Introduction

Having bred and shown Irish Setters for over thirty years, it was to fulfil a dream of Terry’s to own our first Hungarian Wire-Haired Vizsla. Having seen a delightful photograph of Zloty – one of the very first pair to be brought into the country in the 1970’s, in one of the ‘annuals’ published by the dog press and declared ‘he would own one of those one day’.

This dream became reality when, in September 1992 strangely enough at our local championship show, Darlington, we met Peter Hensey who at that time had just become the owner of a Hungarian Wire-Haired Vizsla. During conversation  with him, he mentioned that Anna Coombe and Sheila Gray had a litter of puppies, the first ever bred in the UK. – Wild horses would not stop Terry travelling the next weekend to Derbyshire and we returned with our wonderful Shannamaya Oenone.

‘Noney’ to her friends became firstly our companion and introduced us to this fantastic breed, and secondly introduced us to the world of rare breeds. Born in February 1992, along with her litter mates she was to create a dynasty which is surviving today. Her sons, daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren are assuring that this will continue.

We have campaigned the breed for nearly 15 years and are delighted that our stock can now be seen not only in the show ring, but working in the field, trained to the gun, working with Hawks, and all the other disciplines in which this fantastic breed excels. We are very proud of the fact that one of our wires is now a Pets as Therapy visiting dog, and is also involved in the sport of ‘flyball’.

We were founder members of the Hungarian Wire-Haired Vizsla Association with Terry serving as secretary for a number of years and Gillian as a committee member.  We both judge the breed up to Championship level and Terry works for the Pets as Therapy organisation.

We are always more than happy to talk ‘Hungarian Wire-Haired Vizslas’ with anyone interested and are always available to assist anyone in the breed.