New Puppy White Feet?
Hello,
New to the forums and new to the Vizsla breed!
On October 2 of this year my wife and I lost our beloved 8 yr. old
Weimaraner to a car in a freakish accident. We were crushed! He was one
of a kind!
We have owned many dogs over the years, all of them, pointing hunting
dogs; english setters, english pointers, and lastly Weimaraner. We have
never showed or trialed our dogs. They all have been self taught hunters and
family pets.
Our last friend (weim) came from a breeder who is very much into field
trial (and some show). He breeds both Weims and Vizsla. Pedigree on both
breeds are crazy thick with champions. We felt lucky to get our weim
because I wasn't a trialer. Our weim turned into the best friend and
hunting companion we have ever had. Naturally we contacted the same
breeder to see if he had any current litters of Weimaraner.
To keep story somewhat shorter, his favorite breed is the Vizsla. He has
a current litter available . The sire has very strong fc winnings
background, but tends to throw some white in his offspring. As I said,
breeder tends to lean towards trial vs. show in his breeding program.
Talking with him, he says he has the dog for me (vizsla we've already
decided). "He's the first one out, travels the furthest, interested,
observant, etc.. all the nice traits, and.. had neat markings"
Markings? "Yeh, he has a couple white feet, really unique and neat!"
He is the only male in the litter.
I don't want sound totally ignorant or passive. I have read about the
Vizsla "standards" and am aware of the "disqualification" of having white above
the toes (akc), no white on toes (ckc). Breeder says it is of no
concern. That I can still register him (with whom?).
I still have no pictures of him to see the extent. We are scheduled to
pick him up next weekend.
I have no question about the integrity of this puppy, his blood lines,
huntability, disposition, socialization, etc.. But, for some reason, I
can't get my head around the white feet (that i haven't seen).
I have scoured the web for white footed vizsla's, read rebuttal articles
on the breeds strict standards regarding white and the dangers of
trying to breed it out... bla bla bla. I look at beautiful pictures of all the
beautiful Vizslas out there and can't for some reason justify in my mind
getting a vizsla with white feet.
And, what if? We are empty nesters in our 50's, looking for new things
to branch out into. I do some photography and would love to get into
taking Vizsla pictures. A picture of a beautiful Vizsla with white feet
might not be too representative of the breed and sellable?! Also, what
if I do want to enter the dog into competition? I know show is
definitely out but, what of trials? And, what if my wife wants to get
into showing? Hmmm.
I know practically, those things probably won't happen, but getting this
pup would shut some doors.
We both know that once a puppy comes into our house all these concerns
will go by the wayside and we will be in another wonderful 14 year
(hopefully) relationship with a V!
So, I'm asking what you think? Does anyone have such a dog? How has it
been? What advice, experience can you offer?
PS There is a chance that he might have a female w/o white feet. We were
set on a male. The breeder knows what I want in disposition of a dog,
and "picked" the male as a match. And after our weim experience, I feel
lucky to have a chance at one of his Vizslas. ?!?