Why Swedish Vallhunds?

I always had big dogs.  In the mid-90′s I decided that I would like to try training a small dog so starting looking at different breeds.  I was really a herding dog person at heart and so that did limit my choices.  I had pretty much settled on a Corgi when I stumbled upon a Corgi like dog called a Swedish Vallhund.  I was intrigued and proceeded to do a lot more research (remember that in the mid-90′s it wasn’t common for anyone to have a website). I became convinced that this was the breed I wanted but there were less than 200 in the country at the time and none anywhere near Arizona that I could find.  I started asking around and every time I went to a seminar or met someone at an agility trial from back east I would ask them if they knew anyone who had Swedish Vallhunds.  For the most part I got blank stares or the normal question of “A what?”  I was beginning to think that I would not find one this way when we invited Chris Zink to Tucson.  At the end of the day I decided what the heck I’ll ask her, she travels around a lot.  This time the answer I got was “Yes I do.  I have very good friends who breed them and do agility with them”.  The rest is history as they say.  I never expected to fall so totally in love with the breed.

The Swedish Vallhund should be a fearless, watchful, energetic, alert, intelligent, friendly, and healthy small breed of dog. They have few known genetically inherited health issues, and are considered hardy, healthy and robust with a good long life span of typically 15 or more years.  There are some eye problems in the breed but otherwise they are pretty healthy.  Swedish Vallhunds are suitable as working dogs and as a family companion.

I recommend checking out the Swedish Vallhund Club of America’s site for more general breed information.  http://www.swedishvallhund.com/