Hes grown soooo much! what a stunner!

he has really grown,is he keeping the pc seat warm for you? well trained to do that i will have to give it a go with tob.lol

Kate
out of Interest whats the history behind this breed - as in what were they originally bred for

Thanks everyone.

Yes Gem, he's 15 kilo ( 33 lb, 2.35 stone) thats triple what he was when he came to us. And he's still growing, so we figure he'll be at the very top of the standard, 16 kilo.

Yes Leo, as soon as he could jump he started getting on my seat.

Lel, the breed was created as the ultimate all in one farm dog, a herding dog, a ratter, and a watchdog.

They were bred to heel cattle mostly, thats why they have short legs, to be able to duck fast if a cow aims a kick at them. They also have an impressive amount of teeth, of a large size, Tamino's are only fractionally smaller than Penny's. Yet his are sharper. Thats also partly why this breed is so smart, herding cattle is harder than herding sheep. I once saw a Vall neatly handle and bring into the barn from a paddock a huge Aberdeen Angus bull. That little dog did in 15 minutes what the Border Collie had been trying to do for 40, no offence to BC people, but "the eye" does not work that well with an angry bull.

They are supurb ratters as well. I can testify to that myself, as Tamino does hunt for rats in the barn. And to date he has hunted down, caught, and killed about 10 mice and 2 rats.

In the watchdog area they are wonderful. I could almost say Tamino has a 6th sense, he knows when something is coming close to our house. He can be fast asleep, then all at once he'll spring up barking and when we look sure enough, something will have approached the house. He also knows when I'll be coming home from school, gets up on the sofa and watches for me, my parents say he gets up there within 5 minutes of me arriving on the bike. He also has a loud bark, sound like something much bigger.

The breed historians say that pretty much as long as there have been farms in Sweden there have been Vallhunds. We at least know the breed is at least 1000 years old. This breed is also the main ancestor of the two Corgi breeds, and it played a part in the development of the Shetland Sheepdog as well.

There, I've droned on and on and on, and bored you to death. I should go and write an article on the Vall for the DW Breed section

Thanks GL :smt023

He is still as gorgeous as ever and hasn't he grown

Lovely pictures

Karen

Kate he went from adorable to very handsome indeed.