When I was growing up the first dog that was really mine, was a “Heinz 57” named “Queenie Duchess”. In my young mind she was the greatest hunting dog, the best family dog, and the best anything else you could think of. The reality is, there were certain qualities that Queenie had that were representative of each breed that made up this unique mutt.
Every breed has physical, mental, and behavioral characteristics that set it apart from other breeds.
We often cross breeds to develop certain desirable characteristics in dogs, and then continue to breed them and ultimately achieve at creating a new breed with just the right amount of this, with just the right amount of that.
After many years of hunting upland game birds and owning many different breeds of dogs, I desired to have the companionship and family friendliness of a dog, while having the drive and natural pointing instinct . I wanted a dog that would not quit hunting on my week long hunting trips, but would also curl up beside my daughter in the floor of the living room while she watched Saturday morning cartoons. That’s when I found the Wirehaired Vizsla.
We are a small kennel, and are new at breeding the WHV. We have bred other breeds in the past, mainly selling pups to finance our hunting trips or to buy a new shotgun, but when we found how unique these dogs were, we fell in love.
Our philosophy of breeding has been undergoing some major changes as we have been learning recently how the conformation of the dog can say a lot about its ability to perform in the field.
Coming from a strictly hunting background, I never really worried about producing correct conformation puppies. My main goal was to produce strong Gundogs with strong natural hunting ability, but I have recently learned that with just a little extra effort, a breeder can produce puppies that excel in both arenas. Our goal is still to put pups on the ground that love to hunt, but we are also health testing and breeding for positive conformation as well. We recognize now that the future of this young breed rests in our hands and we really do have something to prove to the upland game hunting community. This breed, handled properly, can allow guys like myself to have that “jump in the pick-up truck and go everywhere with your dog” type of dog, while not having to compromise in the field.
Our breeding program will remain small enough to allow us to produce healthy, well socialized pups that love to hunt. They are introduced to retrieving, tracking, wings, and live birds as early as 4-5 weeks, and have exposure to water and field work as soon as their confidence allows.
While we do have a new temperature controlled 7 run kennel next to acres and acres of training ground, for training days, all of our dogs take turns at being house dogs. Our dog kennel is my personal retreat, as well as a place for the dogs to stay while I work with others. As a Pastor, I love to spend time
in “the dog house”. There is a small area in our kennels that has a couch and small refrigerator. Each day I spend time reading and praying while the dogs exercise in one or two of the five ½ acre fenced in exercise areas. Often they return early from their play to lay at my feet as I read and study.
Please look over our website to learn more about our dogs,
and please email us if you have any questions for us!
Rod Walley
Breeding Philosophy
Dimond Alli Wirehaired Vizslas
This page was last updated: December 27, 2009
