Breed History

The Swedish Vallhund is an original Swedish breed as well as a very old Spitz breed.

Sweden states that the Swedish Vallhund goes back over 1000 years to the time of the Vikings when it may have been known as the 'Vikingarnas Dog.' The SV is an alert, eager to please and learn, energetic, hardy dog. The Swedish Vallhund was bred to work on farms and ranches and originally herded cattle. The SV is low to the ground and herds by rounding up & nipping at the hocks.

In 1942, the breed was almost extinct. In this year, Bjorn von Rosen, who had worked to save several old Swedish breeds from extinction, remembered the SV from his boyhood and became involved. He placed an advertisement in the paper regarding these beloved dogs from his childhood and luckily got a response from K. G. Zettersten. They worked together to save the breed. The men found a few of the old SV's and began a breeding program to revive this old breed which had been common prior to World War I. In 1943, after a year of exhibition showing, the Swedish Kennel Club recognized the breed. The SV was known as Svensk Vallhund, Swedish Vallhund, where "Vallhund" meant "herding dog." In 1964, with the Swedish standard revised, the breed became known as Vastgotaspet after the Swedish province Vastergotland in which the revived breeding program originated.

In 1974, the first SV came to England. Ms. Nicky Gascoigne helped to organize the Breed Society there in 1980 and Championship Status for the breed was received in 1985 from the Kennel Club in the UK. The Swedish Vallhund is now recognized and found in many countries: Sweden, Britain, Finland, USA, France, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Holland, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland.

The first two USA SV's were imported to California around early 1985. Others followed shortly and the first litter of nine SV's in the United States was whelped at Jonricker Kennel, September 4, 1986.