04/30/2026
In old times, the Vizsla was originally used to hunt with falcons, but the breed today not only produced the first AKC Triple Champion, but also the first Quintuple Champion of any breed in AKC history, a lass named, “Chartay.” She had to earn an incredible five AKC championship titles in different disciplines. They were:
TC = Triple Champion—Ch. (conformation championship), FC (Field Champion), and OTCH (Obedience Trial Champion)
AFC = Amateur Field Champion
MACH = Master Agility Champion
UDX(5) = Utility Dog Excellent (obedience title) x 5
MH = Master Hunter
HOF = Vizsla Club of America Hall of Fame
Just wow.
A few years ago — and maybe even now, the Vizsla was one of the top three breeds used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and it started with “Roy,” the first Vizsla added to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration’s National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program in 2002.
A Vizsla was also on the scene working Search and Rescue on 9/11, and it has been used successfully in Seeing Eye programs.
But wait, there’s more. Vizslak are becoming increasingly common guide dogs, and in 2015, a young Vizsla named “Mena,” became a Conservation Dog who assisted in locating Little Blue Penguins in the Kaikōura area of the South Island in New Zealand. They excel as detection dogs (and were used to deliver messages during the Great War), and in 2017, “Matka” became Minnesota Capitol’s new bomb-sniffing dog, the only one in the canine team trained to sniff out explosives.
As if this isn’t enough, the Vizsla is still very much a hunter’s dog fully capable of doing the job for which it was bred – and used – for thousands of years. Anyone who thinks that “V” is for Vizsla has it only half right. It’s also for Versatility.
Image: “Locked Vizsla” by Michael Steddum
www.michaelsteddum.com
http://michael-steddum.myshopify.com/
