinking about rescue too and it seems like a very good option to consider!


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

You know, you can easily change a dog's name. They get used to it in a "New York minute"! Since Willie was a lost dog, nobody actually knew his name. No idea what it was to begin with. He was about two years old when I adopted him. I named him after my dear departed Dad! 

Young adult dogs are my first choice, because someone else has already done the hard work of puppyhood. LOL!! Willie's house manners are impeccable! ;D ;D ;D


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## frankiethevizsla (Jun 5, 2013)

ahaha yes i know! dogs are just so good about everything! they dont have a care in the world if you give them plenty of love 

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! a dog who's already pretty well trained? count me in! if i did adopt, it would probably be from a rescue program that has their dogs live in foster homes for a while, just because it helps determine their temperament and how much they already know

shelters/pounds are kind of a gamble, imo. it can turn out wonderfully, but it can also be horrible


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## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

My partner did joinery work for someone who owned a Weimeraner and a Vizsla. We had actually been considering a Wei (his sister has one) but I wasn't 100% sure. 

Anyway, my partner came home from the first day on the job with a twinkle in his eye! He had fallen in love with the Vizsla - we found a breeder close by completely by chance (they hadn't had a litter of V's since 2010) who were expecting a V litter that month. We visited the breeder where I met Nelly's Mum, Auntie and Grandfather - I fell in love - there begins our life with Nelly.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

1929, LOL ... waited until 2011 to own one. 

My grandparents owned three of these kind of dogs and when I was about ten, they trusted me to take them out... came back with two, lost one. How can anyone loose a V? They keep close all the time :-[. 
So, I stayed away from hunting dogs for the next 30 years. Stuck to fish, cat, GSD...


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## stryker (Dec 9, 2012)

I saw one at a pet store and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. He was a light honey color with the softest fur like the finest mink. It struck me that he look like a new born foal all leggy and bright eyed. When I herd the price I gasped and thought who would ever pay that much for a dog. A year late I had a Sizzlin Vizsla named stryker it was 1994


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

TV show called Pick a puppy. They feature 3 breeds with the qualities that a family is looking for and they go and visit breeders. At the end of the show the family ends up with the dog that they have chosen. We then went to see a 3 week old litter quite some time after I watched this program. That was it, I was hooked! We then started doing research and trying to get a puppy. Not so easy- we just lucked into getting Dharma. She comes home to be a part of our family officially on July 13.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

I was looking for either a GWP or GSP,,, our friend has wire haired vizslas and when she rescued Ruby I was adamant that she (Ruby) become our dog even though she's a smooth/wire cross, so the rest as they say, is history ;D


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## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

My husband had one as a family pet growing up. His uncle was a breeder and gave them one of the pups. When it came down to deciding on getting a dog, it was a very easy choice since my husband and his family always talked about their beloved Vizsla.

I never had a dog in my life before Ruby and knew about the breed just from watching dog shows and Animal Planet. Once we decided on getting one, I started all of the research including finding this forum.


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## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

Weims always fascinated me, so when hubby agreed we could get a dog, they were the first breed I started researching. I didn't like some of the behavior characteristics that I found them to have, and somewhere along the way ran across a photo of a Vizsla. They reminded me of a red Weimaraners! I researched Vizslas and thought they sounded perfect. We went out and visited a breeder and fell in love with not only the puppies (of course) but the 5 adult V's they owned as family pets as well.

Now that we have had Ruby for almost a year, I cannot imagine having a different dog. She's perfect for us!


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## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

Cool topic!

When I was around 13 I saw a V on the Westminster Dog Show and loved the look of the dog. Growing up with dachshunds my entire life I always wanted a bigger dog that was more active, so I started to research the V. After years of watching videos, looking at pictures, reading about them and seeing them on the dog shows I had fallen in love and jumped at the chance to get a V when I moved in with my fiance. Ultimately, I gave my fiance a choice of 4 breeds (V, weim and golden retriever and Labrador) and let him pick our breed of dog that we were going to get. Of course I stacked the deck in my favor as he didn't want a dog over 60-70 lbs and didn't want a ton of of hair so the golden and lab were out. Then I showed him Dogs 101 and he made the right choice 

It's his first dog and my first V. Honestly, I don't think he (we) couldn't have made a better choice. You get one and you're hooked! Can't wait to get #2!


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

We fell in love with the breed at a friend's wedding in 2008. They had a little pen set up in the courtyard at their wedding for their basset hound and new Vizsla puppy (half wire half smooth). Over the next few years we watched Tucker grow and loved his energy and personality. We knew we couldn't have one at the time as we were both in graduate school. After graduation in 2010 I begged my husband for a puppy every day. He always had an excuse not to get one... our house was too small, I was in residency etc. Finally a year later after we moved and my schooling was completely over I convinced him to take the plunge and get on a wait list. We expected our little Miles Sept 2012 which would be a very very long wait but was their next available litter. Then in Feb 2012 someone dropped out the their winter litter and I had happened to call that day about something else and the breeder offered us the opportunity to meet the puppy. We fell in love with Miles. It was not our perfect timing, we were in the middle of a kitchen remodel with a upcoming specialty board test and a trip to Costa Rica to celebrate but we made it work. Neighbors and family pitched in to help watch Miles during the day so he wouldn't be scared of the construction and I studied with a little puppy in my lap for a month. Now we can't imagine our life without him and are adding "Chase" to the family next month


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

We were familiar with weims, like so many other forum members, and when starting to talk about dog ownership a weim owner mentioned the V. Their weim is HUGE and she said next time around they wanted a V bec they are very similar but more manageable size wise. So we researched and got hooked.


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## Big Rick (Apr 14, 2009)

When Sandy was a special education teacher there was a woman who volunteered in her classroom. She and her husband were Hungarian. He was a professor at the University of South Florida Medical School. We went to their house for a Christmas bash one year and met their V. Sandy fell in love, but it wasn't until about 18 years later that she convinced me we should have one. Once Dexter was in the house I didn't need to be convinced to get the second one (Scarlet). Love these dogs!!!


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Growing up I was always obsessed with dogs. My bedroom was even decorated with wolf stuff at one point--paw print bed sheets, wolf border, the works. So I used to love looking at illustrations of dog breeds in our encyclopedia. It had most of the breeds drawn in their "stacked" profile and separated by group. I loved the look of weimaraners and vizslas. Later I discovered William Wegman's photography of his weims. I started researching the breed last summer and like many others eventually found the vizsla which will fit my life better. 

I looked back at the encyclopedia entry a few months ago and turns out whomever drew it didn't do their research. It was silver just like the weimaraner. :


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## frankiethevizsla (Jun 5, 2013)

*einspänner* i used to do that too! i would sit at the library for hours reading books about dogs and how to raise puppies. i was absolutely obsessed with everything canine related ahahaha


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

The GOOD - The BAD & not so UGLY - met 1 over 40yrs ago in a bird field in Mt - fell in loVe - the rest is history - just a gundog & lap mutt !!!!!!!!!! need I say MORE ?


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## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

About 5 years ago I was watching TV (I don't remember the show) but it was the first time that I ever saw a Vizsla. They seemed like the greatest dog and at the time I already had two dogs - a pit mix and a Rhodesian ridgeback mix. I kind of filed Vizsla in the back of my mind, but I wasn't in the market for another dog. Then last year I still had both my dogs, but my pit mix was now 16 years old and I took him to the vet for an issue he was having with his tooth. While I was at the vets office my vet told me that he had rescued this puppy that was injured and he thought he had a home for him, but when he had to amputate his leg the people that were going to take him backed out so he was looking for another home. I told him that was a sad story, but I had a geriatric dog and a 9 year old dog and adding a puppy to the mix would be too much of a handful. My vet fully admits that he'll do just about anything to find a dog a home, so he pretended to leave the room to get an instrument and came back in with this adorable red wiggly, three legged puppy with green eyes. I took one look at him and knew he was a V. He jumped in my lap, licked my face and stole my heart. My pit mix went over and started licking his face, because everyone loves a V  still I said no because I just thought having a geriatric dog, a middle aged dog and a puppy by myself was too much. I had to come back later that day to pick up my dog and my vet again shamelessly paraded this little puppy in front of me and I have to admit that I'd been thinking about him all day. Well seeing him again pretty much sealed the deal I felt like I was meant to have this precious little puppy and life has never been the same. I've always had a dog in my life, but I think from here on out there will always be a V in my life. :-*


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## frankiethevizsla (Jun 5, 2013)

aw glad that there was a happy ending to that story!


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

R said:


> The GOOD - The BAD & not so UGLY - met 1 over 40yrs ago in a bird field in Mt - fell in loVe - the rest is history - just a gundog & lap mutt !!!!!!!!!! need I say MORE ?


 Wow!
Those would have had to be some of the first V's in the country. Very Cool! 8)

For me, I was looking for a hunting dog. First choice was a GSP, but in the mid 80's the breed was kind of a little messed up, and finding a good dog from proven hunt stock wasn't easy. The GSP's were being bred big then. I see now that the GSP is back to what it should have been, which is good. The GSP is too important of a hunting breed to lose.
My next choice was a Gordon Setter, but the only breeder of field stock Gordon's at the time was in Northern Ca. Too far.
I then saw an "older" guy hunting a Vizlsa. I watched it work, and talked to him a bit, and then went about finding one.
One 3 1/2 hour drive, on Halloween day, to New Hampshire and we came back with a saggy pants 8 week old Vizsla puppy, named Upwind Boone.
They've been in the house and underfoot ever since.


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

Gun - the family I met in Mt while hunting spent 2yrs in an interment camp after the USSR took over there country - they had there 6 V's with them - feared the new government would destroy the V's because in most cases the landed gentry owned them - they gave me my first & 3rd V and a friend of theirs gave me the 2nd - I have been truly BLESSED - getting a little bit of HEAVEN & **** - in a copper package LOL


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

NO, Russians don't eat dogs! ;D ... that generation went through a lot, heard lots of stories :'(


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