[BamBam]

We recently met some a wirehaired vizsla and it was so gorgeous, I had never seen one before. It seemed to have a really nice temperament, and I wondered if anyone on here has a wirehaired, or knows what they are like? Is the personality exactly the same as smooth vizslas, or do they differ in any way?

 

[grahama]

As far as I have heard they are just a little bit calmer, otherwise the same but hairy !! Only met one myself, as rare as hens teeth !

 

[NZ_V]

Hi,
I know a breeder of wirehaired V's and have spent a bit of time around them...they are pretty similar in my observations, but yes perhaps a little bit more chilled out...in saying that the last "V" party I went to the 4 wirehaired V's ran around just as much as the V's!!

The ones I know are gentle and fun loving and mischevious...real characters


They seem to do pretty well at gun dog club too.

 

[BamBam]

Thanks for the replies, I think we may get a wirehaired when we are ready to add a second edition!
There is a blog about one called Winnie, she is too cute!
http://hwvwinnie.blogspot.com/

 

[kathleenleff]

Does anyone know it their coats are harder to handle? And do the smell just as good as my Maple?

 

[BamBam]

the one that I have met said they pick up ticks more than the smooth vizzies, but I think you can have their coats clipped quite short so they are easy to manage.

 

[HWV Winnie]

Hi there! I own Winnie, the Wirehaired Vizsla mentioned above (thanks BamBam!). So I thought I'd stop by and introduce myself.

I don't know any HWV (Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla) owners who clip their dogs. And because it's such a new breed (1930's I think) there is still a fairly wide range of coats. Winnie has more coat than most, so she requires some maintenance in the form of stripping from time to time.

I find that my knees prefer that I do this task on an elevated surface. My work bench does nicely!

Anyway, that wispy hair on her chest is a burr MAGNET. If she's going afield where I know there will be burrs I bring some of that show sheen (horse product) and a comb to remove them afterwards.

But the most important thing to me about this breed is the temperament. Winnie is less than two years old and has always been just an incredibly calm, even tempered dog. She can run and hang with our Jack Russell, and has plenty of energy. But she is really content just hanging out too, which I do a lot.

I've had a few dogs and have known many. I like being around dogs, always have. But this is the first one I find myself saying this about: I genuinely enjoy her company.

I'm new to the breed but am happy to answer any questions about them, just know my answers are based on 2 years with one dog.

Ed.

 

[BamBam]

oh I am so glad you found this forum, I adore Winnie! She is so gorgeous, I love her coat- do not all wirehairs have the same coat as her then?
is she very hyper-active like smooth vizslas? How is she at being left home alone?
I have read her blog and watched some of her videos on youtube of her out with the birds!
what made you decide to get a wirehaired vizsla?
I think my vizsla boy, Wiley, would love Winnie!
Wiley says hello from england

 

[HWV Winnie]

Hyperactive: Not even remotely. She does this a lot...

And even as a young pup, she just never had that wild puppy stage.

Some wires look just like regular Vizslas but with a little beard. Those with the shorter coats tend to be more the traditional red color as well, whereas when you see one with Winnie's type coat, they will be more on the golden end of the spectrum.

While we are at work, she and the Jack Russell are in crates next to each other all day. We used to have a dog walker come at mid-day to exercise them, but we stopped to save money and they are totally fine. They lie down when they go in and they are sleeping when we get home.

As for the decision, I had to put my old German Shorthair down and was looking for a sporting dog but something that didn't resemble the shorthair in appearance or temperament. Some research brought me to this breed and I never looked back!

Hi to Wiley from across the pond!

 

[Crazy Kian]

Winnie is a good looking dog, welcome.

 

[HWV Winnie]

Thank you for the welcome!

I also wanted to mention about her coat, Winnie is the most durable cold/foul weather dog I've ever known. She is extremely tolerant of cold, loves the snow and will stay out in it all day. Heat, however, she is NOT crazy about! But she's learning to love the water (we live right on the river) so I hope to get her to ride in the kayak with me this summer.

 

[Sahara]

Wow, Winnie is a beautiful girl.

 

[einspänner]

Let's see if I can revive an old thread.

I'm probably a year away, maybe more, from bringing a vizsla into my life which has given me too much time to think about things. I keep wavering between a smooth V or a WH. From my research I've found that WH's are a bit bigger and a bit calmer, but size and temperament could vary within a litter, so that's not exactly definitive.
I currently live near Houston, TX, but will end up moving back to either S. Carolina or Minnesota, so climate isn't helping me decide either.
Any forum members have experience with both? If WHs are calmer, does that mean they lack the ability to go and go or are they just better at switching modes? I grew up with fairly low energy chow mixes so I'm not sure I understand the energy of a vizsla. Any ideas of where to meet some near Houston?
A lot has already been said, just looking for fresh opinions. You have all been immensely helpful thus far!

 

[harrigab]

Ruby, as you're probably aware, is a wire/smooth. Her energy levels match any of her full smooth cousins and full wire cousins that we've met. Temperament wise,well she isn't the calmest of dogs especially with strangers if she's in a confined space but otherwise she's great. Her coat is really easy to look after, very low maintenance but that might be because we do a lot of off-lead walks where she's running through tall grasses, bracken etc. Velcro dog description falls well short, I'm sure she'd love to be super glued to me as I can't even get up and go to the loo without her paddling after me! although she's fine when I go to work, (she gets on the sofa and watches out of the window as I leave though) but neighbours say they never hear a peep out of her through the day apart from when the postman comes. She's great with other dogs and loves it when we go away in the caravan with our friends that have 3 whv's and a GWP.

this is with her caravanning buddies, Spider at the back of the pic, is still a young pup and her coat hasn't broken through yet (at time of pic), but Truly and Fen,( Truly and Spider's mother) really are hairy Wires.
As has already been mentioned, some are very much like smoothies but with a beard, Ruby is quite a bit hairier than a smooth and has a lovely beard I think ;D

 

[hotmischief]

FAB...U...LOUS now there are 3 of us Welcome to the forum HWV Winnie. I just love all the photos of Winnie she is gorgeous.

I agree with all your comments on the breed, although my wirehaired boy is still only 10 months old.

He has been the most amazing puppy. He has never chewed anything in the house other than his toys (I think we just lucked out with this one) and is incredibly layed back. Boris is our first HWV - for me the breed ticked all the boxes. Very little or no shedding and very little coat maintenance. Are quite happy with a 40 minutes exercise a day or will go hunting all day. I spoke to 5 breeders before I looked at a litter, asking about the breed and in particular the exercise requirements. All the breeders assured me that the wirehaired vizslas were not so nutty as their smooth haired cousins but also had all the other characteristics. I have to say I agree with their descriptions. Boris is very happy to play with his toys if I can't get him out for a walk twice a day, but is also happy to whizz with other vizslas on the monthly whizzes.

Here he is at 5 months out for his very first whizz

Then one at 8 months of his head - his bushy eye brows are just coming through at 10 months.

And two recent one of him at 10 months

His coat is very easy - I pull out any dead wire, or just run the furmantor comb through once a month which removes the dead wire - so it very easy to manage. The undercoat is water proof so he is a drip dry dog which is good with all the wet weather we get in the UK and is great when he goes swimming.

As we have a Gt Dane that sheds like crazy there is no way I could cope with a second that sheds - and I have to say his wirehaired coat has been great.

I believe that they are extremely popular as a hunting dog in Hungary, as Winnie said they will tolerate extreme temperatures and cope with rough terrain better than their smoooth haired cousins. I understand that one of the reasons the Hungarians developed the Wirehaired version is because in Hungary the smooth haired vizslas can suffer from frost bite in their very cold winters. Not so the wirehaired vizsla.

All in all I am thrilled with the Wirehaired Vizsla and would thoroughly recommend them. My husband doesn't know it yet, but I am planning to get another in a few years times.

 

[SkyyMax]

HWV Winnie - welcome to the forum, Winnie is beautiful!!!

I have never seen HWV in real life, but always loved whizzies: Harrigab's Ruby is adorable and so cute, Hotmischief's Boris is handsome and now beautiful Winnie, keep posting more pictures!

 

[hotmischief]

PS - no smell thank god ;D

Einspanner - from all I have heard and seen - the temperaments and characteristic are virtually the same as the smooth vizslas. Except they are meant to be more layed back not so hypera. Definitely Velco dogs

The coats seem to vary alot within a litter. You can have 2 wirehaired parents and have a puppy in a litter with very little or no wire at all. Other litter mates might be quite hairy. I gather the very hairy one are born hairy. Mine had a smatthering of wire starting to come through at 7/8 weeks. He has a nice thick coat (it is winter here in the UK) so it is thicker at this time of the year. His coat shouldn't get any longer than it is now.

You might find this website to the Zoldmali Kennels in Hungary, interesting as you will see all sorts of wirey dogs.

http://www.zoldmali.hu/

My boy is bred by one of their dogs on his fathers side, and I hope to get one directly from them next time. Alma is his grandmother.

I think if you want a WHV with a shorter wire coat - think about getting it from Hungary, because they have the largest gene pool of the breed and they can breed for coat type, which is rather hit and miss in the US & UK.

Re the heat - i don't think any dog likes heat, but wirehaired vizslas must cope with it as it gets very hot in Hungary - they go from one extreme to the other. I love N. Carolina - have been several times in the summer and would think a HWV would be fine as long as you have an air conditioned house. On the other hand a smooth haired vizsla would probably be better in the summer, but wouldn't like the winters in N. Carolina.

I think you should choose which ever one you prefer and just make them as comfortable as you can in the weather conditions they don't like.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[harrigab]

here's one of Truly and Ruby from about a year ago..Truly is really wirey

 

[zigzag]

One thing to think about is the seasons you hunt. If your hunting takes place in the fall/winter that is when the dog will be working the hardest. So those are the temps that the dog should be bred to handle. In the summer, my dog is a couch potato (dog days of summer) Conditioning begins in September as it cools down. By the late fall we are working preety hard in standard tempertures. The thing that gets my Vizsla is the Rain. Cold and rain can shut him down. I do not duck hunt and would not use my smooth coat Vizsla (Oregon) duck hunting. The state dog of Oregon is the WHP/DD Ugly dog. I see mostly labs in the duck blinds. I have considered the DD as a second dog, If I take up duck hunting. A WHV & Standard Vizsla would IMO be the ultimate versatilty. BUT I cant leave one dog in the truck, so the story goes on.....

 

[einspänner]

Thanks all for the thorough responses! You've confirmed a lot of my research and thoughts.

Zigzag-I don't hunt, but my interest in it is definitely growing since I've fallen for vizslas. If I do move back to MN, I'll get my friend to introduce me to bow hunting. Any books you'd recommend?

Hotmischief- I checked out Zöldmáli Kennels. Man, what gorgeous dogs, as is Boris. The US breeder I'd likely pick, Vidor Vizslas in Michigan, has a number of dogs from Zöldmáli. Here's their site: http://wirehairedvizslas.com/ I'll have to see what's involved with international shipping. I'm not too keen on putting a little puppy through a 9+ hour flight, but I know it's been done successfully.

Right now I'm leaning more towards the WHs for their calmer dispositions. Awesome beards and no shedding would just be bonuses.
In the meantime I'll enjoy this little girl while I'm still back at home.