Swedish Vallhund

The Swedish Vallhund is an ancient herding Spitz breed from Sweden, where they are general-purpose farm dogs. In addition to herding, they kill vermin and alert the farmer to danger. They are intelligent, alert, sound, energetic, sweet-natured and make wonderful family pets in the right home. They need exercise and training, and they need to be included in family activities - this is not the dog for someone who wants a dog who will just sit quietly in the background and not get involved.

Swedish Vallhunds have a thick double coat, with a soft fluffy undercoat and harsh guard hairs. They come in varying sabled shades of red and grey with lighter shades on their face, legs and underside, and can have white markings on their feet, chest, neck, and face. They are a generally healthy breed, with a lively, happy, engaging personality. They need regular brushing, training and both mental and physical exercise, and can be barky without appropriate training (but they are generally very easy to train, love to work and respond extremely well to modern training methods). They excel at agility, obedience, rally, tracking and herding, and are also wonderful therapy and search and rescue dogs.

Excerpts from the Standard

General Appearance

The SV is a small, powerful, fearless, sturdily built Spitz herding dog. The SV has a wedge-shaped head, prick ears, and a close-fitting hard coat of medium length and sable coloring. The double coat and the characteristic "harness markings" are essential features of this breed.

Temperament

The breed is watchful, energetic, fearless, alert, intelligent, friendly, eager to please, active, and steady, making a good herding and companion dog.

Fun Fact

This is a breed which carries the natural bobtail gene, and Swedish Vallhunds can have any type of tail, from a very short natural bob, through various lengths of stub tails, to full-length tails (which can curl over the back or be carried straight), or they can be docked. While Vallhunds may seem superficially similar to the Corgi breeds, they have a different height-to-length ratio (Vallhunds are 2:3, Corgis are 2:4), and are lighter in build, longer-legged and shorter backed.

For more information on the Swedish Vallhund, visit the Swedish Vallhund Club of America.