Do you have a Hungarian Vizsla?

[MabelBee]

We are still in the research stage, working out which breed will be best suited to our family, but a Hungarian Vizsla is one of the breeds at the top of our list. Obviously, we have read that they need lots of vigorous daily exercise and have separation anxiety, but we are not sure how that looks in practice.

If you have a Vizsla, how often and for how long do you walk your dog? Is that a walk or a run? And for how long can you leave the dog before it starts destroying your house?

We would be able to do two, hour long walks a day, longer at weekends and our dog would need to be able to be left for two or sometimes three hours a day, but would otherwise have constant company.

What has thrown us is that people always recommend we get a Labrador but on Pets4Homes, the Lab and the Vizsla get comparable scores and are both listed as having extremely high exercise needs. Lab owners we’ve spoken to seem to think they don’t need much exercise though! We just don’t know any Vizsla owners to ask.

I can see that they would make a great therapy dog in terms of temperament though - in the house he is very calm and will just sit for ages resting against you - he's also quite talkative - not barking but he communicates in a crazy vocal range - we have long, intense chats!!

Oh how lovely. I would love to have a chat like that!

I have working labs and they have more drive than a show.
However even within the working bloodlines there can be a big variety - some high drive and others less so.

We have a friend with a working lab and he doesn't get much exercise. He doesn't chase a ball or anything, just has a potter in the woods every morning. To be fair, we haven't seen him in a while and I suspect he's not on the trim side.

My friend has a viszla and he gets walked a lot around 2-4 hours a day, wit a big walk a few times a day We have a GSD who is walked around 1-2 hours with one big walk and several small and is content with this. My friend runs her viszla for 3 miles then he needs a walk after too. He is loving and sweet though

I'm a vet. There are two Vislas in our practice. One is on anti-anxiety medication and the other one would probably benefit from it too but the owner is currently not keen. Very needy, not awfully happy-seeming. Owner is like a carer rather than anything else.

Not a retriever if you want low moulting!

By chat to breeders I didn't mean asking about puppies. Get to a show or breed event. Talk to them. Ask what the best and worst about their breed is. Find out whether they think you would be suitable owners and your set up would work.

Will do, Wolfiefan. We need to move our research onto the next phase!

We do dog showing. Dog central or fossedata list shows. FB lists local shows. But I would start with the breed club.
It won't help but I had vizsla puppy kisses this morning. She's gorgeous but not proving easy I don't think!

Golden retriever. Best dog ever. Get a roomba for the hair, I run mine twice a day. My dog is almost bomb proof, but he doesn’t like children much, put this is purely due to the fact that I tied him up outside the school gates when he was a puppy when I got the kids and I think he got a few bad experiences there, was a huge mistake. But he tolerates children and will get up and walk away when they annoy him. Its just a personality thing with him. He NEVER barks, has never chewed anything but his own toys, has never destroyed anything in the house.
I went through the guide dog socialisation checklist with him when he was a pup, did level one puppy training and stage 1 gundog training and he is fairly bombproof. Didn’t neuter, on the implant. Can really recommend our breeder too. Message me if you’d like details x

Golden retriever is quite high up on our list. I hadn't even considered a roomba.

And no, hearing about vizsla puppy kisses DEFINITELY does not help!

If you’re able to get there I’d highly recommend visiting Crufts which is held at the Birmingham NEC in March. There’s a Discover Dogs area where each KC recognised breed has a stand and you can chat to human representatives as well as meet the dogs themselves.

As Wolfiefan says shows are also a great opportunity to meet lots of examples of a breed as well as chat to owners/breeders.

When it comes to researching breeds, nothing beats actually meeting lots of a particular breed and chatting to breed enthusiasts in person.

That's a really good idea CornflakeHomunculus. We are north Bucks so that is accessible to us.

My friend has one. It’s a pain in the arse. Hyper, barks a lot, separation issues etc etc.

I wouldn't be brave enough. I think it would need an enormous amount of consistency from the whole family. Personally, I think I would go for a lab.

Gosh we must have been really lucky with the lovely Vizla we looked after for several months for a friend without accommodation!

She needed a lot of exercise each day but I wouldn't have described her as neurotic at all. She did love herself rather a lot and point blank refused to sit on the floor - she had to sit in the best, comfiest chair in any room . She started off climbing into bed with me and growling at DP when he tried to get in, but we soon put a stop to that. She also made little nests out of clothes, blankets etc to sit in which created a fair mess sometimes. But she wasn't overly clingy, didn't bark much at all and was fine with being left for a couple of hours at home.

Considering we weren't her owners and she didn't really know us when she arrived, she was great, nothing like the dogs mentioned here. She had been very, very well trained though and our friend never let her get away with anything, so that probably helped enormously.

We are also in North Bucks if you’d like to meet our GR!

We have a German Shorthaired Pointer. He gets 90 mins to 2hrs walk a day. Lovely temperament, chilled out in the house. No chewing, no separation anxiety (though some do, apparently). His only real downside is that he's very strong and pulls like a train on the lead unless he has a halter-type collar on, and even then he still pulls.

It's really lovely to hear all the good things about other viszlas as well! Must remember this thread when I'm cursing her for rolling in fox shit for the second time in one week!

My friend has one.
It's very hard work
That's me being polite.

It's an utter utter pita. Barks , jumps up , slobbers and stinks

Friend is s lovely person who does not work and spends hours trying to train this dog with no success.

Been to classes blah blah

She says she will NEVER. get another dog when it dies.

Bloody dog barks like a loony all the time.
Very antisocial

If you're thinking of a therapy dog I would go for a lab with a mix of working and show lines - very trainable but also very sensitive and minimal barking. Or a cockapoo - beautiful temperament but can be bonkers. My experience with Vizslas is awful - barking, biting, unpredictable.

Never have a vizsla if you intend to keep it indoors most of the time. Like you said, in South Africa you keep dogs outside in the garden and vizslas need that kind of habitat, to go explore and sniff around daily. Britain is different, where most people would never dream to keep a dog outdoors, unleashed.
They need an owner who is strong in character and trains them well.

You see, this is what confuses me, because my experience of dogs like cockapoos is needy, untrainable and yappy. Some of it must be down to training and yes, having strong, consistent owners.

I think stage two, meeting owners and getting more face to face advice is definitely what we need to do.

We have a cockapoo that is basically a playful baby. Likes being cuddled and played with but v low maintainance.

SIL has visla and it is a slobbery nightmare. The size of them means that cups of tea constantly being knocked over, its hard to keep things out of their reach etc. They also work from home (farm) so dog is always out and about with constant exercise. It is a total pita in the house though.

I'd definitely consider the size of your house/living space when looking at a dog