Swedish Vallhund

General Information - Swedish Vallhund

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History

The Swedish Vallhund, also known as Västgötaspets or the Swedish Shepherd/Cattle Dog, dates back to the 500's in Sweden, yet was only recognised by the Swedish Kennel Club in 1948. There are two camps of thought about its origin: one being that it developed naturally over the centuries in Sweden as a herding dog, the other being that it is descended from the Welsh Corgis; yet there are those who contend that the Corgi descended from the Vallhund. In the 1940's, it nearly became extinct, but was restored due to a dedicated breeder. They are still used as herding dogs today, and are tireless in their work.

Temperament

The Swedish Vallhund is a responsive and even-tempered companion. It is intelligent and affectionate. He loves attention and can be casually grayish and show-offish. Owners are never disappointed in his multi-faceted ability or his spontaneous sense of humour. They are usually good with considerate children. They will try to guard your home even if they are too small for the situation. Wary of strangers, it should be properly socialised and trained when it is still young to avoid over-protective behavior as an adult. They sometimes try to herd people by nipping at their heels, although they can be trained not to do this. The Swedish Vallhund tends to bark a lot and makes a good alarm dog. Males can be aggressive with other males. This breed makes a great companion and can be used for herding and ratting.

Upkeep

The Swedish Vallhund loves to herd. It can do fine without herding, however, as long as it gets a moderate walk on leash or a good play and training session off leash. It is physically able to live outdoors in temperate climates, but it is mentally far better suited to share its family’s home and have access to a yard. Coat care consists only of brushing once a week to remove dead hairs.

Swedish Vallhund

A breed standard is the guideline which describes the ideal characteristics, temperament, and appearance of a breed and ensures that the breed is fit for function with soundness essential. Breeders and judges should at all times be careful to avoid obvious conditions and exaggerations, as well as being mindful of features which could be detrimental in any way to the health, welfare or soundness of this breed.

Breed Standard - Swedish Vallhund

Brief Historical Summary: The Swedish Vallhund is considered to be one of the genuine Swedish breeds even if it is not quite clear how it is related to the Welsh Corgi.
It is hard to say if the Vikings brought dogs of this Spitz type to Sweden from England. Modern cynological research points to that the breed was developed in Sweden.
The honour of making the Swedish Vallhund recognized and registered as a Swedish breed goes to Count Bjorn von Rosen. In the beginning of the 1940s he noticed the existence of these dogs. By making an inventory of the existing dogs in the county of Vastergotland and especially around the city of Vara he found a small but evenly typed group of dogs. They were the start of a serious breeding programme that was mainly in the hands of the headmaster KG Zettersten. He succeeded in breeding for an even type without losing the herding instinct.

General Appearance: A small, powerful, fearless short:legged dog. Appearance and expression denote a watchful, alert and energetic dog.

Important Proportions: The relation between height and length of body is about 2:3.

Head

Cranial Region: Head rather long and clean cut with an almost flat skull. When viewed from above, forms, an even wedge from skull to tip of nose. Well defined stop.

Facial Region: Nose pigmentation jet black. The muzzle, when viewed from the side, looks rather square. The muzzle is slightly shorter than the skull.

Lips: Tightly closed.
Jaws/Teeth - Perfect and regular scissor bite with even and well developed teeth.

Eyes: medium size, oval in shape and dark brown.

Ears: medium size, pointed, pricked and ear leather is hard from base to tip, smooth haired and mobile. Set on not too low

Neck: Long, and strongly muscled with good reach.

Body:
Topline - Back level, well muscled and with short, strong loin.
Croup - Broad and slightly sloping.

Chest: Long with good depth. Well sprung ribs. When viewed from the front the chest is oval, shaped, from side elliptical. It should reach 2/5ths of the length of the forearm, and when viewed from the side the lowest point of the chest is immediately behind the back part of the foreleg.
Underline - Belly slightly tucked up.

Tail: Two types of tail occur, long or natural short tail. In both cases all variations are acceptable.

Limbs

Forequarters:
Shoulders - Long and well laid back.
Upper arms - Slightly shorter than the shoulders and set at a distinct angle. Upper arm lies close to ribs, but is still very mobile.
Forelegs - When viewed from the front, slightly bent, just enough to give them free action against the lower part of the chest.
Pasterns - Elastic
Legs - Well boned.

Hindquarters:
Hindlegs - Well angulated at stifle and hock.
Thighs - Strongly muscled.
Legs - Seen from behind the legs are parallel.
Lower thigh - Slightly longer than the distance from hock to ground.

Feet: Medium sized, short, oval pointing straight forward with strong pads and well knuckled up.

Coat

Hair: Medium length, harsh close and tight top

Colour: Desirable colours are grey, greyish/brown, greyish/yellow, reddish/yellow or reddish/brown with darker hairs on the back, neck and sides of the body. Lighter hair in the same shade of colour as mentioned above can be seen on muzzle, throat, chest, belly, buttocks, feet and hocks. Lighter markings on shoulders, so called harness markings, desirable. White is permitted to a small extent as a narrow blaze, neckstop or slight necklace. White markings are permitted on fore and hindlegs and on the chest.
Weight - Between 9 to 14 kg. (19.75 to 31lb)

Faults: Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness of the fault should be in exact proportion to its degree.

Note: Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog and on the dog’s ability to perform its traditional work.