If you know of other pre 1962 Standards, please send to vizwizdlb@yahoo.com.

“THE BREED STANDARD in the dog fancy is a set of guidelines covering specific external observable qualities such as form, temperament & function for that dog breed. Breed standards are not scientific documents, but interpretative synopsis that are written for each breed by clubs of hobbyists called breed clubs for their own specific requirements. Details and definitions within breed standards for a specific dog breed may vary from from country to country. “ Wikipedia

Because of geography, it is thought by some scholars that Hungary first created the ideal of the word “country, from the mountain ranges that cup it. It isn’t a fairy tale to think that the Vizsla is likely the oldest pointing breed for the same reason. While falconry migrated west of Hungary before the 14th century, hunters in western Europe didn't know that you could hunt with falcons and dogs. Ever since the Huns roared into Hungary through the Carpathian Pass around 896AD, the Vizsla has hunted with falcons and was a self-colored yellow hunting dog who didn't change breed type or function. Another item that leans toward the Vizsla being the oldest pointing breed is that no matter how crossbred, the personality, form & function can be recovered, frequently in the first generation. The breed has been recovered from near extinction from two World Wars, as well as from modern day crossbreeding in Hungary & the USA. A third reason the breed might be the oldest pointing breed is its most prevalent characteristic...velcro. Even in the first generations after the 1920, that velcro trait that makes a Vizsla a bit unique, rang loud & clear. I refer the reader to the book BETYAR X by Gabor Kolossy.

Hungarians have lamented that “their” Standard should be used worldwide. That would be nice and simple, but impossible because breed Standards are determined by parent clubs with each breeder currently in power believing THEIR dog is the best, the one that most meets the Standard. No Vizsla Standard has survived the aura of those in power, not Hungarians or Americans. The stories are the same, just different examples.

This then is the history of the Vizsla Standard in Hungary & America.

These first three Standards from 1918 (as were the others) were provided by Katalin Poor. She states in communications that these three preliminary Standards was the first formal accomplishment of what would become the Orszagos Vizsla Kennel Club. Keep in mind, that in 1918 Hungarian patriots had no reason to think that the 1920 Treaty of Trianon would remove 2/3rds of Hungary from Hungary. It is due to this Treaty as to what happened as the 1920 Vizsla Reconstruction. The Hungarians were furious that lands were taken away. They manifested their anger in the breeding of dogs & horses.

Do not forget the real reason that the search for Reconstruction was from the promiscuous crossbreeding to the English Pointer & Irish Setter from 1880 to 1918. Crossbreeding was done primarily by two gentlemen from Hungary, later credited by Bill Kemenes-Kettner to their having the Vizsla stud books. That statement has been contradicted by at least one historian. They believe that the Vizsla studbooks were held by someone different.

Just another discrepancy…

If you know of documentation about who possessed the individual breed Orszagos Vizsla stud books, please contact me at vizwizdlb@yahoo.com Keep in mind that inside of Hungary all hunting dogs are called “Pointers or Vizslas.” A German Vizsla could be a German Shorthaired Pointer.

“Three experts were given assignment to make the first ever Standard of the “Yellow Hungarian Vizsla in 1918, when Hungarians discovered there were only about 14 Vizslas left. They became scared and wanted to save the breed (save or rebuild). These three gentlemen were Lorand Morvay, Dezso Potyoczky and Gyorgy Blaskovich. These three propositions became one, the first ever Standard for the Hungarian Vizsla and from 1920 were judged and registered by it. The FCI accepted the breed Standard in 1938 as a temporary Standard. The original standard was later modified a couple of times, depending on those in power, usually to the benefit of their breeding and was finally accepted by the FCI in 1954.” Katalin Poor

Standard proposition 1918 by György Blaskovich

(This Standard was contributed by Katalin Poor)

About the appearance of the the yellow Hungarian Vizsla my opinion is the following:

General appearance: between the English and German Pointer's; affectional, obedient, usually very intelligent.

Head and nose: spare, dry: reminds of the Pointer's, meat coloured broad nose.

Ears: deeply set, thin, the end is rather narrow than round.

Eyes: walnutbrown.

Neck: arched, musculous, noble form.

Body: well set and short.

Chest: deep and well rounded.

Loin area: short.

Tail: long, small, not to be docked.

Forelimbs: straight, musculous.

Hindlimbs: musculous.

Coat: strong, slicked tight to the body,  harsher than the Pointer's.

Colour: french roll yellow.

Faults: long back, bad setting, too short neck, too much white, too harsh or too fine hair, too light eyes, black nose & curled tail.

This above described type I wish to achieve through very thorough selection, & some mixing of Pointer to the existing Vizsla stock.

Standard proposition 1918 by Loránd Morvay

(This Standard was contributed by Katalin Poor.)

I believe and hope in the endurance of my fellow breeders, that we will once again create the Hungarian Vizsla because they are very useful and so excellent, they will be the pride of our nation. It would be a shame not to be able to achieve this!

My proposition of the standard I hereby recommend to the ”Hubertus” hunting dog breeding assosiation is the following:

General appearance: correct Vizsla type.

Head and nose: not broad, high forehead, longish nose bridge.

Ears: tightly laying on to the head, middle sized, their end is not fully round, more pointedly rounded.

Eyes: brown or lighter. Yellow eyes are no fault.

Neck: strong, well muscled, well-arched, high occipital.

Body: short, strong and straight middle.

Chest: deep, well rounded.

Loin: small and short

Tail: light, shorter than the Pointer's, the end is slightly bowed but not curved, should not be docked.

Forelimbs: well muscled, strong thighs, good, strong hocks.

Coat:smooth, harsher than the Pointer's and tighter.

Colour: unicoloured, light orange or darker yellow without any marks. (For now white patch on the chest, white paws, small white stripe can be accepted but must be eliminated in breeding.)

I aim to breed this above described type from the existing stock in the following way:

Our first step must be to have a fullblood Pointer to make the slightly harsher Hungarian Vizsla finer. Let us mate a fullblood Pointer female with lot of yellow colour and with excellent hunting abilities once to a yellow Hungarian vizsla male who represents the good type according to the breed description. Also mate a completely yellow Hungarian Vizsla female to an excellent hunting Pointer with lot of yellow. From the litters let's keep those who are completely yellow (the rest must be exterminated). These dogs should when appropriate be mated to the already existing pure yellow Hungarian Vizslas. If we get good typed totally unicoloured yellow dogs from the first and second blood mixes then let the inbreeding come (what I mean is that fully unicoloured yellow siblings should be mated and thus the breed will be constant). I want to state that it is the ethics and responsibililty of every and each breeder to only use dogs with first class hunting abilities, because above everything else the hunting ability must be the most important.

The outbreeding will need time but if we will push the Hungarian Vizsla our efforts will soon bring the Hungarian Vizsla to great popularity, evevn more so because it is after all Hungarian.

As far as I know 14 typical Hungarian Vizslas are registered so far. Come on then! I am willing to let my Pointers serve this noble task.

Standard proposition 1918 by Dezső Potoczky

General appearance: medium sized, lively, well developed body structure.

Head and nose: reminds of the English Pointer's, steep stop, the nose bridge often a bit arched, broad nostrills, light brown colour.

Ears: long, well fit, their end is not fully round.

Eyes: lively eyes full of expression, the conjunktiva is not visible, yellow eyes are no fault.

Neck: cylindric, strong, without loose skin.

Body: strong, deep chest, short back, strong loin.

Chest: deep chest, well long.rounded ribs.

Loin area: strong and not too Tail: the desirable would be a medium long, evenly tapered, unbend tail, but today it is still too long and bend.

Forelimbs: straight, strong, so called toeing out is not allowed.

Hindlimbs: form in good proportions, the dog stand covering great ground. Dewclaws not desirable.

Coat: the desirable would be a thicker, stronger, bit harsher coat, too thin, too fine coat is still frequent, which is a fault, wintertime most of these are freezing.

Colour: unicoloured yellow. Some little white on the chest and on the feet is tolerable but should be eliminated as soon as possible.

Faults: too high, Greyhound-like shape, too heavy head, thin coat, toeing out forelegs.

Faults to eliminate of the now existing stock: especially the thin coat, because it makes the use of these dogs dificult in Winter.

How do I propose to do it: with suitable inbreeding. I should not want to mix another breed in for now, only if the coming generations absolutely need it, then with Pointer, but very carefully.

The stock for inbreeding should be chosen by a comittee and this comittee should also direct the further breeding program.

Interimistic Standard 1928 (First)

(This Standard was contributed by Katalin Poor.)

Generally about the Hungarian Vizsla

When we examine the hunting dogs, especially the pointer-typed hunting dogs of different nations we can see that every nation which excercise the sport of hunting has its own Vizsla breed and then also other hunting dog breeds, especially bred from more or less closely related hunting dogs for every nation's special circumstances, climate, sort of game to hunt, and type of land. So the Brittish have their Setters and Pointers suitable for field-hunting; the French have their Griffons, the Germans have their shorthaired, longhaired and wirehaired German Pointers bred from mixing and improving their ancient German Pointer with English bloodlines, the Italians have their special Bracco and Spinone. Switzerland has three different hounds. Even Bulgaria has its own Bulgarian Pointer. We too have our hound, the Transylvanian Hound (Erdélyi kopó), but it is a tracking and chasing type of hunting dog. Every hunting nation made sure to have its own hunting dog breed, their national hunting dog breed. This was the reason for some of our Hungarian Vizsla breeders and hunters to preserve and protect our own national breed, the Hungarian Vizsla.

Special breed characteristics of the Hungarian Vizsla

According to the conclusions these are the following:

General appearance: noble and strong, but graceful, medium sized, quadratic. Its movements are elastic and firm.

The cranial region: this part of the noble and lean head is strongly musculous, in its middle there is a slight groove. The cranial region goes over to the facial region with a moderate stop under the eyebrows.

The ears: they are not meaty, they are covered with thin skin, deep-set, long, they end in a rounded point, lay tight onto the head and hanging down.

The eyes: neither deep set nor bulging. The eye-balls are so well covered by the tight eyelids that no white of the eye is visible. The eylids are nicely chiselled. The colour of the iris is lighter or darker following the colour of the coat. Too yellow eyes are not desirable.

The facial region: a bit longer than the cranial region, straight - level seen from every direction not pointed at the end but blunt. The nostrills are medium wide. The skin of the nose is darker brown, but meat-coloured is not a fault. Darker slate grey or black colour is faulty. Lips and dewlaps are moderately developed, cover the mouth perfectly not allowing any drooling. The jaws are strong, well developed, with lean (dry) bones, in them there are porcelaine-white, strong, teeth which are congruent. If the lower incisors are placed a lot behind the upper incisors or before them it is a serious and hereditable fault.

The neck: medium long, very musculous, with a noble arch, broadens towards the body without loose skin under the neck, the skin lays tight on it.

The body: very musculous, proportional.

Back: broad and straight (not sagging, and not like a carp's), musculous and preferably short.

Waist: firm built, short, moderately rotund, musculous.

Shoulders: oblique, mobile, musculous, scapula lays tight onto the body.

Rump, hips: broad and quite long, starts on the same level as the back, lowers slowly towards the tail.The tail: it is set somewhat under the line of the spinal, broad at the beginning, then getting gradually thinner, one third of it should be docked within the first week after the birth. The chest:deep, long, suitably broad, its lowest point reaches the level of the elbow. The length between the withers and the deepest point of the chest is aproximately the same as the length from the ground to the chest. It should not be too broad, as it would make the elbows stick out from the body, it should not be too narrow either, as this would cause the elbows to be too attached to the body. The ribs behind the scapulas are well bent, going deep down. Retractations at the costal cartilage or any form of crooked chest are serious fault! The belly:moderate and updrawn.The forelimbs: the lean (dry) bones are covered with strongly developed muscles and they support the body as pillars. The forearm is straight from every angle, the elbows are neither out- nor inturned. The angle of the upperarm to the horisontal line of the length of the shoulders should be 90 degrees, the angle of an imaginaire vertical line from the shoulders to the ground and the upperarm should be 45 degrees. The hindlimbs:seen from behind they are straight, the thighs are full and musculous. The legs are extended backwards even at ease. The too much bent hock is a much more serious fault then the too steep. The feet: the toes are well closed with bent nails, they are like well arched cat-feet. Harefeet is a fault. The skin of the underside of the feet is strong. Dewclaws on hindlegs are fault. The quality and colour of the hair: the coat is short and thick, not wired, lays tight to the skin, has no underhair, grows dense. Though the short and dense hair is smooth, it protects against water and weather well. Vizslas with too fine, too short so called ”mouse-hair” must be excluded from breeding. The colour of the hair: very different shades of darkish french roll yellow. Dark brown or beige, light yellow colour is faulty. Smaller white patches on the breast and the feet are allowed for now but but must be eliminated by breeding.

Judging points:

   Cranial region:                                             10

     Facial region (nose, lips, teeth):                15

          Ears and eyes:                                         5

          Body and belly:                                       10

          Neck, chest and scapula:                         10

          Limbs:                                                      10

          End of legs / Feet:                                    10

          Tail:                                                          15

   The construction and the colour of the hair:    10

          Nobility and harmony:                                5

                                                                             ____

                    In total:                                         100

                    ________________________________________

We would also want to describe the Hungarian Vizsla's usefulness in work. For this we think the most rational thing to do is to compare the since long existing hunting dog breeds describing the good and bad qualities of each of them. The English Pointer searches extreamely quickly and has excellent nose, but it is a bad retriever and it use is only one sided. The German Pointer searches slowly, has quite good nose, good retriever, good in keeping the track,  and has many forms of use. 

But the Hungarian Vizsla is a quick searcher but calm, has excellent nose, first class retriever, good track-keeper, that is an all round Vizsla having the best qualities of both the other two breeds.

Standard of the Shorthaired Hungarian Vizsla 1936

(This Standard was contributed by Katalin Poor.)

General aspects: middle sized, darkish yellow Vizsla breed with noble appearance. Well developed still soft lined muscles, elastic movements, and lively eyes. The males are 57-64 centimeters, the females 53-60 centimeters. Weight: 22-30 kilos.

Special qualities: intelligent, obidient, easy learner with calm temperament. As gun dog it has very good hunting abilities, very good nose, very good pointing, retrieving and track following.

The head:rawboned, slightly grooved in the middle line of the top of the cranial region. The angle between the cranial region and the facial region is 30-35 degrees. The stop is shallow. The nose bridge is straight. The crest of the scull is slightly visible. The nose have a blunt edge. The lips are tight, covering the mouth perfectly.

Teeth and bite: regular and perfectly closed. The incisors fit in scissors bite.

Eye: medium size.Slightly oval. Placed almost parallel with the bridge of the nose. The eylids close tightly. The red conjunktiva in the eye corner is not visible.

Ears: Little bigger than the medium size. Little low set. Hanging. Not meaty. Lobed, rounded V formed.

Nose: the nosepad is quite big. Rounded. Seen from the side it has blunt edge. The nostrills are broad. The alar folds are mobile.

Neck: medium long, proportional. Medium high set. Under the occiput it is well arched, musculous.  Under the throat the skin is looser than elsewhere and forms no hanging skin lap.

Body:

          chest: deep and long. Its deepest point reaches to the elbow.

          forechest: medium broad, protuberant. The sternum is long and strong. The chest is oval in cross sectional view, the ribs are moderatly arched.

          back: straight/linear, musculous.

          loin: medium long.

          croup: slightly slanting, but not arduous. Well muscled. Looking from above the two sides of the croup should almost be parallel. The hip is 1-2 centimeters lower than the withers.

          tail: little low set. Hanging down when in rest, on horizontal level in movement. 1/3 of the tail must be docked (2/3 must be left intact). The end of the tail of a grown up dog should reach to the hollow of the knee.

Forelimbs: they are like pillars. They support the body proportionally wide. Well muscled. The scapula is bevelled. The shulders are well muscled but not stiff.

Hindlimbs: they have strong bones. Well muscled. Regularly standing. Viewed from the side the angle of the knee is approximately 110-120 degrees. The thigh is long, the hocks are deep set.

The feet: short, roundish. The toes are short, arched, well closed. The pads are big, hard and harsh. The claws are elastic and well arched. The hindleg dewclaws should be removed.

Hair: short, straight, strong, lays tight to the skin. Thick. Shiny. Each hair is dense and elastic. When touched the hair feels greasy.

Colour: monochrome. Different darker shades of the french roll yellow. The whole animal has medium yellowbrownish pigment. The hair is a darker shade of monochrome french roll yellow. The nose, the eyelids, the iris, the pads and the claws are a darker shade of the hair. Never black or slate-grey.

Gait, movements: its typical gait is the lively trotting or the racy gallop.

Body proportions: the body proportions of the male and the female are a little different. The male is a lilttle chunkier and harsher, while the female is longer and finer.

The propportions in percent of the different body parts when the height of the withers is the 100%. (The figures in parenthesesis are the values of the females.)

          length of the body:                                100               (102)

          depth of the chest (minimum)              44                (38)

          broadness of the forechest (minimum) 33                (32)

          measurement round the chest                    117               (114)

          lenght of the head                                 42                (43)

          lenght of ears to length of head                            76                (75) //of the length of the head//

          length of the hair: 0,5-1,5 centimeters

Disqualifying faults: dogs should be disqualified if they do not match the above described and defined general breed characteristics of the shorthaired Hungarian Vizsla, or if they have so severe faults that those appearing in the offsprings would deprave the breed. Offsprings of a shorthaired and a wirehaired parent can never be registered as shorthaired Vizsla not even if they are shorthaired. Further disqualifying faults are spotted nose, black nose, loose, hanging, open and wet lips, multicoloured or patched colour, white patch on the forechest bigger then 5 centimeters in diameter, light grey iris, smaller males than 56 centimeters and smaler females than 52 centimeters, bigger males than 65 centimeters and bigger femlaes than 62 centimeters, undershoot bite, bigger then 2 milimeters overshoot bite.

Most common faults: too little or too big size. Too fine structure, loose structure, loose eyelids, loose lips, week bone structure, too strong head, head form resembling to bloodhound's, faulty teeth/bite, wrongly cropped tail, thin hair.

Shorthaired Hungarian Vizsla

No 57. FCI standard (1966)
Shorthaired Hungarian vizsla

Origin: Hungary
Utility: From the beginning an all round hunting dog with a big need of excercise. Due to its temperament and ability to assimilate it is also easy to keep in apartments.
FCI classification:
VII. Group, Pointing dogs
1.1. section Continental pointing dogs
mandatory working test (field-water test)

Short historical overview:
The ancestors of the Hungarian Vizsla came to our homeland with the nomadic Hungarian tribes. Written testimonies and images are found in documents from the 15^th centuries.
Its hunting importance increased from the 17^th centuries. At the end of the 18^th centuries even trials for Vizslas were arranged in Hungary, where also the Hungarian Vizslas achieved excellent results. At this time the English Pointers had probably an important roll in the development of the breeed. The modern, professional breeding started in 1920.

General appearance:
Medium sized, elegant, noble, french roll yellow, shorthaired hunting dog.
Rather gracefully built, dry, lean muscled, reflects the harmony of beauty and strength.
Important body proportions:
Wtihers – body length: 100 : 102-104
Withers – depth of chest: 100 : 44-46
Withers – width of chest: 100 : 31-35
Length of head – lenght of facial region: 100 : 46
Length of head – lenght of ears: 100 : 75
Behaviour and temperament:
Lively, friendly, harmonic, easy to teach. Its basic feature is the outstanding contact keeping. It does not endure harsh treatment well. It should never be aggressive and never afraid, shy, timid.
It is an all round hunting dog, that is it must hunt equally well on field, in water and in forest. Its typical hunting abililties are: excellent nose, steady and formidable pointing, excellent retrieving, tracking and the love of the water.
BODY CONSTRUCTION
1. Head
Dry, noble, harmonic.
Cranial region:
The skull is moderately broad, slightly arched. The top of the head is divided in the middle by a slight line from the moderately developed occiput to the forehead. The angle between the horisontal line of the skull and the nosebridge is about 30-35 degrees. The nosebridge is always straight, the superciliary ridges are moderately developed.
Stop: Moderate
Facial region:
The muzzle is well arched, not pointed, and broad, ends in a well developed nosepad, the larger nostrills the better. The nosepad is meat coloured.
Flew: Proportionally long
Lips: Tight, not loosely hanging down
Jaw/Teeth: The jaw is well developed, well muscled. The teeth are strong, complete, scissorbite.
Eyes: Slightly oval, the eyelids are tight. The expression is lively, intelligent. The colour of the eye is harmonic with the colour of the coat. The darker brown the better.
Ears: Medium long, slightly backwards and medium high set, hanging tight to the face. They cover the ear-opening well, they end in rounded V shape. Their length is 3/4 of the total length of the head.
2. Neck
Medium long, well muscled, slightly arched, should not have a dewlap. Medium high set to the body.
3. Body
The strong and proportional body is slightly longer than the height of withers.
Over line: Correct
Withers: Pronounced and musculous.
Back: Short, tight and straight.
Loin: Short, broad, tight, well muscled.
Croup: Broad, and sufficiently long for carrying the huge ammount of muscles of the back and the thigh; slightly slooping roundedly towards the tail set.
Angle of the hips – the angle between the horisontal line of the point of rump and the horisontal line of the back is aproximately 30 degrees.
Chest: Medium broad and deep, reaches to the elbow. The ribs are moderately arched.
Forechest: Filled, well muscled, medium arched.
Belly: Slightly tucked up.
4. Tail
A bit low set, medium thick, pointed. Only slightly bent, reaches aproximately to the hocks. In action it is near to the horizontal level. It is not desirable to dock it, but one third can be cut off.
5. Limbs
Forelimbs:
Forelegs: Straight, strong boned, well muscled.
Scapula, shoulders: Tight, well muscled. The scapula is sufficiently long and mobile, the angle between the point of shoulder and a vertical line is aproximately 35 degrees, its lenght is almost the same as the length between the point of shoulder and the elbow and the angel between them is nearly 100 degrees.
Elbows: Tight.
Carpal joint: Should be well developed, dry, tight.
Pasterns: Proportionally short, dry, closes aproximately 170 degrees angle with the forearm.
Forefeet: Tightly closed, slightly oval, strong toes, slategrey hard digital cushion/balls. The claws are strong and brown.
Hindlimbs:
General: The hindlimbs are well muscled and strong. A vertical line from the point of rump goes through the knee, the hock and the feet.
Upper thigh: Well developed muscles, the axle of the thigh bone makes aproximately 110 degrees angle to the level of the point of rump.
Lower thigh: Its length is almost as long as the length of the upper thigh's, musculous.
Hock: A little low placed, dry, tendinous.
Backfeet: Oval, tight, strong toes.
6. Movement
The typical movement is the trotting, and during work and searching the even and eager gallop. In trotting the movements are swift with long steps, easy, elegant, and even. The elbows stick tight to the body without swinging.
The movement of the body must never be wiggly, the overline of the back does not alter from straight horizontal in trotting either.
7. Skin
Tight, without wrinkles and crinkles, pigmented. The lips, eyelids, claws are brown, the nosepad is meat coloured.
8. Coat
Tight, short, straight, harsh at touching, without undercoat. The belly has little hair, the ears have silkier, shorter. The tail has slightly longer hair.
Colour: Different shades of french roll yellow. The ears are a shade darker, otherwise homogenic colour. Shades of red or beige are not desirable. Minor white patch – max 5 cm diameter -, or stiching on the chest, throat and toes are not to be considered as fault.
9. Size
Height at withers: Males: 58-64 cm
females: 54-60 cm
Weight: Males: 24-30 kg
females: 22-26 kg
10. Faults
Any diflection from the above described is a fault and should be judged as seriously as degree of the aberration is.
11. Disqualifying faults
- Major aberration from the breed typicals
- Untypical head
- Dark brown or vax yellow colour, spottedness
- Light yellow eyes, ectropium, entropium
- Faulty bite
- Loosely hanging, drooling lips
- marked dewlap
- Tremulous dogs and individuals with weak nerves
- Severely faulty movements
Disqualifying faults in work:
- Gunshyness
- Lack of pointing, retrieving, interest for game, and / or lack of liking the water
- Uncontrollable dogs should be disqualified

PS:
Males must have two visibly normally developed testicles entirely placed in the scrotum.