Vizslas are a dog breed that was created in Hungary. They are intended to be working dogs, mainly with hunters, as they are great pointers and retrievers. However, they do still make a good pet as they are very caring and want a lot of love. One thing hunters and pet owners alike may be concerned about is the size of their Vizsla. So, is your Vizsla too small?
If your Vizsla is a pet, then the size of the dog is generally not much of a concern for the dog owner. If, however, you hunt with your Vizsla, you may be concerned about a smaller dog. A Vizsla that is smaller can have some advantages over a bigger dog during the hunt.
Vizslas are great companion dogs and enjoy considerable interaction with humans. With a long history of being a working dog, Vizslas are highly active dogs and enjoy running around open land, but should you be concerned about the size of your Vizsla?
What Size Should A Vizsla Be?
The good news, Vizslas, come in many different sizes. The likelihood of your Vizsla being considered too small is not likely. The only reason your Vizsla may actually be considered too small is if the dog was malnourished as a puppy, as this will stunt the dog’s growth.
If your dog was malnourished, then make sure your Vizsla has plenty of good, nutritious food available for it to eat at regular intervals throughout the day. Unfortunately, this may not help with your Vizslas size, and your dog may still be on the smaller side of the breed’s size when it is an adult.
The Vizsla is considered a medium-sized dog.
The average male Vizsla dog is twenty-two to twenty-four inches at the shoulder. The average female Vizslas tend to be smaller than the males. They are usually twenty-one to twenty-three inches tall at the shoulder.
Vizslas bodies are very muscular and are well proportioned. Although Vizslas tend to reach their full size at six to eight months old, if your Vizsla is a bit smaller than this, there is no need to be concerned as Vizslas usually only start to mature at one to two years old. So, your Vizsla may just reach average size yet.
Is My Vizsla Too Small?
If your Vizsla does not reach an average size, you may be asking yourself if you can still use your Vizsla for the purpose that you bought it for or if it will have any health issues.
Another reason you may be concerned about the size of your Vizsla is that it may have been the runt of the litter. Often, the runt is malnourished from a young age and can potentially have health problems as the dog gets older.
This is not always the case; it could be a point of consideration when you are selecting your Vizsla puppy. If the runt of the litter is given special treatment and fed a healthy balanced diet, there is no reason why it cannot mature into a healthy adult despite its shaky start in life.
If you are keeping your Vizsla as a pet, then there is no reason to be concerned about the size of your dog. As long as you give your Vizsla the right amount of love and attention and you make sure your Vizsla gets lots of exercise, then the size of your Vizsla is nothing to worry about.
If you use your Vizsla for hunting, then you may still have some concerns about your dogs’ size. Let us go through them.
Is My Vizsla Too Small For Hunting?
Although you may be concerned that your Vizslas is too small for hunting purposes, having a smaller Vizsla could actually be an advantage.
Vizslas are incredibly smart dogs, and this does not change depending on their size. If you train your Vizsla correctly, just like you would train any other Vizsla, then the size of your Vizsla does not matter.
The reason why having a smaller Vizsla on your hunting trip may be an advantage is that small Vizsla’s may be able to retrieve prey from denser forested areas compared to bigger Vizslas.
Smaller Vizslas can also navigate these denser areas to flush out the animals you are hunting, so you get a better chance of a successful hunt.
Your Vizsla will still be a good hunting dog, even if it may be on the smaller side. We can adapt a popular saying and comment that it is not the size of the dog in the hunt, but the size of the hunt in the dog.
A Vizsla of any size will still have the hunting instincts that have been selectively bred into this breed of dog, and the size of the dog will not diminish these in any way.
A smaller Vizsla will take to being trained for the hunt in the same way that a normal-sized Vizsla would.
A smaller sized Vizsla could also have the advantage of having more stamina for the hunt because of its smaller stature. It would use less energy over a longer distance than a bigger dog would.
Is My Vizsla Too Small For Breeding?
Hunters tend to breed the dogs; they have to keep their dog numbers up, which helps them have a good number of well-bred hunting dogs to be trained for the hunter’s needs.
If you want to breed your Vizsla, then you may be concerned over the size of your Vizsla, and whether or not a small Vizsla would make a good hunting dog or a good breeding dog. Some of these concerns may be valid.
If your male Vizsla is small, then there should not be any issues with breeding unless you are worried that his small stature may be passed down to the litter. This is a possibility, but if you do not mind smaller Vizslas, then this will not be a problem.
Just because a Vizsla is of a smaller stature does not mean that their hunting ability or performance would be diminished in any way.
If your female Vizsla is small, then there may be a few things to think about before you breed her.
Smaller dogs tend to have a smaller litter of puppies, so you may not get the biggest litter. Smaller dogs are more prone to having difficulties when giving birth, so the birthing process is something you need to watch carefully with a smaller female Vizsla.
Small females also tend to give birth to smaller puppies, so the puppies have a chance of being small in stature too.
But this does not indicate that the puppies will only grow to be smaller sized dogs. They may, in fact, grow up to be regular or even large size Vizslas. The risk, however, is always there that the smaller trait would have been passed down to the new litter of puppies, and they will all be smaller in stature.
However, if your female Vizsla is on the small side, this does not mean that they will defiantly have issues with breeding and birth. Your Female Vizsla may have puppies that are entirely normal in size.
If, as a hunter who breeds their dogs, you are looking for particular traits in your hunting dogs and size is one of those criteria that are important to you, then you need to be selective. Choose only the dogs that are of the size you prefer and use those dogs for your breeding program.
Conclusion
Although your Vizsla may be on the small side, there are not any immediate issues that you need to be concerned about.
If you want to breed your female Vizsla, then there are some things that you need to watch for, but that is the only area that your small Vizsla may struggle with.
Small Vizslas are still extremely smart and eager to help their owner hunt, and the smaller ones maybe even better in the hunt than larger Vizslas.
Keep your Vizsla happy and healthy with lots of attention, and you will have no issues with owning a smaller Vizsla.
