Budapest - Visit to the Vizsla homeland

Slightly off the topic of two red dogs in Dorset - in September I travelled to Budapest to run the Nike half-marathon as part of a team organised by the company I work for in Germany. Great I thought - a chance to search out some Vizsla on their home turf!

I checked out some kennels but in the end landed on a sunny Saturday with no real plan other than to survive the run! Over three days I had fleeting and tantalising glimpses of red dogs in this large and ancient city straddling the Danube... It started with promise as my first sighting was from the plane as it came into land. On the wide grassed areas beside the runway there was a chap striding along with a Vizsla ranging out in front of him...shining in the bright sunlight. What they were doing I have no idea but they looked very much like they were working...scaring birds maybe? Second sighting was from the bus to the hotel - a "city boy" loping along on the promenade next to the Danube - just a glimpse again before the bus swept on.. I spotted my third V at the start of the race on Sunday, where there was a male "white face" milling around with his family, there to support a local runner. No time to test my Hungarian but great to see the Vizsla spirit alive and kicking in an older dog... I survived the race but saw no more V's that day... Last day on Monday and last chance for V spotting - it wasn't looking too promising - plenty of sights in the old city but no V's. But then! A flurry of red surging from the back of a car and disappearing in through the doors of an old office building - three boys, one older, battered and with the shortest tail on any V I've seen - surely an accident I think. Running up I startled the lady handling them as she was closing the large wrought iron and glass doors; she understood enough English I think to realise I was only admiring her Magyar Vizslas and perhaps like me is used to total strangers being interested in our Vs. Somewhat bemused she paused long enough for me to see the three dogs turn on the ornate stone stairs inside, one giving me that classic Vizsla look of curiosity, head up, ears hooked up, steady golden gaze...then the lady spoke and they were off up the stairs and gone - that lovely head sticking in my mind like an echo...

So not a great trip for Vizsla spotting but maybe slightly more than I'd see on an average day in downtown Bournemouth...and there's always the race next year - maybe I'll do a bit more research next time though...