The Complete Vizagle

History | Standard | So You Think You Want A Vizagle? | The Vizagle in Myth and Legend

NAIVE Gr. CH. U-CDX Goldie's Lucky Leilah AMBOR-CDX, ASCA-CDX, NAC, TN-N, AHBA-HCT-s, CGC, WGP

History of the Breed

Of ancient origin, the renowned Furfessor Doodleman has seen many photographs of quite early Vizagle representations carved into the ancient hieroglyphs of the resplendent tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs; thus indicating that canine breed of Vizagle was indeed the favored pampered palace pet of royalty for many thousands of years. Until it's recreation in 1996, this breed was thought to be extinct.

This still quite rare breed now comes from canyons in the high mountains of the Santa Monicas in the remote countryside of Southern Lalaland. A rancher there recreated the breed when his legendary rabbit hunting Eastern European Golden Pointer had mated with a Roaming Herding Scent Hound (the RHSH). The resulting offspring had the best qualities of both types, a keen pointer with the scent hound's scenting ability, and who can also gather the flock if necessary. Contrary to popular belief, there is no whippet in the foundation stock. The breed has been found to excel at alarm barking, non qualifying in obedience trials, seeking attention, slurping people. They enjoy torturing other dogs in keep away behaviors, and being generally playful and adorable.  Vizagles, in the right home,  make wonderful companion animals.

Vizagles have a look all their own, sleek and elegant with traces of their hound heritage.  There is no official standard yet, as there are no  known breeding Vizagles. The North American International Vizagle Entity will be voting on the following standard. They currently can be LP registered with United Kennel Club and fully registered with AMBOR and CKCi.   Whether the breed will be in sporting group, hound group, or herding group is still undetermined; this breed's abilities are truly miscellaneous.

General Appearance:
That of a short coated, appealing, medium sized hunting dog of regal and elegant bearing.  Lightly built, the coat should be smooth and glossy in appearance.  This is a dog of power and drive afield in the dog park, yet a tractable, playful, and affectionate companion in the home.

Color and Coat:
Black, with or without brown (varying from rust brown to gold) and white markings on the head, legs, chest, and underbelly.  A characteristic of this breed is a color change as they mature, parts of the black coat may turn to rust brown or gold. A small white blaze or partial blaze is desirable, but not to be faulted if missing.  Black skin around the eyes, and a black nose. Single, short, smooth, "teflon" coat is naturally clean, sleek, and glossy. Must be shown fully natural, no clipping.

Head:
Skull should be fairly rounded, with muzzle and skull of approximately equal lengths, or the muzzle may be slightly shorter. Muzzle tapers towards nose, without excessive flews.  Ears are thin, silky, rounded, set moderately low, and if pulled forward, should just reach the mouth. Eyes must be brown, surrounded by black skin, the "eyeliner". Nose must be black. Tongue must not be too wet or dry, but appropriate for slurping.

Body:
The Vizagle is actually not a square dog, though the bearing does give that impression. Overall impression is of a fast, lean, and alert dog. Height is from 19" to 21". Throat has some excess skin, but not enough as to take away from the sleek appearance of the dog. Neck is long and elegant, and rising freely from the shoulders. Long muscled front legs set into the shoulder fairly straight. Chest is deep but not too broad, so as not to interfere with the free play of the shoulders.  Breastbone can be prominent and there is noticeable withers.. Underline exhibits a tuck up beneath the loin. Topline level or slightly rising behind withers, and rounds towards the croup. Hindquarters muscular and well proportioned with long legs. Tail is thick and set low. A full tail is desirable, but will not be faulted if docked. Tail is often held tucked, and will not be faulted.  Feet are well protected with tough pads.  Flexibility is evidenced in the ability to curl up tightly to fit comfortably in a lap.  Reproductive ability is a disqualification.

Gait:
Gait is of utmost importance in the Vizagle.  For covering ground in the breed's native mountains, this breed uses the pace instead of trot. When properly pacing, the body will be freely swinging side to side while the back will stay fairly level.   A diagonal trot with the same freely swinging motion is also acceptable and not to be faulted.  The tail is usually held horizontally when moving, though held up or tucked will not be faulted.

Temperament:

Lively, gentle mannered, demonstrably affectionate and sensitive. Vizagles are generally submissive to people, so a tucked tail and the ears relaxed back will not be faulted.  The hunting and protective (alarm) instincts are quite strong. Aggression should be penalized heavily.

Disqualifications:
Reproductive Ability

Submitted to the NAIVE membership for approval on 9/5/99.

The Vizagle is not a dog for everyone. Being generally submissive, this breed must have proper training and socializing to be a well rounded dog. While they are easily trained, they have been known to excel at training their owners, using soft whines, and pushy noses and paws. At least one formal obedience class will be needed if not more, and they will excel in most any dog sport.  Basically they are "soft dogs", negative corrections must be used sparingly, with much positive reinforcement used.  One saying that Vizagle owners use is that, "bribery gets you everywhere".

This is also a very high energy breed, much like one of the founding breeds, the Golden Pointer.  They will require at least one hour exercise a day, with at least one or two sessions weekly of one or two hours of running and torturing.  One energetic talent of this breed is also slurping, which they will do obsessively unless trained when to stop. They are also very good jumpers, and can easily jump up to plant a slurp right on a person's face. While generally not escape artists, a tall secure fence is a must. One must also be aware of their very high prey drive, no paper product is safe without extensive training, and they must be raised with paper, tissue, and cardboard to live in harmony with them. 

The foundation stock of hunting dogs is very evident in this breed, as they are very birdy, and will point or alarm bark at things above them such as kites, roofers and cable guys on the pole. From the trial ring, they can see that squirrel in the tree 20 feet away.  The breed does have quite a bit of heart, as evidenced when they will try to point at that squirrel and still fetch that dumbbell at the same time.  Their alarm barking assures the owner that no one will get in unannounced, or even walk by.  Their pointer heritage also shows as they stalk cats and opossums, and other dogs. Much awareness is necessary to be sure they do not stalk the wrong dog. When this breed does meet a disagreeable situation, be prepared for the dog to hide between your legs, this can be quite a surprise if you are not aware of this tendency, or if you are wearing a skirt. 

They also do as most scent hounds do, which is to walk and even run with their noses to the ground. The owner/handler must be very aware and quick to prevent these dogs from gobbling really icky stuff real fast. A good "leave it" and "drop it" command is a MUST. These dogs have been known to find that teeny piece of leftover bone (from a picnic the night before, one can assume) in the trial ring that 12 other dogs didn't find!  They have also been known to turn in midair over a high jump to follow their noses instead of fetching their dumbbell.  The power of the Vizagle nose cannot be underestimated.

Their herding heritage is evident also, as they will circle and gather sheep at every opportunity.  If this instinct is not satisfied, they will create their own herding games, such as racing around in circles at the dog park, around any handy object, at high speed. People, baseball backstops, and even park benches have been known to stand in for sheep.  Because of their hunting lineage and subsequent birdiness, it is inadvisable to use the Vizagle to herd avian livestock, such as ducks or geese. 

Though generally a healthy breed, one must be aware of the high incidence of mild luxated patellas and mildly loose hip joints in the breed. If there was any breeding stock, they would have to be certified free of these problems by the OFA.  Do not buy any dog of any breed unless the breeding stock has been so certified. While some other breeds use optional cosmetic surgery to comply with their breed traditions, the Vizagle absolutely requires surgery for compliance with the breed standard. For more information on this necessity, please check here.

These dogs cannot live outdoors full time, and need the close proximity of their owners as much as possible. Fortunately, providing appropriate living quarters for these dogs is very simple and inexpensive, they just live in their owner's bed. Very social dogs, they do best with a human or companion dog with them at all times. There is virtually no grooming necessary, just to curry out the hair at shedding time.  Bathing is not necessary very often, the breed has no "doggie smell", and their "teflon" coat sheds mud quite easily. They do need protection from inclement weather with proper clothing, and if trained properly, they have no objection to a cable sweater.

With the proper care and training, the Vizagle is a joy to own, and will provide the right owner many happy years of love and companionship.

After arduous research (walked down the hall) and years of study (spoke to warped woofed art historian) am now finally able to proffer a squeaky hypothesis (mostly winky myth and containing barely a blinking pith of fact) regarding the ancient history of the Vizagle. So the story goes:

Ahmon Ra, the Sun God and his faithful canine companion, Amen Rah-Rah were ambling along the Nile's banks, having fun and giving glorious thanks one afternoon with their good friends, Tutankhamen and his charming canine companion, Toot Uncommon!

And, as the god and the king were talking and their dogs; Rah-Rah and Tootie were walking, these friends came upon the fine idea that their wonderful dogs; the sun bright and royal right canines, rarest of rare and fairest of fair, should be immortalized in hieroglyphics - in order that all people of all lands might one day see, read and learn what a peerless delight a unique dog can be, even to a god or a king!

Many poor souls had never known the rich experience of owning such a unique canine as the phenomenal Vizagle; the chosen dog of Egyptian gods and kings in the know- For this special dog had seemed as though nearly invisible to the common man!

Therefore, the two friends walked their rare dogs over to meet and to speak with Isis and Osiris, to let them know that they were both quite serious! They told the truth to Thoth, and they explained where things were at to Aton! All said it made a ton of sense too, And, with the Vizagle hieroglyphs they should right writely commence, true! Next, they spoke with the Cat Goddess, Bast, who blasted them until they were aghast with caterwauling clauses which were felinely rather hard! "Ankhs anyway!" said they, Bast it all! We'll not be discouraged. We've a dogged great pyramid scheme, which we do plan still to say, catty pard!" And, so the tale of the stalwart Vizagle remains an important lesson we may all learn, even unto this very day, from those ancient tomes inscribed there upon those ancient walls. Now, for the doggedly tell-all's:

And thus, those 'glyphs when translated eons later wag the truest story of man's best friend: For the canines the hieroglyphics would, to us all gladly recommend are: Those invisible sweetly wagging mutterings, found in today's shelters. Dogs we may adopt as our dearest friends! For oft times, these are in deed the very canines fit to be the companions to gods and kings.

Now does this fable mean we should not own oh say, a pure breed Pharaoh Hound, or a regal Beagle or a visionary Viz? What about a Poodle? Is a mixed breed all there is?! No, not at all, for the story really tells us is: Each dog is a unique treasure. Each canine's individual bark is a sound toot uncommon in profile, and that's the stone fact!

Amen and Rah Rah for your rescued canines; each mixed breed or pure breed is one-of-a-kind. lp