Gizzmo is a happy and alert Swedish Vallhund who thinks life is wonderful. He is a very independent little critter with a lot of own will.
His independence became widely known in the area we live in when he was little, only 5 months old, he found a very appealing scent and took off in the highest speed. In a moment he had vanished.
Where we live there are a big park and this is where we take our morning walks. A fair distance away is the highway and that was my biggest fear. At 7 o’clock in the morning and everyone going to work in the rush hour on the highway knows what that’s like. We searched the whole area but no Vallhund as far as the eye could see. I tried to convince myself that such a young dog NEVER runs particular far from home, or?
After an hours search we had to go home and ring the Police to report Gizzmo lost. No... no Vallhund had turned up but they wrote down all the details and would get back in touch. I was ready for the looneybin, so I called at least a couple of times an hour and I think they got really tired of me.
At last it was 1 o’clock in the afternoon, time for another phone call. There had been a change of shifts and of course Gizzmo's papers had gone missing, I went over the story once more. The kind man asked me to wait and went to look through that morning reports. He returned and told me they had gotten a dog in, who had been found already at 8 o’clock in the morning, running in the midstrip of the highway – but that was a cross between a German shepherd and something else with a very short tail. My heart made somersaults and I yelled “it’s not a cross, it’s a Vallhund and he is mine”. To check for micro chip hadn’t entered their minds, they hardly knew what that was.
I had hardly put the phone down before I was halfway to the Police station. When I arrived they sent me to the duty officer and sure enough, a very satisfied Gizzmo sat there. I almost hoped he would be a little bit shocked and be scared of losing me again but oh no, no such luck, for him this had only been an exciting outing and he loves them. Fortunately he has never gone on any more long trips but small he has, because that is Gizzmo in a shell. Even if I several times have cursed his independence is that the part of him that makes his just wonderful to work with and today I'm glad I have such a strong minded dog.
Gizzmo have had a fantastic show career. He became Swedish Conformation Champion just 2 months after his second birthday (in Scandinavia a dog must be a minimum of 2 years to qualify as a Champion), Danish Conformation Champion and qualified for Crufts 2005 before he turned 3, Norwegian and Nordic Conformation Champion just 1 month after his third birthday and International Conformation Champion and Nordic Winner 2004 at 3 1/2 years of age. At 5 he became World Winner 2006, Polish Winner 2006 and Polish Conformation Champion, he also qualified him self for Crufts for the second time. At the age of 9 he became World Winner for the second time, now as a veteran. He has been Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex, # 1 Blue/Yellow dog several times. He also has several BIS-veteran placements. He is exterior assessed type excellent and recommended for breeding. Gizzmo is also herding tested and character tested.
List of qualifications:
- 2003 - Swedish Conformation Champion
- 2004 - Danish Conformation Champion
- 2004 - Norwegian Conformation Champion
- 2004 - Nordic Conformation Champion
- 2004 - International Conformation Champion
- 2004 - Nordic Winner
- 2006 - Polish Conformation Champion
- 2006 - Polish Winner
- 2006 - World Winner
- 2010 - World Winner Veteran
Gizzmo is the breed representative for Swedish Vallhund in the new edition (2004) of "Breeds around the world", a book published by the Swedish Kennel Club. He is also one of the representatives for the reddish/brown vallhund in Leonie Darlings book "Swedish Vallhund, A Legacy Of The Vikings".
Gizzmo is available for studwork to suitable bitches.
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