Swedish Vallhund has long been treasured in Sweden for its cattle-herding ability, strength and stamina. Over the years, the breed’s beginning has been a subject of debate. With its close resemblance to the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, it may have been that the Vallhund was brought to Britain by the Vikings, where it evolved into the Corgi or, conversely, the Vallhund might have developed from Corgis taken to Sweden. The Swedish Vallhund breed has proved its dexterity as an accomplished cattle drover, ratter and watchdog.
Swedish Vallhund
The honor of making the Swedish Vallhund recognized and registered as a Swedish breed goes to Count Björn von Rosen. In the beginning of the 1940’s he noticed the existence of these dogs. By making an inventory of the existing dogs in the county of Västergötland 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 program that was mainly in the hands of the headmaster K.G. 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.
Swedish Vallhund Temperament: The breed is watchful, energetic, fearless and alert. Size and Proportion The relation between height and length of
Size and Proportion: The relation between height and length of body should be about 2:3.
Height: Dogs 13 inches (33 cm) ; Bitches 12 inches (31 cm) – A variation of 1.5 cm above or below these heights is permitted. Weight: Between 20-31 lbs. (9-14 kg).
Coat: Hair: medium length, harsh, close and tight topcoat, undercoat soft and dense. The coat should be short on foreparts of the legs, slightly longer on neck, chest and back parts of the hind legs.
Colour: Desirable colours are grey, greyish brown, greyish yellow or reddish brown with darker hairs on 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, neck spot or slight necklace. White markings are permitted on fore- and hind legs and on the chest.
Head: Cranial region: head should be rather long and clean cut with an almost flat skull. It should, when viewed from above, form 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, should look rather square. The muzzle should be slightly shorter than the skull. Lips tightly closed. 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 should be hard from base to tip, smooth haired and mobile. Set on not too low.
Neck: Neck should be long and strongly muscled with good reach.
Body: Topline: back should be level, well muscled with short, strong loin. Croup should be broad and slightly sloping. Chest should be long with good depth. Well sprung ribs. When viewed from the front, the chest should be oval, from side elliptical. It should reach two-fifths of the length of the fore legs 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.
Forequarters: Shoulders should be long and well laid back. Upper arms should be slightly shorter than the shoulders and be set at a distinct angle. Upper arm lies close to the ribs, but is still very mobile. Forelegs should, when viewed from the front, be slightly bent, just enough to give them free action against the lower part of the chest. Pasterns should be elastic. Legs should be well boned.
Hindquarters: Hindlegs should be well angulated at stifle and hock. The thighs strongly muscled. Seen from behind the legs should be 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.
Tail: Two types of tail: long tail and natural bobtail. When the dog is alert, the tail is raised but not more than in a right angle to the back.
Gait: Sound with good drive. 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.
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.
